Should we inhale? The evidence says ‘no way’
IT is intriguing that the councils, government and environmental science community are continually warning of the hidden dangers to community health and wellbeing arising from the inhalation of PM10 particles and PM2.5 particles from air pollution over both short and long periods of time, both by night and by day (ODT, 29.8.20).
We have many highly respected citizens, such as Helen Clark, who are advocating the legalisation of the inhalation of cannabis chemical and particulate vapours directly into the lungs by (according to Miss Clark) up to 80% of the New Zealand population.
Further, we have a huge lobby advocating the readily available access to vaping technology on the spurious argument that endorsing the intake of chemical particulates directly into the lungs will help people stop breathing in chemical and particulate particles from tobacco.
It seems that the warnings, as described by science and medical experts such as Dr Ian Longley and Associate Prof Simon Hales, are being deemed irrelevant to be applied to cannabis and vaping inhalation even though the method of actually getting the pollutants into the lungs is almost 100% more efficient.
Traditionally, pollution was thought to just affect respiratory health, but continual research has revealed serious impacts occur on the cardiovascular system.
Longterm chronic effects are found for both lung disease and heart disease. That the devastating health effects such as emphysema, heart surgery and lung transplants won’t be needed until many years of smoke and particulate inhalation has been experienced.
How do these decisionmakers and advocates for vaping and smoking cannabis and tobacco reconcile such endorsements, when the 21stcentury scientific evidence is so profound?
Is the drive to minimise air pollution simply the best we can do for a community situation which we just have to live with?
Stan Randle
Alexandra
Wealthy visitors
WE read ‘‘Applications for investor visas soar’’ as wealthy foreigners seek to buy a safe haven here (ODT, 26.8.20).
New Zealand has enough wealthy citizens already, settled in their lifestyle blocks or mansions with milliondollar sea views and private beaches.
We don’t want the gap between the wealthy ‘‘upper class’’ and the poor, the ‘‘working class’’, growing by importing more.
I know some millionaires/ billionaires are incredibly generous. In fact, 84 of them begged to be taxed so that the Government had the money to spend to help reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.
I’m waiting for a party brave enough to suggest that sort of tax reform! Kathleen Kenrick
Roslyn
Contact tracing
WHILE my wife was at the dentist, I took the opportunity to go supermarket shopping on my own, a rare delight.
I went to Countdown (central) and Pak’nSave. Although happy with my purchases at both stores, I was also disappointed, if not embarrassed, at both stores.
I am 67 years old and by no means a tech wizard, but myself and one other lady (approximately my era) were the only ones to use the Covid19 app on our phones or sign in. We also used the hand sanitiser provided.
Everyone else simply wandered in with basket or trolley.
I realise we are not snowed under with Covid19 cases but we could be.
Come on, Dunedin. Do your bit. Sign in, clean hands and keep your distance — it isn’t a lot to ask but could save us all an awful lot of heartbreak.
John Muskett
Hampden ...................................
BIBLE READING: Encourage one another and build each other up. — 1 Thessalonians 5.11.