Wi-Fi should be banned in schools

Dr Erica Mallery-Blythe, one of the UK’s few professional advisers on medical conditions related to radio frequency (RF) radiation and other electromagnetic fields (EMFs), believes everyone should follow France’s lead and ban Wi-Fi in nurseries and primary schools. She gave up both a successful career in emergency medicine and the use of wireless devices after reviewing the literature on the health risks associated with EMFs. RF’s are classed as a Group 2B carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Mallery-Blythe is now focused on radiation emitted by Wi-Fi, mobiles and other wireless devices, and is “among a not insignificant number of scientists and practitioners concerned by those studies that do highlight cause for more precaution.” In February 2015, injuries “resulting from or contributed to by electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetism, radio waves or noise” were excluded by insurers Lloyd’s of London. This puts the responsibility squarely back on the school’s shoulders, making them liable.

Mandatory vaccinations contravenes human rights

As California senators pass a bill that would make vaccinations mandatory, Anna Watson writes in the Ecologist about how 40% of EU countries (and now California) are violating human rights. The Californian bill needed 21 votes to advance to the state assembly, where it will now be debated later in the summer, and it got 25. Watson believes everyone has the human right to freedom of informed medical consent, and says that mandatory vaccination threatens these rights. The article reminds us that ‘The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states clearly: “Free and informed consent must be respected in the fields of medicine and biology”. To mandate vaccinations is to deny this fundamental freedom.’ She also urges that people sign a petition to “Respect, promote and protect freedom of informed vaccination consent throughout Europe.”

Stop the TTIP!

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is ostensibly about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. However, most of the negotiations have been secretive and undemocratic, but next month (June) is a pivotal moment to stop the TTIP for good: the European Parliament will be voting on a landmark resolution on it. A petition has been created to assist citizens of the European Union in having their voice heard. It is aimed at stopping the TTIP altogether. The petition was set up by the European Citizen’s Initiative Against TTIP and CETA, and so far there are over 1.8 million signatures on the petition with the aim of getting 2 million before the big vote. Please share with your networks.

Maternal malnutrition has a lasting impact

New research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology highlights that, “early gestation is the critical time-window for changes in the prenatal environment to affect the adult human blood methylome.” In plain English, malnutrition during pregnancy has a lasting impact on genes that play a role in growth and metabolism in adulthood. The study looked at the impact of famine exposure during the Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944-1945 where mothers were consuming 900 calories or less a day within the first 10 weeks. The researchers also looked at other 10-week periods (weeks 11-20, 21-30, and 31-delivery) but no association was found. Senior author Dr LH Lumey said, “Further analysis of health outcomes among men and women with famine exposure is now needed. We are therefore looking if DNA-methylation can make a difference for obesity and diabetes risk in this population.”

UK Prime Minister to increase the number of doctors

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has renewed his pledge to recruit more GPs within the UK National Health Service (NHS) to create a seven-day health service. The British Medical Association (BMA) said the government was yet to explain how it would deliver this additional care at a time of "chronic" doctor shortages. Mr Cameron’s vow follows his shock at discovering the death rates in hospitals at weekends compared with weekdays, and at a time when he believes the largest numbers of seriously ill patients arrive. He has responded to concerns about how the new government intends to increase staffing by intimating that the plans involved "different shift patterns" rather than NHS staff working seven days a week. By the end of 2015 Cameron wants 18 million people, or more, to be able to access GPs’ surgeries at evenings and weekends. The British Medical Association has however found that many GPs want to stop working by 2020, with still others going part-time, moving abroad or even abandoning medicine altogether.

Ban Glyphosate and join the March Against Monsanto

An EU-wide ban on Monsanto’s leading global pesticide, Glyphosate, is being called for by Germany’s state consumer protection ministers following its categorisation as being carcinogenic by the WHO. Germany’s state ministers called for “the supply to and use by private persons to be banned for precautionary reasons” on the 8th May 2015. Glyphosate, marketed by Monsanto as ‘Round-Up’, is the most commonly used pesticide worldwide but chairman of the Consumer Protection Minister Conference, Christian Meyer, believes that the “pesticide should not be found in gardens, parks or on children’s playgrounds” and he does not “think use in private gardens is appropriate.” If you’d like to get involved in the actions against this corporation and their harmful chemicals, you can attend the March Against Monsanto. Events take place all over the world this weekend on the 23rd May.

MEP and over 200 doctors say ‘ban HPV vaccine until proven safe and effective’

Following an open letter sent to Marisol Touraine, Minister of Social Affairs, by Dr. Philippe de Chazournes and another 200+ medical professionals, Michele Rivasi, European Ecology MEP, addresses the Gardasil scandal. The open letter confirmed the concerns about the safety, efficacy, and necessity of using Gardasil and Cervarix in national cervical cancer prevention programs. The signatories called for a halt on the routine use of the HPV vaccination until its safety and effectiveness have been established. Health authorities in Japan no longer recommend the vaccine, and lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturer in Spain, France and India. In April 2014, Michele Rivasi personally asked for a moratorium, and in April 2015 she delivered a presentation to the European Parliament on behalf of the European physicians demanding answers to these questions. Ms Rivasi calls for a parliamentary mission to provide those answers.

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