Letters: State itself is abuser and coercer of the vulnerable

Assisted dying

Simon O'Connor, you looked me in the eye while I told you of my mother's appalling death and you pretended to empathise. You and your Health Select Committee heard hundreds of other gruelling stories of frightful deaths in New Zealand hospitals, hospices and rest homes. Then you shunned them.

These weren't just the trumped-up Armageddon prophecies about possible future "abuse and coercion" of the vulnerable under an assisted dying framework. They were actual stories about the actual abuse of suffering, dying patients who were not allowed, by law, to opt out of their agony.

I put it to you that the state itself is the coercer and the abuser when it wields its power malevolently over citizens.

I have no problem with submitters predicting doom. I do have a problem, though, with MPs who won't look at the evidence when making law. Evidence shows that this campaign of fearmongering has been orchestrated in every jurisdiction where assisted dying has been considered for legalisation. Once it is enacted, the dire predictions turn out not to eventuate.

The "coercion/abuse" stories are just a cover-up for religious zealotry. They're supposed to look secular and socially concerned. No-one is fooled except those who want to be.

ANN DAVID
Waikanae

Asthma numbers

With great interest and sadness I read again about the ever-rising numbers of asthma sufferers.

I have lived 20 years in our lovely city, and it has got worse.

The reason for this chronic illness has obviously not been researched in our town. The article said it might be silver birch trees. I am sure we are not the only city with these trees. I am sure scientists could find out if the trees are one of the reasons for the illness. It is also stated that the cold, mould and dampness of houses are contributors.

If NZ can afford $850 million each year to spend on asthma, why don't we use this money to create better houses? I am sure it is time for a big and bold undertaking to rethink how to combat that.

The health system has psychologists and nurses to teach about coping with a chronic illness and how to use medication correctly.

I am familiar at first hand with a chronic lung disease and learned so much about coping and strategies through my own doing and researching.

Never take it for a given fact that one can't improve.

RENATE SCHNEIDER
Whanganui

Petrol prices

The actions of BP in cross-subsidising at their outlets in Kapiti/Horowhenua has made national headlines, resulting in the Government having a chat with BP.

Wanganui drivers need only look locally at the per-litre prices: BP Wanganui East $2.11, BP Taupo Quay $2.07 and BP London St $1.99.

All prices on the same afternoon.

MURRAY HUGHES
Wanganui

Immortal souls

One day, two men knocked at the door of one of a good and devout Catholic woman without education. They tried to "prove" to her the church was wrong in teaching the immortality of the soul, showing her Ezechiel's words: "The soul that sinneth, the same shall die" (Ez. 18:20).

She did not start a great theological discussion about the two lives (Jn. 6:55), the two deaths ("Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul." Mt. 10:28), the two resurrections (Jn. 5:25, 28-29), etc.

She simply said: "How then could our Lord Jesus Christ say to the penitent thief: 'Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.' (Lk. 23:43) His body was probably thrown into a pit, but his soul was in paradise!" That is simple and settles the matter.

Jesus Christ said earlier: "it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died: and was buried in hell" (Lk. 16:22). The beggar's body was without burial, his soul was with the Angels; the rich man's body was pompously buried, but his soul was burning in hell, in this "place of torments" (Lk. 16:28), not of annihilation.

St Paul himself testifies to the immortality of the soul: "we are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8), which is "a far better thing": "I am straitened between two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better" (Phil. 1:23). So, for the good, there is a beautiful expectation of happiness with God, beautiful because true (not the contrary!), so beautiful that St Paul can say: "rejoicing in hope!" (Rom. 12:12).

FATHER FRANÇOIS LAISNEY
St Anthony's Church, Gonville

Fluoride harm

In response to Chris Price's letters of March 23, April 3 and 22, there are many studies outlining harmful effects of fluoride to the 350 million (not "500 million") people exposed. For instance:

http://fluoridealert.org/researchers/
http://fluoridefree.org.nz/
http://www.fluorideresearch.org/
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2014/293019/
http://www.jpands.org/vol10no2/kauffman.pdf

Classification of fluoride as a neurotoxin was by Philippe Grandjean, Professor of Environmental Health at Harvard, specialising in developmental toxicity. He has not classed fluoride with "coffee, alcohol and sweeteners" but much more toxic "lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain".

Health Liberty Group is a web platform of health and environmental groups concerned with GMO, toxins in vaccines, fluoride etc. Price needs to cite source re HLG being taken to court.

Some context to Price's quote re the 2017 Bashash IQ study. Dr Mier Martinez, is only one of 15 researchers, a dentist with an industry to defend. Her comment re limiting salt intake in Mexico is because it is salt fluoridated, not water. Lead investigator Howard Hu states: "This is a very rigorous epidemiology study ... It's directly related to whether fluoride is a risk for the neurodevelopment of children ..."

Price's quote from Seymour, that people who drink "optimally fluoridated water, and dental products as recommended will not exceed maximum levels of fluoride," is incorrect. "Since the 1980s, numerous studies have identified that adults and children are exceeding these agreed limits ... In 1991, the US Centres for Disease Control measured fluoride levels and found where water is fluoridated between 0.7 and 1.2 ppm overall fluoride, total fluoride intake for adults was between 1.58 and 6.6 mg per day, while for children it was between 0.9 and 3.6 mg per day.' (Peckham and Awofeso, 2014).

LUCY MCDOUGALL
Whanganui

Bad driving

I totally agree with fellow readers about the bad driving around our city. Compulsory stops should mean stop! What part of that do people not understand? Inconsiderate driving has become prevalent.

More concentrated policing might help this problem.

L AND F ANSON
Springvale