The Crossroad Inn

I don't know why it takes Government so long to get with the program on certain issues. One of them is food color. As a mother of food sensitive hyperactive autistics,  I know what food colors can do. if you give my child green or red food color in cordials or other foods you can actually watch the physical and mental changes in them. Within 15 minutes a normal placid happy child will be a ranting running yelling jumping, climbing the walls tarzan on steroids.

Everyone knows this, even parents of non sensitive children, so why does it take "decades" as quoted in the following article to finally ban food colors due to the danger they present to children. The damage is done, we have a generation of children affected by these products. What about preservatives? Will they get banned now too or is that hoping too much in a modern day society that relies on these things to make it pretty and last longer?

Is the Government worried about a mass legal suit for all the citizens claiming that they knew full well, as they do and did that these products are dangerous to the human body and brain.

Is the toll on the health services getting too much. Is the government finally waking up and realizing how much control they have given up to companies like food producers and the drug companies?

13 billion dollar a year global industry in food additives alone. Can you imagine the impact all of that actually has had on health. That is not just the ADHD kids, How about auto immune diseases, arthritis, MS and other chronic diseases that aare ascerbated by theese products that harm not help the human body. 

http://www.independent.co.uk

Food agency calls for ban on six artificial colours

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Food Standards Agency recommended ministers call for manufacturers to remove six artificial colours by the end of 2009 and lobby for a European Union-wide ban. The FSA's advice to parents will be strengthened to warn them about the dangers of the E-numbers tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).

These colours and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) were linked to hyperactivity in a £750,000 study by Southampton University, which found they made primary school children become distracted and fail a computer attention test.

The researchers estimated that 30 per cent of cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would be prevented if companies removed the colours used in the £13bn-a-year global additives industry.

08:43 AM - Two Faced Now Open
Category: News and Politics

Two Faced

According to her parent’s their little girl Lali, is fine and drinks from both mouths. All four eyes open and shut. The father has declined to have his daughter examined with with CT Scan to check if her internal organs are all right.



The child is now worhipped by villagers as a Goddess Incarnate and a gift from the Fire Goddess worhipped in the area, Durga, who is depicted in Art work as having THREE eyes and many arms.
Durga - Wikipedia







This bring me to the recent story of the little girl named Lakshmi who was born in another Indian village with four legs and arms after she never sucessfully separated from her twin at conception.



That little girl was also worshipped as a Goddess Incarnate and her village was swamped with thousands of people from miles around come to view to new little Goddess Incarnate.




In that case modern medicine won the battle. But at what cost. The parents decided and rightly so that it was in their daughters best interests to undergo surgery to correct nature’s mistake and to separate her from her twin as should have occured at conception. That little girl is now going well back in her village all but one major thing.



Her parents are now shunned in disgust by villagers. They committed a cardinal sin by the corrective surgery, a sin against their God. They are not spoken to in their village now. Their life is misery and poverty but their little girl can at least grow up to be happy and healthy.

Lakshmi’s parents Shambhu and Poonam named her after the four-armed goddess of wealth, and it was their love for her that stopped them from selling Lakshmi to the highest bidder.

"We took her to a hospital in Delhi after her birth but some circus owners got to hear about her. They wanted to turn her into a freak show and offered us money, but we brought her back to the village," says Shambhu, who has a farm in Bihar’s Terai region.

Too scared to take her to a hospital again, the couple hid her in the village until paediatric surgeon Sharan Patil from the Bangalore-based Sparsh Hospital heard of her and offered to operate for free. Along with the Sparsh team, surgeons and experts from Dr Devi Shetty’s Narayana Hrudalaya will participate in the surgery.

Lakshmi’s Story

 

What the Hell? Her parent did the right thing for their daughter and now they are shunned and treated with disgust because of religion?

few weeks ago there was a story of a little girl who got sick. She just started sleeping a lot and being sick, so her parents prayed for her and kept on praying for her. Relatives finally called 911 and child services and the child was taken to hospital but it was to late. She died. She died of a common and very treatable form of diabetes. Her parents prayed for her. They were interviewed and said they hold no guilt for their choice to pray for their daughter rather than seek help. They said it was in God’s hands as that is what the bible said.
Parent’s Pray Over Sick Girl







Morman Polygamy Camp Raided
Then this week we have the case of Warren Jeffs, who in the name of relgion and the book of Revelations started a cult of break away mormons and polygimists in Utah and Texas along with other states. Mr Jeffs has been convicted and sentenced in sex crimes of knowingly having a 14 year old girl married off to one of his cousins.


