by Dan Flynn

For everyone who went through the controversies surrounding passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act in the United States, what is happening now in New Zealand is going to sound very familiar.

New Zealand has introduced a food safety bill updating the nation's Food Act of 1981. The food safety reforms have broad-based support, including from such backers as Robert Bradley and Murray Burns, who own the country's largest and oldest produce market.

Just as occurred in the U.S., however, opposition from small producers and operators of roadside and farmer's markets has bubbled up in New Zealand.  It has included a petition drive that claims to have gathered 30,000 signatures, and an anonymously sponsored website that includes what the government says is misinformation about the food safety bill.All of which led NZ's Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson this week to push back on what she says is an organized campaign of scaremongering. 

"Most of what they claim is untrue and causing many people unnecessary concern," she said.Among the claims being made against the NZ food safety bill are:- People would be prohibited from growing their own food and trading it with their neighbors.- Registration would be required to provide homemade food for charitable and community events.- Food safety officers will be empowered to conduct armed raids without warrants and with full immunity from prosecution.

Wilkinson wants New Zealanders who are concerned about the bill to read the draft and suggest changes. She says both the Labour and Green Parties have food safely spokesmen people can speak with.Some "misunderstanding" about the NZ food safety bill may be based on language that is in the proposal. For example, food safety officers would get limited civil and criminal immunity when operating in good faith in the exercise of their duties. This is similar to existing NZ law in other areas, including animals, biosecurity and commerce.The NZ food safety bill has cross-party support and has passed the Parliament's gate-keeping Primary Production Select Committee after its full consultation process.New Zealand, with a population of just under five million, suffered  losses of $162 million in 2010 due to foodborne illnesses.

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Introduction by Tim Lynch

This newspaper piece shocked me awake to what is being put in our daily bread. Coming from a country that has always thought of "itself as clean and Green" brought forward the realization that we have become too complacent and it is up to us as community to read labels and/or get proper labeling.  Read on from the New Zealand Herald:

New Zealand Herald, July 21 2009 Letters to the Editor.

From R B Elliott Professor Emeritus, Child Health Research Remuera Auckland

Breads Toxicity

The standard demanding the addition of micrograms of the B vitamin folate to bread to prevent neural tube defects and possibly many other diseases has been greeted in some quarters as heresy. To put this in perspective, we should look at what else is added to bread to increase the profit of wheat growers, millers and bakers without any health benefit whatsoever.

In the wheat field, any one or more of the pesticides listed in the 11 pages of the European Union data base for these agents are used. Pre- and post- emergent herbicides are also used, as well as toxic fungicides.

Millers use anti bacterial and anti fungal agents and add similar agents to the milled flour to prevent spoilage. Any folic acid in wheat is removed in milling.

At the bakery, 'improvers' are added to produce an airier loaf. These are usually a mix of chemicals, including a large amount of ascorbic acid - Vitamin C. Oxidised vitamin C is quite toxic. Wheat farmer Bill English, when Minister of Health for the National Government, asked "Why would we worry about a bit of B vitamin that will do some good? You should see what is added to wheat at the farm".

The use of color therapy has been around for a very long time, with the earliest recording dated 2500 years ago, when, color halls were established for healing purposes all over ancient Egypt and China.

Color therapy, also known as chromotherapy, is often facilitated in the healing rooms of alternative health practitioners. Color therapy is classified as a vibrational healing modality. Color is simply a form of visible light, of electromagnetic energy. All the primary colors reflected in the rainbow carry their own unique healing properties. The sun alone is a wonderful healer! Just imagine what life would be like without sunshine.

Color Healing, Light Therapy and Chromotherapy  are all terms used interchangeably with Color Therapy, which is a set of principles used to create harmonious color and color combinations for healing. This form of energy medicine is based on the belief that the human body is composed of energy fields. When the energy is properly distributed and circulating freely, the body is healthy. Imbalances or abnormal amounts of energy are believed to indicate an excess or deficency. Color is energy. The energy vibration of that color is what you need, in the moment, in order to improve and balance your physical and emotional state.


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Music in the Nursery

A tiny infant lies in a neonatal ward. The heat of an incubator replaces the warmth of her mother's arms; tubes filled with nutrients replace her mother's milk. Every breath is a struggle. Her underdeveloped heart beats erratically. All around her are other infants in distress - the monitors attached to them bleep in time with their struggle to live. Fear is on the faces of anxious parents hovering as close as possible. Nurses scurry to and fro, dealing with crises every moment.

The peace and tranquility of their mother's wombs is replaced with the whoosh and hiss of respirators, bleeping monitors, parents crying, nurses giving and receiving instructions. Even though these infants are not fully conscious of their surroundings, these sounds affect their ability to relax and sleep. And sleep is essential to helping them gain strength and live.In the midst of this, a harpist enters the ward. She begins to softly play an ancient lullaby. After a few moments, the monitors steady. Nearly all of the infants breathe more easily; their heartrates steady, and they rest. Many of them fall into deep sleep - the first they have had since the harpist last was here.

The nurses relax, and smiles of relief grace the faces of the parents when they see the tiny souls absorbing the healing power of this beautiful music.

Music and Alzheimers

A group of Alzheimers patients are gathered in the assembly room of a nursing home. One tiny, frail woman sits off to the side in her wheelchair. Her eyes are vacant - her mind somewhere far from her body and the room in which it rests.

The activities director introduces a young couple. He carries a guitar, and walks with his wife to the piano. The young woman sits down, and plays a few notes. Most of the residents have not even looked up - they don't hear most of what anyone says - or if they do, they cannot, or will not, respond. But the two volunteers are unconcerned; they smile at each other and the seniors, and they begin to play and sing. A rousing rendition of "Oh, Susannah" has several of the residents looking up - flickers of recognition cross their faces. A few choruses of "How Great Thou Art" inspires many of them to stand and walk or wheel their chairs toward the piano. Soon several are singing along to "Amazing Grace". A few country and western tunes bring several more residents into the present, and "In the Mood" has nearly everyone dancing along. Everyone, that is, except the frail, tiny woman in the wheelchair in the corner.

The guitarist is concerned, and calls over a nurse who tells him that the little woman is German, and doesn't know most American songs. She has also reverted back to speaking German - unable to converse any longer in English, for she cannot remember the words.
The young man smiles and signals to his wife. The next tune is the "Blue Danube." He watches closely, and sees that the frail old woman's eyes begin to focus. She watches as several of the residents begin to waltz together - wheelchairs and all. When "The Beer Barrel Polka" starts, this tiny woman, who hasn't smiled or connected in any way with anyone for months, wheels her chair toward the piano. Singing all the way. The other residents clap, and sing along with her, all of them excited to recognize her and each other. The party continues for an hour, when the young couple must go to their day jobs.

Link to source:  http://bit.ly/ngoSrn