Representative Government: the Water Example.

Human beings really require only a few simple things to be healthy and there-by happy: clean air and water, healthy food, safe physical activity, a secure, supportive community (including our family, friends and recreational pursuits), opportunity to learn and gain insight into philosophical/spiritual elements of nature/reality and the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way.

The current course our species is on world-wide, is one of destroying the quality of our air, water and food, removing opportunities for safe physical activity, decreasing security and destruction of community cohesiveness, ‘dumbing-down’ of our population and a total neglect or abomination of all things philosophical/spiritual and Mother Nature herself.  Our ‘working lives’ are increasingly focused on ‘making money’ not on meaningful pursuit and community contribution.  Something is seriously wrong and the time is nigh for a complete revolution in our approach.  You are probably amongst the millions of humans on Earth who lament the stupidity of what you see going on around you.  Meanwhile, a proportional handful of people are justifying all manner of ‘atrocities’ with the argument of ‘economic pragmatism’ and there-by disregarding all sense of decency and civilized morality, not to mention sound logic.

I would like to take the example of water in South-East Queensland (SEQ) to illustrate the utter stupidity of government policy and our current global-systemic approach.  In reality, you could subject almost any aspect of life today in Australia (and the world) to this analysis and reach the exact same conclusions.

What is being done to our water?

From the point where your beloved child/grandchild turns on the tap in their home and drinks the water, we follow this water back along the pipes which bring it from the catchment area, via the dams and treatment facilities….

There are two major areas of concern here: firstly, is our water supply protected from contamination (I’m not even going to touch on the issue of pipes…another article) and, secondly, what are the ‘authorities’ adding to our water?

Contamination: Under the South East Queensland Water (Restructuring) Act 2007, Seqwater is responsible for the management of water ‘assets’ and storages in SEQ. Water from these assets and storages is the primary supply of raw drinking water. Development activities and the intensification of land usage impact on water quality in the water supply catchments, which may result in harm to public health.  The SeqWater ‘Development Guidelines for Water Quality Management in Drinking Water Catchments’  exist merely to ‘assist those involved in planning and development by providing information on how development can be undertaken in the catchments to recognise and manage impacts on water quality’. In practice however, how many developers do you think will incur significantly extra costs involved in ensuring they abide by these guidelines?  While toxic building materials, fertilizers and pesticides are allowed in our ‘market-place’ and are the ‘cost-effective’ option, they WILL be used by persons (individual and corporate) which place profit ABOVE concerns for your health.  If you consider the fact that, corporations exist purely to make profit, you will quickly realize that it is up to government to demand and enforce, on behalf of the citizens it is supposed to represent, that corporations are not ABLE to do anything that is detrimental to your fundamental right to good health.  The question remains ‘why can’t our ‘leaders’ stand up to these ‘persons’? 

Treatment:  It is extremely difficult to determine exactly what is being put into our water supply and this alone is cause for concern.  If you have any access to information regarding this I’d be elated to be in receipt of it.  For this reason (to save the time it would take to source this information) and for the sake of keeping this article shorter I will now focus only on the temporally topical issue of ‘Flouridation’. In early 2008, the Queensland Government announced a program of works to fluoridate the State’s water supplies between 2008 and 2012, and gave a series of justifications for this….so let us now follow the logic tree from Anna Bligh’s Government’s passing of the Legislation authorizing Flouridation……

Government Justifications for Flouridation

In an April 2006 document from QLD Health, entitled Water fluoridation:

information for health professionals

(here: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/oralhealth/documents/31292.pdf )  the role of fluoride in dental health is ‘explained’ thus:

Dental caries develops when sugar-containing foods are metabolized by bacteria in the mouth, resulting in acid on the tooth surface. The acid removes calcium, phosphates and carbonates from the tooth enamel into the plaque and saliva surrounding the tooth.  The fluoride in saliva interacts with these minerals and salts at the tooth surface to remineralise the damaged enamel. A constant supply of a low level of fluoride within the saliva is most beneficial for replacement of lost minerals and therefore prevention of dental caries. Fluoride at an optimal level in the water

supply provides the ideal, constant repair kit for teeth.

