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Greens Ideology before Health.
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Now a few weeks back we had John Gormley going on about Fluoridation and mis-representing the opinions of the American Dental Association. Now it looks like the Greens are trying limit the damage caused by a interview Patricia McKenna did on the Last Word on Today FM. In the interview in which she tried to defend the Fluoridation policy against the PD’s “celebrity” Dentist Keith Redmond. During the course of the interview (Transcript here) she said.
Many parents in this country have chosen not to vaccinate their children in relation to the MMR because of the links to autism.
Which as Matt pointed out has been totally dis-proved.
She also went on Vaccines.
Look — the side effects that are linked to the measles are in relation to… there are other things linked to it in relation to the child’s well being initially. Now you just look at the number of people when you were young, all of your peers I would say have had the measles as with mine, and I think we have a tendency to over-indulge in vaccinating our children and vaccinating ourselves, because what we need — our immune systems are getting weaker and weaker by the day, it’s a — I think we need to be very careful about how we actually approach this so that when medicines are necessary, we will not be immune to them…
For all the work that the Greens have been doing to move themselves to the political mainstream they still have the hippy homoeopathic element in the party. They claim the science arguement quiet rightly on climate change but when ever anything comes along that is off their political radar they totally abadon science to a far greater extent then any other party. No other party would jump away from the scientific fact more then the Green party. Sure some parties might ignore it or down play it. But no other party in this country would totally discredit a scientific argument. MMR is safe, ask a doctor and they will recommend your child to have it remember these people in the green party are not doctors yet they talk as if they are experts. This argument about not giving it to your kids as it will trouble your immune system is bogus. In a review of 31 studies a report in 2005 stated “There was no credible evidence behind claims of harm from the MMR vaccination”. But of course the Greens would rather go on about how “I think” and ” I am not satisfied”. Remember Patrica McKenna is a former teacher. Yet seems to be saying that here scientific opinion is up there with all the doctors and experts in the field. If you wanted you kids ended up in hospideal sick who would you want to treat you. A doctor or a teacher? I think we know the answer to that question. yet are we going to take the opinion of a teacher over that of a doctor just because that teacher is a member of a political party? Take Russia after the fall of the soviet Union the health system collapsed and immunisation for various conditions slowed. Since then diphtheria cases have risen and more than 125,000 cases and 4,000 deaths. That is what happens when you stop successful vaccinations schemes. People die.
The reason that the Greens are doing this is that they are the most ideological charged party in Ireland. While other parties have ideologies they are not rigid. Take the PD’s free marketers yet they brought in risk-equalisation. Yet the Greens on the issue of Flurodation and MMR are putting ideology above all. And it is not the obvious ones. Fluoridation is not about mass medication as they sometimes allud to. It is the same thing that debates their policy about MMR. It is the fact that it is not natural. It is not from the soil. It is not earthy. It is something unnatural man made that it interfering in all things natural. In there eyes anything that is not natural is to be dealt with suspicion.
For all their good work from the likes of Trevor Sargent, Ciaran Cuffe and Eamon Ryan. The crazies element of the Greens is always going to bring them down and deny them many votes. For all the interesting policies and well worked press releases. The likes of John Gormley and Patrica McKenna will always bringing them down in the peoples estimations by going down this crazy avenue. A tip to the Greens if you really want to be ready to govern. They you have to be willing to ditch the hippy element. Because people will expect you to come out with policies on using herbal medicines in hospitals rather then actually science.
Nice post SImon, I’d completely agree – having meet and talked with Ciaran, I’d have to say I was impressed with him as well as Trevor, Eamonn and Dan. If they were the only side of the party that one had to vote for, I would change my party tomorrow as the Greens have a strong appeal for what used to be considered the blueshirt voter with a social conscious.
Time for the Greens to ditch the sandals and the implicit mistrust of science, where would wind power and the other alternative enegry sources be without the hard science behind them ?
If you read the transcript it’s obvious that McKenna is just tragically mixed up – she’s talking about vaccines as if they were antibiotics. So much for McKenna. But the Greens have made it clear, for example in the Sindo article you link, that her comments were not in line with party policy. Which is why this bit of your post is completely unwarranted:
“It is the same thing that debates their policy about MMR. It is the fact that it is not natural. It is not from the soil. It is not earthy. It is something unnatural man made that it interfering in all things natural. In there eyes anything that is not natural is to be dealt with suspicion.”
As for “Fluoridation is not about mass medication as they sometimes allud to” – how do you figure that? Fluoridation is mass medication, whichever way you look at it.
While I’m here I may as well once again point out that the Greens didn’t “mis-represent the opinions of the American Dental Association”
As for “Fluoridation is not about mass medication as they sometimes allud to”
My point was that their objection is not based primarily on the mass medication argument.
But the Greens have made it clear, for example in the Sindo article you link, that her comments were not in line with party policy.
Also my post was on the “crazies” and the impact on green party image. not party policy
“Also my post was on the “crazies” and the impact on green party image. not party policy”
If so, that’s far from clear from the text. This I took to be your main point:
“The reason that the Greens are doing this is that they are the most ideological charged party in Ireland. While other parties have ideologies they are not rigid. “
No distinction there between the party and any “crazies” who might represent it. I would largely concede that McKenna is not somebody who burnishes the party’s image for rational-minded voters like myself, but I don’t think it’s fair to lump Gormley in with her just because you disagree with him on fluoridation.
What is not clear in
For all their good work from the likes of Trevor Sargent, Ciaran Cuffe and Eamon Ryan. The crazies element of the Greens is always going to bring them down and deny them many votes. For all the interesting policies and well worked press releases. The likes of John Gormley and Patrica McKenna will always bringing them down in the peoples estimations by going down this crazy avenue
And we are not talking about backbenchers here remember. We are talking about potential green ministers and junior ministers.
That section is pretty clear in itself, but the bulk of your post talks about “the Greens” and “the Green Party”. And your headline is “Greens Ideology before Health”, not “Certain Green Party representatives are crazies and put ideology before health”.
Oh, and when you’re talking about Patricia McKenna you are certainly not talking about a “potential green minister or junior minister”. Perhaps in a parallel universe.