Modern Health Care - The ambulance at the foot of the cliff.
Have you had a feeling that something about your health was not quite right and your GP said there was "nothing wrong". Are you just imagining..?  Often times our health declines and recovers without intervention, but all to frequently health deteriorates and we adapt and live with a slowly growing disability that we sometimes just put down to ageing.

While many minor injuries and illnesses heal without intervention, many become chronic and our modern medical doctors often fail to diagnose any symptoms which gives rise to ideas that general practitioners are either not very good at diagnosis, or that they prefer to wait until patients suffer acute or debilitating symptoms before offering assistance, which by then for some it is to late.

Of course diagnosis is not easy, and many doctors are reluctant to refer patients for further diagnosis or treatment because the modern medical system is already overburdened. In fact our hospitals have long waiting lists and by telling us that we are ok when we know we are not must be either a failure to diagnose or a deliberate lie in the hope that the problem will resolve itself.

So why do we go to doctors? In the Western world, there are millions dissatisfied with the modern medical system which is why alternative medical practices are developing.

The key difference between modern medicine and traditional or so called alternative medicine, is that traditional medicine looks for the overall imbalance or cause of the symptoms whereas modern medicine looks at the symptoms and tries to fix them with drugs or surgery.

A life out of balance leads to suffering, it may be the effects of sitting at a desk for eight hours per day in poor light, or eating a highly refined diet, saturation with pollutants, unhappy relationships and many other lifestyle choices which cause imbalance and over time the manifestation of physical symptoms which cause us to seek help.

Our bodies are self regulating and self repairing organisms that if we provide the right environment and nutrition, will remain fit and healthy over our life span.

What is Good Health?
Good health may be defined as life in balance or harmony, however this is not a universal experience, there is a great deal of ill health and suffering caused by poverty, malnutrition, greed, injustice, pollution and stresses which wreck havoc on our human biology and ecosystem on which we are totally dependent. We live in an era where traditional medicines are being pushed aside by the medical corporations.

How do we stay healthy when much of our processed food is junk? Excess sugar causes diabetes, tooth decay and weakens the human body. Much of our food is grown with oil based agrochemicals and pesticides of which one exposure to or ingestion of is unnoticeable, but over time these toxins accumulate in the environment and our bodies.

A new threat to our biology are the genetically modified or irradiated foods. This is a new science of which the consequences to our health and survival are largely unknown and it may take a thousand years for a risk assessment to be completed, yet these are being forced upon us.

In the developed world dis-ease is growing rapidly despite the best efforts to control the many symptoms which continue to emerge, compromising and limiting life quality and span.  Although we have a greater quantity of foods, the nutritional quality of our foods is deteriorating.

Awareness is growing retrospectively as to the consequences of pollution and the over use of the industrial and agricultural chemicals now found in our food chain diminish our health.  The understanding of this has been cried out loudly by the natural health movement, green activists and those with a genuine concern for humanity for many years but ignored by politicians and the larger population.

Imbalance may not seem significant for many years until acute symptoms appear. Symptoms are many; change, headaches, irregular periods, weakness or increasing emotional, mental physical or social concerns.

The human condition and health.

Humanity has come from a hunter gatherer society to our modern industrial civilization where industry and consumerism are about to destroy us and our world.

Throughout the world, disease is widespread and new diseases continue to emerge as disease and it's carriers thrive in poverty and ignorance. The cost of health is rising as pollution causes cancers and weakens our bodies making us more susceptible to disease and illness.

The New Zealand population despite the clean country's clean green image suffers greatly from chronic asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, skin problems and other conditions which in our opinion, this is due to the previous indiscriminate high use of agricultural and industrial chemicals.  Today, despite the growing awareness, public concern, the actions of more responsible government,  New Zealand farmers still use chemicals banned in many countries, (like 245t) Industry and automobiles continue to pollute the environment and our food chain to the extent that over 90% of NZ produced foods are contaminated with some chemical residues which are allowable under current legislation .

For a completely healthy person, one or two chemical residues are harmless, but when most of the food is contaminated, and the air we breathe is contaminated, and often the ground and buildings we live in are contaminated,  these residues can accumulate in the body and react with each other to cause symptoms without any obvious cause (as with asthma).  And at the present time where everyone suffers some ill health, and we are seeing the fertility rate fall and children born with illness,  action is long overdue.

The actions of governments to address the current human crises are inadequate as government can only govern with the will of the people and are not totally to blame. However it is the responsibility of government and the people to plan for the future generations as well as deal with our day to day emergencies.

As citizens self care is our own individual responsibility, no one can do it for us.  The actions we must take for the health our selves and our families, is to take care and as much as possible to avoid purchasing contaminated foods and to reduce as much as possible contaminants in our immediate environment.

Responsible action means that you are more likely to purchase from eco friendly suppliers,  who will then produce a greater quantity and range of products, while the chemical industry will slowly diminish and the health of the whole population improve. 

Government must also play it's part, in a democracy, a government is supposed to fulfill the wishes of the people. However in reality, democratic governments work more as co-operative dictatorships.  However there is no point in electing a new government or political party to power, all that ever happens is a slight shift in focus and the public get more confused.

Here it is up to us individuals to act,  vote for commonsense leadership, and more importantly chose to purchase goods that support life. Unfortunately we cannot step away from wage slavery,  but we can be more active in paying off mortgages and developing a more healthy lifestyle where there is real joy in waking to the new day. 

Although we have a greater quantity of foods, the nutritional quality of our foods is deteriorating.

The ruling elite are more concerned with profits and power than the life span or life quality of those they rule over. 

To reduce the poisoning of the population are mostly economic, as at some point in time government will have to foot the bill for ongoing disease treatment. Economically,  government is slowly realizing that a healthy population can be more productive and make the national economy more profitable, so there is hope.

But the public are either bound to wage slavery and forced to take the cheapest foods on offer. The cheaper foods however tend to be the most processed/chemicalised foods available as they are the cheapest to produce.  Many others are simply to bound up in their dreams to care, (or to learn to care).

And industry would like people to simply be conformist production units where in the interests of greater profits, chemical and now GE farming will mean that they will be able to pay lower wages on which the workers will be able to survive for a determinable economic lifespan.