The reference to support these claims is cited as: Department of Human Services

Victoria. Oral Health Guidelines for Victorians. Melbourne: Department of Human Services Victoria, October 2003.  So let’s go there….. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthpromotion/downloads/guidelines_oralhealth.pdf

We find this:

Dental caries is a diet related disease caused by the action of organic acids on the enamel of the tooth surface. The acid is produced from sugars in the diet and by bacteria within a soft layer called plaque that covers the tooth surface. Sugars are rapidly converted to acid by the bacteria in plaque. The plaque also helps to hold the acid in contact with the tooth causing demineralisation and eventual tooth destruction.

The sugars most responsible for dental caries are non-milk extrinsic sugars. These sugars are added to food and drinks during processing, manufacture or preparation. The common sugars are sucrose, glucose, maltose and fructose. Confectionery, soft drinks, cakes, biscuits and table sugar (added to tea and coffee) are often consumed between meals and their frequent consumption is strongly linked to dental caries. Sugars naturally present in fruit and vegetables are considered relatively unimportant as a cause of dental decay.⁴

It is the frequency of consumption of sugary foods and drinks that constitutes the risk rather than the amount.⁵ Foods and drinks containing added sugars should be limited, especially between meals. If consumed, they are best eaten at mealtimes rather than between meals…^.

Foods such as cheese or milk that contain casein can assist in the prevention of dental decay. Both casein and whey protein appear to be involved in the reduction of enamel demineralisation.⁷ Chewing cheese stimulates saliva flow that in turn buffers the acid formed by plaque. The high calcium and phosphorus content appears to be another factor in the decay preventing mechanism of cheese.

…and this:

Water fluoridation is recognised as an effective method of preventing dental caries.

..referenced with this: Department of Human Services Victoria. Evidence-based health promotion resources for planning: no 1-oral health. Melbourne: Department of Human Services, Jan 2000  as support.  So let’s go there…. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthpromotion/downloads/oral_health.pdf

and we find the below in part 2:

The US Preventive Task Force concluded that, with respect to dental conditions and disorders, of the many oral health interventions, strategies and agents,… the level of 1ppm fluoride ion (water fluoridation), while lacking the “rules of evidence based on randomized clinical trials” should, because the evidence is so “strong, consistent and voluminous” be judged equivalent to Category I, Recommendation A level.

So, there is an outright acknowledgement of the lack of randomized clinical trials (ie. quality of research to support the efficacy of water fluoridation in the prevention of dental caries); and yet a heavy reliance on the quantity of research in the support of the “US Preventive Services Task Force’s” recommendations in favour of weighting water fluoridation a ‘Category I, Recommendation A level (definitions of these categorical recommendations are in Appendix A of the document for those who wish to double check that the terminology reflects the common vernacular – something we can no longer take for granted either)!

What else does this task force have to say?

While published work by Axelsson and Lindhe demonstrated that meticulous plaque removal every two weeks by dental auxiliaries eliminated dental caries in children, these studies were not considered “practical”.

…and, in relation to ‘self-applied flouride’ (ie. Mouth rinsing) they say….

The quality of evidence was described as very high, and was reported at Category I, Recommendation A level. The qualifications here related to recommended regimes and a caution that very young children “do not swallow the rinse or ingest the tooth paste”.

I don’t know about you, but for me…this begs the question…why has no-one conducted randomized clinical trials of water fluoridation and why does the stated ‘quality evidence’, cited in the section on mouth rinsing, include the caution that young children not swallow the rinse or ingest the toothpaste?

The study by Axelsson and Lindhe, which was incidentally, scientifically valid, also found that oral hygiene (regular brushing and flossing) was effective in the prevention of periodontal disease.

