My Account
Halt rollout of 5G
Regarding the column ‘5G: Much ado about nothing’ by Ralph Cooney (MM August 21). Contrary to what Professor Cooney says, there is a great deal of concern in the community, nationally and globally about the 5G rollout and for good reason. One of the main organisations referred to by the “anti-5G locals” and global communities is the Environmental Health Trust (ehtrust.org). Dr Devra Davis founded the non-profit Environmental Health Trust in 2007 and is an expert with incredible credentials. Thousands of peer-reviewed studies, including the recently published US Toxicology Program – a 16-year, $30 million study – show a wide range of statistically significant DNA damage, brain and heart tumours, infertility, and so many other ailments that are being ignored by the FCC. The safety guidelines that the telecommunication companies and our government refer to when they tell us that 5G meets the current standards were made in 1999 and don’t take into account the latest research that proves wireless radiation is harmful. To date, there has been no informed public consultation. There has been no risk assessment. More than 220 of the world’s leading scientists signed an appeal to the World Health Organisation and the UN to protect public health from wireless radiation and nothing has been done. Their key points were: 1. Present levels of RF radiation are already toxic. 2. Harm to humans and other biology is already proven. 3. Harm is evidenced below the current safety limits. 4. 5G will substantially increase exposures. We have never been exposed long-term to the proposed level of 5G radiation. Professor Cooney says without 5G “the future of the Rodney region for our young people would be very bleak indeed”. On the contrary, the health and wellbeing of our children and our future generations is dependent on us halting the rollout of 5G in our community, and our country.
Lis Martinac, Mangawhai
Progress on pigs
We are responding to the recent Mahurangi Matters article entitled ‘Diseased feral pigs cause chaos in Puhoi’ (MM August 21). We want to add an update to the content of the article. At the well attended public meeting held in the Puhoi Centennial Hall on August 4 to discuss feral pigs, it was unanimously agreed by the end of the meeting that there had been an increase in the number of feral pigs in certain parts of the Puhoi/Ahuroa area – and this did pose a problem for the community. Those in attendance also endorsed the formation of a working group to address the matter. That working group was to include representatives from Auckland Council, DOC, police, the QEII National Trust, recreational hunters and local landowners. This community-led group has since had its first meeting, where there was a commitment to creating a plan to support landowners to more effectively control the feral pig population in the local area. The plan will include landowner liaison and agreement to enable this community-driven project to be effective and, once a draft plan is complete, the working group will return to the community for comment.
Ian Hutchinson, spokesperson for the Puhoi/Ahuroa Pig Control Working Group.
Unfit to eat?
I read with interest the article regarding feral pigs decimating Puhoi ( ) and that many appeared sick and diseased. My brother farms in Northland, and he shoots many wild pigs which enter his property. He no longer eats any wild pig meat, as he says the pigs eat dead possums etc., which are killed by 1080. The pigs ingest this poison and are no longer fit to consume. I wonder if the Puhoi pigs have also eaten 1080 contaminated animals?
Don Raynes, Warkworth
DOC biodiversity ranger Thelma Wilson responds: 1080 is not a toxin that has been used in Puhoi. However, 1080 is only one of a range of toxins used for pest control, and pigs can easily encounter these toxins either by direct exposure or by scavenging dead animals. As pigs can travel a considerable distance, it is unlikely hunters can really be sure what toxins or other food they have previously eaten. The risk should be reduced when the hunter examines the intestines/organs of their kill. Animals that have been eating anticoagulants (one of the most commonly used toxins) are likely to look different.
Invitation misdirected
I read with bemusement the article in Mahurangi Matters where Brian Mason of the Landowners and Contractors Protection Association says that “he hasn’t heard ‘boo’ from any of the Rodney First candidates”. (Council candidates lukewarm on meeting constitutents, MM August 21). On checking with my colleagues, only one of us received an invitation to the event, and that was Phelan Pirrie, our Kumeu candidate, on Tuesday, August 20. Rodney First is not standing a candidate in the Wellsford subdivision and the member for Wellsford has been re-elected unopposed, so there is no local board candidate debate to be had up there. It would be unheard of for candidates not contesting the electorate to participate in a debate outside their subdivision. Wellsford residents cannot vote for Warkworth subdivision candidates even if they wanted to. It would be like inviting the Hamilton mayoral candidates to debate the Auckland mayoral candidates. We all have our own campaigns to run where we are hoping to be elected. Our focus is on that, and I look forward to it.
Beth Houlbrooke, Rodney Local Board candidate, Warkworth subdivision
