Special investigation into the poisoning of New Zealand.

TV3’s Melanie Reid, the Investigative Reporter of the Year, presents a 90-minute documentary entitled A TV3 Special Investigation: Let Us Spray on Monday 23rd October at 7pm.

For the past year, Reid has been investigating New Zealand and dioxin - in particular the potentially lethal dioxin contained in the herbicide 245T. For decades, many New Zealanders have been convinced that their illnesses and those of their children were caused by exposure to this dioxin. Of most concern are the people of Paritutu, the New Plymouth suburb where for several decades the agrichemical company, Ivon Watkins Dow (IWD) made 245T and 24D.

Reid examined the many reported cases of birth defects in New Plymouth and around the country and discovered a doubling of birth defects coincided with the country’s maximum exposure to the 245T dioxin.
She has also discovered documents pointing towards what appears to have been an unhealthy relationship between New Zealand’s regulatory authorities and IWD.

24 Oct: If you missed it, you can see it online on the TV3 website

Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Authority

You may have already got a newsletter from the NZ Health Trust last week. There is concern that the government are again trying to push this legislation through, despite opposition from many NZers. NZHT ask that we all remind our MPs of our views on this important topic.

If you haven’t received this newsletter, read it online at nzhealthtrust.co.nz

I recently received two articles by Kimberley Paterson of Lodestar Media that are related to this.

Threat to our health future: "She’s the former top agent of a crack Australian unit designed to put tight checks on the use of natural medicines - but the woman who once worked to control such remedies now sends a serious warning to New Zealanders about their health future."

Read the full article here

How safe are natural remedies?: NZ coroner Dr Bain has found that no deaths have occurred in NZ due to natural remedies. This compares to 5746 deaths in one year from drug reactions and medical error.

Read the full article here

NZ petition – Health warning on infant soy formula

Greetings. We are writing on behalf of Soy Information Service (www.soyonlineservice.co.nz). We and the scientists involved in the investigation of the harmful effects of soy products, particularly to children, have been encouraged by Sue Kedgely MP of the Green Party, Barbara Stewart MP of New Zealand First, and Phil Heatley MP of the National Party to petition the House Select Committee on Health for Health warnings to be included in the sale of soy protein-based infant formulas

Could you please print the Petition, sign it, get as many other signatures as you are able, and post it to Soy Information Service, C/- 1868 Whangarei Heads Rd, RD 4, Whangarei.

Many Thanks, Valerie James

Download the petition here

NZ petition – Trans fats to be included in food labelling

www.goodfat.net.nz is a relatively new NZ website with good information on healthy vs unhealthy fats. Have a visit and sign the online petition (click on the link at the top of any page).

Dr Arden Anderson’s NZ talk

On August the 3rd, Dr. Arden Anderson held a seminar at the Christchurch Girl's High School for those interested in improving their health.

Arden Anderson is an internationally renown Doctor and Agronomist and was clearly enthusiastic about linking health with good farming practice. His talk revolved around two main areas: the soil that our food is grown in and the diseases that are becoming prevalent in our modern society as a result of the poor food that we are being fed.

He realised some time ago, that curing peoples' symptoms was not enough; he had to get to the root cause of so many preventable diseases and to do that he saw that the quality of our food was declining due to poor eating habits yes, but also because of the chemicals being pumped into the soils. So he became an agronomist.

He was particularly passionate about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and what it is doing to our nutrition and health. He explained briefly how the plants' DNA is altered by introducing, for instance "Round-up" into the mix. Part of the process uses antibiotics. I can't remember the details of how it all works, but suffice it to say that we would end up eating it all; one of the spin-offs being increased resistance to antibiotics. He cited many incidences of how laboratory experiments refuted what we are being told about GMO; that it is okay. It's not okay; rats fed on GMO potatoes resulted in loss of weight, increased size of organs and very high mortality rate of offspring versus the control group fed on non-GMO potatoes. We are being told that the reasons behind GMO is the improved quality/quantity of produce (the increased resistance to drought, pests, etc) however there is apparently nothing that it offers that couldn't be done through good farming practice. Arden believes that the real reason behind GMO is the money made by the Chemical Companies.

One interesting fact he mentioned was that New Zealand has many agricultural export customers, especially in Asia simply because we are GMO-free. If we go GMO, we loose these markets, so where is the benefit in that? He congratulated us on our resistance to GMO and encouraged our continued refusal to allow it into New Zealand.

Whilst he is a Doctor and uses modern drugs where appropriate, he has had fantastic results in curing a long list of illnesses by proper nutrition. He mentioned many diseases that used to affect adults but are now afflicting our children, such as heart disease.

A very interesting and life-changing seminar. I just wish he was around more often.

Review by Karen Gillon (Thanks Karen!)

International Day of Smiles

Coming up on the 9 Dec, 2006. We can never smile too much, so check out the website at www.dayofsmiles.com/ and start practicing!

Recipes

I’m currently reviewing some of the best snack bars available if you’re stuck in town and need something quick to eat. But they’re always a compromise, and you can get much better nutrition from homemade snacks. The following recipe tastes decadent, but is actually much more nutrient dense than any bar you can buy. They are high fat, but fat that is easily used, and you only need a small amount. The one drawback is that they melt in warm temperatures, so need to be kept in the fridge.

Chocolate “crackles”

Remember the chocolate, rice bubbles “crackles” that used to be popular at children’s birthday parties? If you use a mild flavoured nut such as almonds or macadamias, these taste very similar. See the variations below for ideas on adapting this recipe to your needs.

• 225gms (8 oz) coconut oil (Kaiora brand is good quality)
• 4 Tbs honey (or maple syrup, or cut the carbs and use ½ glycerine)
• 4 Tbs cocoa
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
• 3 cups crispy nuts, roughly chopped in a food processor

Melt the coconut oil and honey over a very low heat. Meanwhile, chop up the nuts and mix together with the coconut and cocoa. Mix in the melted coconut oil & honey and mix well. Spoon into patty pans and put in the fridge till they set. Or pour onto a baking tray, and break into chunks once set.

Variations:

Fermented foods

If your usual kefir or other ferments taste more acidic or seem to be behaving a bit oddly, try fermenting for less time now that the weather’s warmer. If anyone has any special tips, let me know.

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