OK…back to the ‘reasoning process tree’….we’ve followed our water from our own taps, to the dams and catchment areas and we’re now investigating the process by which our ‘authorities’ came to the conclusion that water fluoridation is ‘for our own good’….we’ve travelled from our water treatment plant to the legislation that requires the workers to add the fluoride, to the State Government Department that made the recommendation, which was based upon their discovery that Victoria had already done the thinking for them…Victoria, in turn, discovery, ‘hallelujah’, that the US Preventive Services Task Force had already……hm…I was going to say ‘done the thinking for them’ but, it is apparent that some leaps of logic are inherent in their recommendations….

Let’s go there…..don’t get me wrong….I think that the sharing of information is a great thing…BUT one has to be sure that one can trust the source of the information….

Within the United States’ Government’s Department of Health and Human Services website we find this page: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm  You can explore this and try to glean some information regarding the who and why of the background to the Task Force’s Recommendations and I’d love to hear what anyone comes up with there…it’s all smoke and mirrors.  But yet again…I will continue for the sake of keeping this shorter…

I believe I’ve already established that this ‘Task Force’ is willing to ignore a lack of quality research in favour of ‘a consensus’ – this does appear to be a recurring theme (one’s mind springs immediately to Anthropogenic Climate Change and the culture that Climategate etc have exposed).  Sad to say, too, for a Nation of people who once took pride in their lack of respect for ‘invalid authority figures’ our Australian Government ‘authorities’ are obviously now manned by people who don’t care to switch their brains on or to question information that is provided to them.  They parrot junk ‘scientific’ opinion and governmental recommendations from other governments, which have a track record of violating the needs of their own population. 

Why don’t our Public Servants care about us?  What motivates them to do their jobs?  Is it just money and job security, or are these people motivated by a love of their Nation (ie. Large community of people of mainly common descent, language, history, etc., usually inhabiting a particular territory and under one government (from Latin nation = birth; race Oxford Dictionary)?  I’ll leave you with that question and trust your ability to answer it accurately (unlike our current bunch of politicians who have no respect for your reasoning abilities).  Do you ever feel like ‘what’s the point, why should I bother when I have no real say in what is happening’?  Can’t blame you really…..

What are the real causes of dental caries and what is effective prevention? 

I’ve obviously assumed, in this article, that Dental Caries is a bad thing…I don’t think anyone would dispute that.  What’s interesting is that it is largely a disease of modern man.  Ancient skulls with lovely pearly whites show us this.  So what causes it?  You no doubt, already noted the valid scientific research cited above: specifically the work of Axelsson and Lindh. 

A summary of their research is available here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Axelsson%20and%20Lindhe%20&itool=QuerySuggestion

…for those inclined to seek to explore the validity of scientific research.

For those of you in a hurry or who are easily bored with heavy reading….the synopsis is that basically ‘cleaning your teeth regularly prevents dental caries’. 

It is also well established that sugars added to our processed foods are the real cause of enamel destruction and, even the proponents of water fluoridation agree, that the fluoride is really just a ‘band-aid’ solution to the excess sugars coating our teeth.  Removal of plaque (via simple brushing and flossing) goes a long way to reduce the severity of the effect of the sugars (by simple mechanical removal of the plaque that holds them on the surface of the teeth); and the consumption of dairy products (due to their mineral content) also assists with preventing dental caries (incidentally, there are toothpastes available that don’t have fluoride and do have a good provision of these essential minerals).

Considering the plethora of evidence that shows how detrimental water fluoridation can be to human health…..(the internet is abundant with links to information regarding this…here’s one sad example:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/indian-children-blinded-crippled-by-fluoride-in-water.html

…one has to ask why our food industry is not made to stop adding these detrimental sugars to processed foods or why the government does not conduct a public education campaign highlighting the severity of this, or why there is no push for requiring warning labels on the processed foods, rather than exposing us all to Mass Medication, especially when there is absolutely no dose control! 

