Potential Wackos…

Well my friends it is election time again. Extraordinary period in our journey where ordinary people attempt to convince us of an extraordinary ability to run our cities & Health Boards. They are mostly normal on the front pages of the ballots. All sober & level-headed.

If these candidates say something strange, people call them out. Look at Vic Crone. She did not want to be drawn into the climate change “debate”. By the next day, she was pleading for mercy on Paul Henry.

Mystery awaits us as all the documents convincing us people we typically do not know want our votes to run the local democracy. Things start getting weird. There are people who believe the Unitary Plan caused the housing crisis. The local boards are even murkier, with deniers & cranks lurking on every page.

But at the furthest reaches of the voting ballot lie the District Health Boards. It is truly a haunted forest; a gloomy representation all is not as it should be & “I” can do better for you. No-one knows many of the candidates. The candidates barely know themselves. The media do not appear interested, certainly with neglible willingness to cover the contests.

The vacuum of information makes it difficult for even the smartest voter to make good choices. I suspect people basically just chose the ones who look the healthiest in their profile pictures. This kind of decision-making is how you end up with your hospitals being run by weirdos who read a few articles & act like some authority to act on our behalf.

I personally write to people when their brochures arrive in my mail box making enquiries on topical issues like their position on Easter trading. I have tried to track some interesting DHB candidates across New Zealand who hold the unusual views.

Many of these people are against adding fluoride to water – a safe, effective way to prevent tooth decay which is supported by organisations including the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation, the New Zealand Dental Association & many more.
Other candidates believe & tell us their views on issues of little relevance & you speculate they probably should not be sitting on a health board making decisions about the future of modern medicine. So, here are just a few of the more extreme examples I have located 1:

Wacko alerts

Hylton Rhodes seems exceptionally opposed to fluoride. He starts his profile with “I am strongly opposed to possible future fluoridation of the Tauranga City Council water supply” and ends it with “Keep fluoride out of the city water.”

Richard E Roe is a practicing chiropractor who loves something called “functional medicine” and doesn’t much care for our “pharmaceutical-driven medical system”. Alert! Alert! Beware.

Aaron Keown appears to be just awful. Really bad.

Sue Kedgley was an effective Green MP, but has regularly expressed wacko views – raising fears over vaccines & GE, calling smart meters a “threat to health”. She also says she “does not know” whether fluoride is a good thing. Probably not someone you want running your DHB.

Helene Ritchie was originally listed as anti-fluoride based on info from the Public Health Association of New Zealand. However she told Fluoride Free NZ she “doesn’t know” whether fluoride should be added to water, & would make her decision based on evidence.

Kath Adams seems to have told pro-fluoride campaigners she is for fluoride & anti-fluoride campaigners she is against it. Update: Adams initially supported fluoridation, then changed her mind after being given some materials by Fluoride Free NZ.

Christine Rankin used to be chief executive of the Conservative Party.

Judy Crowe in our Nelson Marlborough DHB was recently in a spat with the Nelson Marlborough DHB chair Jenny Black, claiming she had been bullied over her opposition to fluoride.

Tricia Cheel is very anti-fluoride, but she’s also so much more. Cheel is a homeopath who’s been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for making misleading therapeutic claims. She’s against just about everything that science has ever touched, from 1080 to genetic engineering. In a statement to Fluoride Free NZ, she claims drinking fluoride-infused tap water has made her sick for decades. “I suffered the toxic effects from fluoride for 35 years, all the while wondering what was wrong with me until I suddenly stopped drinking Auckland’s tap water altogether in October 2012 which resulted in a tremendous improvement in my health and well-being,” the statement says.

Here’s Marijke Warmenhoven’s statement to Fluoride Free NZ in all its glory:                               
“When I was at University I read articles about the use of fluoride by the Germans during WWII to weaken the minds of the people? When I thought about it if fluoride was added to water for health & dental benefits, why wouldn’t all the other required vitamins & minerals be added also, such as calcium or magnesium? If, we really care about dental health in NZ we would limit the production of sugar laden & low nutritional food products available on the market. I am sure there will be real cost savings when they stop fluoridating the water!” Wow!

Martin Gallagher was previously on the anti-fluoride list. He got in touch to say he’s not anti-fluoride, and will follow Board policy, which is based on peer-reviewed medical evidence. However Fluoride Free NZ has twice noted that he’s told them he’s opposed to fluoride.

Allison Roe is a strange case. Her profile calls for DHBs to adopt “complementary therapies”, which are usually only called “complementary” because they do not work. She is anti-fluoride, but also seems to be for things like High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C.

So, my friends whilst I encourage everyone to get out & exercise their democratic votes, perhaps also some preparation & a vote for skills in preference to what may eventually be some wacko ideas or what is perceived as a nice little additional retirement benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to be with me once again & I hope my journey may encourage you also. Until next weekend, this is Kenn Butler in Paradise, Nelson, with my best wishes & to you all, a splendid week.
 
 
www.kennbutler.com