Hilary's Desk

The Guardian today, produced a scrappy piece of journalism here, under the heading "Herbal remedies banned as EU rule takes effect." Whatever the actualities of what herbals will survive, and what is banned, is a much deeper  issue. The voices of the skeptical comments supporting only big pharma, fall into two categories.  The intolerant, who wouldn't know a fact if they saw one, and the "same old" spanish inquisitors, who are employed by someone to bully, snarl at, and smear anyone who is not a big pharma worshipper.  Their mantra is that "only" science understands what is good for you.  "Only" science is reliable.  "Only" science can cure you.  It's astonishing the depths of ignorance they reveal, yet... they have no idea.  Like" rebecca rabbit" who scoffed, "When was the last time a doctor told you to ... starve a fever and feed a cold?" Read Full Blog

Do you, like some other kiwis I know, roll up and get your five yearly "pneumonia shot"? You did know, of course, that it was useless, right? Of course not. I mean, if that was the case, your doctor wouldn't have given it to you, right? You did know that the Cochrane Collaboration, medical doyen of evidence based medicine, has stated that the polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine is useless since their very first review of it right? (Latest one, 2008),  You didn't know that? Well, that's because your doctor didn't tell you. I wonder why? Just like they don't tell you that the Cochrane collaboration says the flu vaccines are also rubbish. Well guess what? The UK vaccine committee, the JVCI has just announced on 17 March 2011, that they are removing the adult pneumococcal vaccine from their schedule which they've used and persuaded people for decades that it was worth having..., because it doesn't work. Why might this be? Altruism towards their patients? Of course not. they pulled it  because on 13th March 2011Pfizer filed for use, a new PREVNAR 13 for adults. But the story doesn't end there. Read Full Blog

What epidemic? "Numbers have been on the rise since June this year, but they really spiked up in August," said Dr Alison Roberts, of the Ministry of Health' ... Hiding behind the word "epidemic", as a scare tactic, Alison Roberts continues: "We have been expecting an epidemic around now. New Zealand has a whooping cough epidemic every four to five years, and the last one started in 1999." Really?  has Dr Roberts read this from the ESR? which has a graph showing this:    Read Full Blog

Watching TNVZ SUNDAY’s programme about the oral contraceptive pill, called “Wonder Drug”, my mind kept flitting back to the fair grounds of old. Merry go round horses, ever rising, and lowering and the ceaseless crackly potted music;  metal clown heads, swinging wide open mouths, and the croaky voiced candy floss man intoning his automated speil. This was how I perceived the surreal presentation which characterised Janet McIntyre's uncritical canonization of a British Medical Journal article published on 11 March 2010. She followed the rest of the media who described this study as “titanic”.... forgetting that the unsinkable Titanic,...  sank.   Janet was unblinkingly content to present people who thought that the Pill should be available over-the-counter, with no controls, to anyone of any age.  Caution and monitorring be damned. Let’s get with it, full speed ahead. Titanic, indeed. Which will of course, fix global warming!  Hurray.... Read Full Blog

Regarding your article “cash lure to be vaccinated”. 

Either Paul Hutchison has been misinformed, or has misinformed you.

The payment Australian parents receive isn’t a “cash lure”. The key words are “without good reason”.

Any Australian parent who makes an active choice NOT to vaccinate and has a filed objection, receives any of the “incentives” or “payments” related to immunization, that those who chose to vaccinate also receive. To suggest that if you don’t vaccinate, you don’t get the incentives, totally undermines the concept of a right to chose, and democratic right to say no without punitive measures taken against you. Australia has recognized this, but the question is, would Paul Hutchison?

Sincerely,

Hilary Butler.  Read Full Blog