I would like to wish all Hawke's Bay Today readers a very Merry Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday break.
Stuart Nash, (very proudly) Napier
Get informed!
I felt I must comment on two things a texter has brought up, the first being that anyone would treat Wikipedia as the stand-alone authority on anything, let alone everything.
It is common knowledge that you can go in and change things on it.
The second much more serious flaw was the breast cancer link with abortion.
There are several international studies. the latest led by Lilit Khachatryan helped by researchers from John Hopkins and Pennsylvania University.
This is published in Taylor and Francis and shows that one abortion increased the breast cancer risk by 2.86 times or nearly three times the risk.
Another researcher is Angela Lanfranchi who investigated further after realising her breast cancer patients were getting younger and started asking them if they had an abortion.
The information is out there but it is a very scary topic and one a lot of people are choosing to ignore.
So, as with any surgical procedure, get fully informed. Ask lots of questions. It makes sense to ask these of someone not connected to the "service provider".
If you have had, or are contemplating having, an abortion get checked for breast changes sooner than you would normally and especially if there is a family history.
This is not scaremongering but respected research not being shared with those who should be told.
Jenny Epplett, Hastings
Columnist off target
Being the season of goodwill, it is disappointing that your newspaper's environmental columnist, Bruce Bisset, continues to oppose the actions of both local councils and farmers.
Hawke's Bay's economy relies heavily on produce from the farming sector. Likewise, successful farming provides a large slice of the pie to finance the councils' activities.
As a result the past 20 years have seen considerable efficiencies created for both sectors.
Can the claim of climate change which has existed for the same 20 years be substantiated, or is it just an urban myth?
Claims that average temperatures have increased by 1C in the past 100 years prove little. The past week has been hardly tropical and for the threat of melting polar ice, how come a ship is trapped in Antarctic waters in mid-summer?
Living all my life on the banks of the Tukituki River, my observations for more than 60 years are that every summer following 2-3 weeks without rain, there is an immediate build-up of river weed.
It makes fishing not so enjoyable, but following rain the river clears. The dairy boom has occurred in the past 20 years with little effect on the water quality.
In January 1998, Health Care Hawke's Bay issued a public health warning: 10km of the Tukituki River downstream from the Waipukurau oxidation pond had been contaminated following a malfunction in the sewerage treatment system - not caused by farming.
Health warnings on river quality are not common, mostly caused by low river levels and high temperatures.
The CHB District Council is now growing trees that will benefit from the application of product sourced from the local oxidation pond.
Mr Bisset's allegations of overstocking and indiscriminate farming practices as commonplace is, like climate change, unsubstantiated.
Current stocking levels throughout New Zealand farms are below levels of 1990. We have a hungry world that needs our attention.
Ross Angus, Tamumu
Parking shortfall
I am writing concerning the lack of free parking on the roadside and in the grounds of the regional maternity ward and intensive-care unit.
We recently gave birth to our second child. As there were no parks in the carpark, we parked in the designated spot when first arriving.
Once inside and under the care of the midwife I went out to move the car to free up the park (emergency park only). As there were no parks on the grounds nearby I parked in the only available park on the street outside (Canning Rd), which had a time limit on it.
After my wife gave birth, I headed out to get some things for her, only to find I had a parking fine which completely took the shine off what should be one of the happiest times a family can have.
Upon further inspection I found that all the parks along Canning Rd have a time limit on them and as I came and went over the next three days I noticed the carpark was generally filled with vehicles of the staff who worked there or nearby.
I am happy to pay the fine but do think this area should be reassessed or create some more parks specifically for families giving birth.
Campbell Bremner, Hawke's Bay
