Removing triclosan toothpaste surely a no-brainer?

For inaction on a staple product like toothpaste, we have to laugh and take the integrity of our supermarkets and the relevant enforcement authority as a joke. To allow this product to be on the shelves surely shouldn’t even need a second’s thought! Correct me if I am missing something, but if this was a small struggling family-run business selling the same [triclosan-containing] substance, it would have been swiftly pushed out of its misery practices, by the same authorities. It should have been banned immediately on discovery of its dubious ingredients.

Rene Blezer, Taupo

I was just told of a chap in Auckland Hospital for a week and although not fully recovered he was told he had to go home as they needed his bed and people were sleeping in corridors. So how bad is it? Do we urgently need another Auckland Hospital for? If so, which political party would promise to build one asap? Or will we need a wealthy person to build it for us as with the Children’s Hospital recently? What has happened to government responsibility? To prove its need we should simply look at the percentage increase in Auckland’s population since the existing facility was built. That figure alone will explain why it just can’t cope and they must send people home to make room. This is now very urgent and could save lives.

Murray Hunter, Titirangi

Congratulations to Metiria Turei on doing the best as a mother. Any sane person cannot begrudge that, but we live in an insane, cruel society where the rich take pleasure in avoiding paying their fair share and begrudge beneficiaries anything illegal no matter how piffling and insignificant. Godzone is becoming a place for the rich, landed gentry who have no heart left for those in need.

Steve Russell, Hillcrest