I’m sure you’ve heard that Mass Medication of the Australian Population is a Constitutional violation (ie. Ultra virez – beyond the power of the legislative arm of government) too….if not, here’s the section of our Constitution that covers this:

Legislative powers of the Parliament Section 51 (xxiiiA) gives the legislative arm of government power over:

"the provision ... pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services, but not so as to authorise any form of civil conscription ..."

Incidentally, the ‘civil conscription’ part is a huge thorn in the side of parliament because, inter alia... “The 'civil conscription' clause in the Australian constitution prevents a national government from coercing or conscripting medical doctors; in lay terms: the government cannot force doctors to bulk bill. The civil conscription clause has been the most significant barrier to the creation of a national health system in Australia.”
See: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn37.htm  Gee, who’d have thought our Constitution may have been written carefully to avoid the problems we’re seeing evolve today!
Water fluoridation is civil conscription, which is ‘compulsory medication of the population’, and compulsory medication of the population is illegal according to the document that FOUNDED our Nation!!!

Here’s the link to our Constitution – you really should know this document intimately: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/440c19285821b109ca256f3a001d59b7/57dea3835d797364ca256f9d0078c087/$FILE/ConstitutionAct.pdf

Anna Bligh has openly admitted that her motivation for adding fluoride to our water is to medicate the population of QLD against Dental Caries:  http://www.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=62129

…and that, rather than having our ‘authorities’ really review the science, they’ve just accepted the need for flouridation because it’s the ‘done thing’.  All of this comes back to a lack of genuine concern for the people of a Nation and this primarily comes back to the fact that we really no longer have Nations, but rather ‘States’ (organized community under one government: Oxford Dictionary).  People, all over Australia, turn up to work for money and nothing else.  They do not work for the common good of their people because, well, the country is not comprised of ‘their’ people anyway.    Until we have Nations founded on a cohesive sense of ‘togetherness’ we will continue to have this problem in ALL facets of our life. 

There is a façade of ‘essential service provision’ by government justifying all manner of insane laws, while the real primary motive of Government today is ‘to be re-elected/to remain in power’.  Personal responsibility and a sense of ‘togetherness’ of a community are what lead to liberty (the primary liberty being ‘wellness’); and, ironically, freedom from excessive and non-representative Government.

Now to the ultimate and most interesting part: qui bono?  Who benefits? Is it you?  No.  It is those who seek to divide all people into disparate masses of groups fighting amongst themselves.  The United States President John F Kennedy alluded to the identity and modus operandi of these ‘people’ in this speech which was delivered not long before he was unceremoniously shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces&feature=player_embedded#!

Australia First Party believes in real Representative Democracy: that Government decisions should be based on public debate, transparency, scientific fact and be consistently made in favour of the welfare primarily of the Nation’s citizens. A government that rebuilds our flailing National Character (Latin: natio = race;birth), requires absolute transparency, bans false advertising claims, requires health impact warnings on all products and which subjects all legislation, technology and conventions to ‘health’ impact assessments will be moving in the right direction.  Remember that my definition of ‘health’ includes the state of your community.  Despite the labels of ‘racist’ that are used as tools to silence our defences to the enemies of humanity, we know that one can have a Nation based on real cultural identity and not, as a fait accompli become a Nation of ‘hate’.  Racial differences are real.  They do not have to lead to conflict unless the need for autonomous government and cultural preservation is threatened by ridiculous, socially-degrading activities such as ‘multi-culturalism’ and disparate people being forced to cohabit the same geographical location.  This leads only to social disharmony, economic collapse the creation of Fascist States which serve none of the people and only the enemies of humanity.

One of the seven great sages of ancient Greece, the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy.  What else is the maxim of Political Correctness than enforced avoidance of controversy?  Any government that disallows real, honest debate, and allows any forces to influence the free and intelligent minds of the people it represents, so as to encourage them not to think, and to shrink from controversy, is committing a crime against humanity!