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Consumer Health Digest #15-15
April 12, 2015
Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. If you enjoy this newsletter, please recommend it to your friends.
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Australia tightening vaccine exemption rulesAustralian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Health Minister Scott Morrison have announced that the Australian Government will stop giving child-care subsidies to most families whose parents refuse to vaccinate their children.
[No jab – no play and no pay for child care
http://scottmorrison.dss.gov.au/media-releases/no-jab-no-play-and-no-pay-for-child-careMedia release, April 12, 2015]
As of January 1, 2016, "conscientious objection" will be removed as an exemption category for three types of payments:
Child Care Benefit,
Child Care Rebate, and the
Family Tax Benefit Part A end-of-year supplement.
Existing exemptions on medical or religious grounds will continue. However, a religious objection will only be available for families affiliated with a religious group that has a formally registered objection approved by the Government. The Ministers' release noted:
"While vaccination rates in Australia have increased since the Childhood Immunization Register was established in 1996, vaccine objection rates for children under the age of seven have increased steadily, especially under the conscientious objector category.
More than 39,000 children aged under seven are not vaccinated because their parents are vaccine objectors. This is an increase of more than 24,000 children over 10 years. The Government is extremely concerned at the risk this poses to other young children and the broader community.
Parents who vaccinate their children should have confidence that they can take their children to child care without the fear that their children will be at risk of contracting a serious or potentially life-threatening illness because of the conscientious objections of others. "###
New York State budget supports fluoridationThe New York State Assembly has voted to approve Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2016 New York State's Executive Budget, which contains two provisions related to fluoridation:
$5 million in grants will be available to provide assistance to community water systems incurring costs for the installation, repair, and upgrade of drinking water fluoridation systems.
Public officials in any fluoridated community cannot take a final vote to cease fluoridation without first providing the state Department of Health at least 90 days advance notice of their intention. This measure will make it harder for anti-fluoride activists to operate in a stealth manner and push for a final vote before local medical and dental professionals have a chance to weigh in.
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NutriMost Fat Loss System blastedChirobase has posted a detailed report on the NutriMost Ultimate Fat Loss System, which is being marketed through chiropractic offices.
[Barrett S. A critical look at the NutriMost Fat Loss System
http://www.chirobase.org/06DD/nutrimost/overview.htmlChirobase, April 10, 2015]
The system is centered around use of a Zyto device
http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/zyto/overview.shtmlthat is said to detect "stresses" and "imbalances" and recommend corrective formulas and foods. The recommended diet is low in carbohydrates and aims for about 500 calories per day. Diets this low in calories are not much different from total starvation and are dangerous. The program, which costs about $2,000, is claimed to produce "typical results" of 25 to 45 pounds of fat loss in 40 days without exercise, strenuous dieting, or radical changes in life style. The Federal Trade Commission has determined that the claim that a product "safely enables consumers to lose more than 3 pounds a week for more than 4 weeks" cannot be true because that rate of loss can result in gallstones and other health complications. The Zyto device has FDA 510(k) clearance for measuring skin resistance to low-voltage currents but is not cleared for any diagnostic or therapeutic purpose.
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Continuing request for help from Dr. BarrettIn June 2010, Doctor's Data, Inc. sued Dr. Barrett because it didn't like what he wrote about them on Quackwatch and in this newsletter. The events leading up to the suit are described at
http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/dd_suit.html In November, 2011, about half of the allegations were dismissed, but discovery was permitted for more than a year. The rest of the suit is ripe for dismissal (the court is now considering another motion to dismiss), but the proceedings have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even small donations, if sent by enough subscribers to this newsletter, will be very helpful. Contributions to reduce the cost can be made by mail or through
http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/donations.html###
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=================================
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
Chatham Crossing, Suite 107/208
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Editor, Consumer Health Digest
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http://scottmorrison.dss.gov.au/media-releases/no-jab-no-play-and-no-pay-for-child-care[*QUOTE*]
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The Hon Scott Morrison MP : Minister for Social Services
Media Releases
Home » Media Releases » No jab – no play and no pay for child care
No jab – no play and no pay for child care12 April 2015
Joint Media Release with:
Prime Minister the Hon Tony Abbott MP
The Commonwealth Government will end the conscientious objector exemption on children’s vaccination for access to taxpayer funded Child Care Benefits, the Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement from 1 January 2016.Parents who vaccinate their children should have confidence that they can take their children to child care without the fear that their children will be at risk of contracting a serious or potentially life-threatening illness because of the conscientious objections of others.
From 1 January 2016, ‘conscientious objection’ will be removed as an exemption category for child care payments (Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate) and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement.
Immunisation requirements for the payment of FTB Part A end-of-year supplement will also be extended to include children of all ages. Currently, vaccination status is only checked at ages 1, 2 and 5 years.
Existing exemptions on medical or religious grounds will continue, however a religious objection will only be available where the person is affiliated with a religious groups where the governing body has a formally registered objection approved by the Government.
This means that vaccine objectors will not be able to access these government payments.
The new policy will tighten up the rules and reinforce the importance of immunisation and protecting public health, especially for children.
Australia now has childhood vaccination rates over 90 per cent, from one to five years of age, but more needs to be done to ensure we protect our children and our community from preventable diseases.
While vaccination rates in Australia had increased since the Childhood Immunisation Register was established by the Howard Government in 1996, vaccine objection rates for children under the age of seven had also increased steadily, especially under the conscientious objector category.
The vast majority of FTB families meet the current immunisation requirement at relevant age points (around 97 per cent).
However more than 39,000 children aged under seven are not vaccinated because their parents are vaccine objectors. This is an increase of more than 24,000 children over 10 years.
The Government is extremely concerned at the risk this poses to other young children and the broader community.
The choice made by families not to immunise their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments.
For more information on child care assistance and family payments, visit
http://www.humanservices.gov.au© Commonwealth of Australia 2015
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