Letters - November 16, 2019

According to the Allergy UK website a ‘staggering’ 44 per cent of British adults suffer from at least one allergy and they predict that by 2025 HALF the population of the EU will be affected. These are, and should be, seriously disturbing figures.

I grew up in the 60s/70s and I can’t recall knowing anyone at school or any adults for that matter who had any kind of allergy, save for the odd person with hay fever, and certainly no-one with ADHD or other behavioural issues which are so commonplace today.

The question therefore is obvious. How and why has this epidemic (for that is what it is) occurred ?

Clearly our immune systems have been severely weakened or compromised in the last 50 years. Something has caused this. So what’s changed?

What we eat is one area to look at. Or rather how what we eat is produced.

Use of industrial pesticides has exploded in the last few decades - mainly serious nasties like Roundup or other glyphosate based chemicals. Chief culprit being Monsanto - responsible not only for this but also the massively increased use of GMO foods. You may not know this but Monsanto was bought out by Bayer in Germany in 2018 for a colossal $63 billion. In so doing they inherited over 10,000 pending lawsuits (mainly in the USA) from individuals claiming that ingestion of glyphosate treated foodstuffs, or being exposed to it, had been directly responsible for causing cancer. Going toe to toe with such an industrial giant in a courtroom is a daunting task. Nevertheless they have already paid out $290m to settle just one case brought against them by Dewayne Johnson, a former golf course greenkeeper, who successfully claimed that prolonged exposure to Roundup was directly responsible for him developing non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

That’s just one individual.

Then there’s food additives such as the artificial sweetener aspartame. First developed in 1965 in the USA. Repeatedly refused a licence for safety reasons (studies had proved that this was a highly-addictive neurotoxic drug that causes chronic ill health, brain tumours and death) until 1981 when the Reagan administration took office. That’s bad enough but it gets worse.

In 1977 the Searle group, the company responsible for developing and manufacturing this repugnant product, appointed a new CEO - a certain Donald Rumsfeld. Yes, that Donald Rumsfeld who was not only a major campaign director for Reagan but under the Bush Jnr administration served as Defence Secretary from 2001-2005.

Aspartame is found in pretty much all processed food and soft drinks. Go figure.

All this before we discuss what the effects of mass vaccination is doing to our youngsters.

Just remember one thing here - big pharma is interested in customers, not cures.

Tim Kennedy

via email

Election

Simple guide to political policies

Every political party is now trying to outdo each other on spending, welfare, NHS etc.

ust what we would expect before ANY election.

From experience we know that many of these policies are ignored or reneged on after the election.

This election, however, is about Brexit - nothing more … nothing less!

The ‘uproar’ by so many people after the EU referendum in 2016, and then the election in 2017, was their lack of information, understanding and any consequences of each political party’s policies.

I would implore the media to make it abundantly clear to all their followers, without bias, to explain the significance of all policies.

Surely each party could submit its own statement, in simple language, to the media before December 10.

This would overcome ANY argument or misunderstanding after the election.

Three such issues immediately spring to mind :

1. Where does the Labour Party stand on leaving the EU - what sort of deal would they demand?

2. What is the full significance of Boris Johnson’s deal with the EU?

3. How do policies conflict between the Tories and the Brexit Party on leaving the EU?

Harvey Carter

via email

Election

Turn social care crisis around

For too long, our country’s older people have been let down by successive governments’ failures to prioritise social care.

Anchor Hanover’s research shows that whilst 89 per cent of people think social care reform should be a priority for politicians, only 45 per cent believe politicians recognise it as a priority.

With 87 per cent of people fed up with important domestic issues, such as social care, being neglected as a result of ongoing discussion about Brexit, urgent action is needed to restore public trust.

Forthcoming manifestos must meaningfully address the profound funding and workforce pressures facing social care, including a cap on social care costs.

This is a chance to turn the social care crisis around and provide clarity and peace of mind for today’s and tomorrow’s older people. The next government must deliver sustainable reform as an immediate priority once appointed.

Our Programme for Change, shaped by older people’s experiences, sets out a tangible plan of action for politicians to draw on.

We must act now to secure a positive future for our ageing population.

Jane Ashcroft CBE

Chief Executive of Anchor Hanover

Election

Check voting records of MPs

Don’t forget, before making your all important decision in December, to check the voting record of the local MPs you’re backing.

It would be terrible to find out that they’d voted against say, disabled people, at every opportunity they had.

Rob Mason

Address supplied

Election

There’s no point in us voting

And so we are in the midst of the latest General Election campaigning. Be sure of this, whoever wins, the real power that controls our country will not be changing hands, and it was forever thus.

Julie Moss

North Shore