Letters: Rewriting history for fun

As an avid alternative history fan, I enjoyed Gwynne Dyer's column of August 14 conjecturing what would have happened if America stayed out of World War I and Germany had been able to force the Allies into declaring a draw and suing for peace.

In an earlier piece, Gwynne conjectured we would have had the European Union — or something like it — in the 1920s and no Adolf Hitler or World War II. And, I wonder, perhaps no Great Depression either.

Fast forwarding to present realities, I considered what might have ensued if John Key had not lost his nerve, foregone his knighthood for a while, and stood again at the last election.

National would have perhaps scraped in again, and — that being the case — who would have stayed on in that government?

Would Chester Borrows still have rediscovered his social conscience and come back from the dark side of the force?

And would the government service unions be going on strike consecutively?
Interesting to theorise, isn't it?

L E FITTON
Whanganui

Chance to see space station

Long-term weather forecast good news for those who are interested in sighting the International Space Station, and observing the four brightest planets and the full moon, this coming weekend.

On Saturday evening, August 25, the space station will rise above the NW horizon at 7.25 close to the planet Venus. By 7.28 it will be at the bright star Alpha Centaurus, (one of the pointers to the Southern Cross), also the closest star to our solar system. The space station will then disappear from view.

At 6.33 on Sunday evening the station will appear above the NW horizon. It will move almost directly overhead and at 6.35 will be north of the planet Jupiter. A minute later, the space station will be north of the bright orange star, Antares, the heart of the constellation Scorpius. Half a minute later, it will be south of the planet Saturn. By 6.37 it will be south of the planet Mars, and will then fade from sight, south of Sunday's full moon at 6.39.

The International Space Station travels at 27,600 km/h. It circumnavigates the earth every 92 minutes at a height of 401 to 409km. Its mass is about 450,000kg. It is 73m long, 108m wide and has been there for almost 20 years. It has a crew of six.
Comments, questions, info: call 06 281 3616.

JOHN CARSON
Springvale

Fluoride hazards

Fluoride for public water comes from hazardous, highly toxic gases formed from the phosphate fertiliser industry. It is formed from the scrubbing system that was eventually required to absorb these toxic gases that were decimating the area around the plant.

This scrubbing liquid cannot be dumped into the sea by international law and cannot be dumped locally because it is too concentrated. But one of the vagaries of hazardous waste regulation is that, if somebody buys a hazardous waste from the chemical industry, it is no longer classified as a hazardous waste — it becomes a product.

So this hazardous waste, renamed without any further treatment, is put directly into the public water supply.

It is not the pharmaceutical grade fluoride used by the dental industry.

Chris Price (Chronicle, August 18) suggests an adult can have 10mg of this chemical before adverse effects will occur but does not give figures for a baby or child. This is poor medical practice. Many chemicals may be added to water, but fluoride is the only one used to medicate people and is an extremely clumsy way to deliver a drug.

Mothers' breast milk protects the newborn baby from fluoride. Water fluoridation removes that protection of the developing brain.

You cannot control the dose nor control who gets it. Unborn babies, bottle-fed babies, children, the sick, elderly, people without teeth or with poor kidney function — all are given access to the same dose.

Where is the science for the amount that a baby in utero can tolerate or the harm for a bottle-fed baby? There are scientific studies showing adverse effects on the growing brain resulting in lowering IQ by 7 points among many other problems.

Dental disease is not caused by an absence of fluoride. It is caused by sugar and not enough dental hygiene. Studies in Denmark and Scotland have proved that education and diet have drastically reduced dental disease without resorting to water fluoridation.

BRYANNE WEBER
Castlecliff

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