This week their compound in Texas was raided and all the women and children taken out. Many of you will have been following the story as I have out of morbid curiousity that something so bizarre could happen in todays world. I understand the "doomsday idea" there is many who do think that times are changing but to have these old men married off multiple times to young girls who slave away on the farms all day for the dream of self suffiency is somewhat sick and very perverted.



But that wasn’t what grabbed my attention the most about this case. It was watching the children streaming out the gates with their parents that really alerted me to something big amiss. I was admring the little girls dresses and pretty pastel colours of the rainbow, thinking it was better than the usual drab sackcloth that cults require of their victims when it dawned on me, where were the little boys. tens and tens of little girls walked out, and then one little boy would be seen in his mother’ arms. Then another 15 girls and then a boy walking with his sisters.

Ploygamist Cult Raid

What in the hell is that? Do we have a case of selectively breeding girls here?

Video Available On Page

Above speaks of the first lot of girls taken. They later admitted most of the 401 removed from the compound were mostly female even the children.

I must interject with some dry humor.. that will make the Chinese happy, after all, they are selectively breeding men with their one child policy.

But back to it why all the girls where are the boys? The ratio’s do not add up. Are some of the boys terminated on ultrasound identification? *Shudder to think of that one*

I have read stories of the Lost Boys of these polygamist cults and the sadness of their lives where they are worthless and never allowed to marry the girls they love, INstead finding themselves cast aside by families and friends while they watch their dream lovers married off to greed lecherous old men with harems.

Lost Boys of Polygamy are young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) or the Latter Day Church of Christ, churches that splintered from, but have had no affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after 1890.^[1] Most of the Lost Boys are between the ages of 13 and 21 when banished or pressured to leave.^[2]

Critics of the FLDS say that, given the fact that roughly equal numbers of boys and girls are born in any community absent sex-selective abortion, the practice of polygamy leads unavoidably to bride shortages and a surplus of boys. Lost Boys are the surplus boys who are removed from polygamous sects in order to reduce competition for wives. While some boys leave on their own, many are ostensibly banished for misbehavior such as watching a movie, playing football, or talking to a girl.^[2] There are also young women^[3] who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages.^[4] While it is difficult to estimate how many boys have been thrown out, their numbers are estimated to be as low as 400 and as high as 1,400. ^[5]

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As time goes on fragmentation is society takes us further from the truth and further from peace. How insane when religion gets in the way of tiny babies born deformed through accidents of nature or toxic envirnoment, from being surgically corrected to help them live a healthy life.

How insane when villager worship that child as an Incarnate of a God or Goddess. That takes us back to the time of scrifice when children were thrown into pits of fire to placate Gods of fire.

How insane when parents pray instead of getting their child life saving help. Sacrificing a child’s life to their God

How insane that an insane man with pure greed and lust twists lives and people through lies into living his own sick perverted pleasure and dreams.


This world continues to get more and more bizarre and this part of the bizarreness relates to interpreations of religion.. what happened to the truth?

Since going through the Hep C treatment with my husband it has really opened my eyes to the lack of education of the disease worldwide. Hepatitis-central.com reports that in the USA alone there are between 150 000 and 250 000 cases each year. Due to the multiplication aspect of the virus and contamination from blood contact you can expect that figure to also multiply many times over within the next five years.

The public face and education programs on the disease are non existent. School children are not taught about the deadly dangers of the disease and how it is caught. Hepatitis C is "The Druggies Disease". The medical profession treats it as "The Druggies Disease" and society treats it as "The Druggies Disease" therefore stigma is attached and the disease is pushed to the corner and allowed to fester and grow insidiously in dark places.

My Husband Glen in Later Stage Hep C During Treatment

The main and most common method of transmission of the virus is through drug use and sharing dirty equipment and used needles. This however is not the only method of transmission. In the early 80's between the emergence of the virus and the actual discovery of the existence of the virus by the medical community, hundreds of thousands of innocent people who have never touched illegal drugs in their lives were infected with the disease through various medical procedures. These procedures included blood transfusions and transfusions of blood product. Before 1987 there was no blood screening for hepatitis C and therefore many people were contaminated after accidents and operations that required blood. Operation theatres were another source of spreading the virus. Colonoscopy tubes and endoscopy tubes that were not cleaned properly between patients contaminated whole operating lists and dental surgeries helped to spread the virus along as well. Tattoo parlours were a source of infection and many people who were tattooed in the 80's and early 90's were infected this way.

Victims of the disease through Medical procedures face the same stigma regarding their condition as someone who caught the disease by sharing dirty needles. One could produce black and white evidence of a medical contraction of the virus and people will still think in the back of their minds "druggie disease" and have a tiny voice in their minds pronounce "this person caught it from drugs". The  latest USA statistics say that 90 percent of HCV infections are from Injecting needles users. Pity the remaining 10 percent who are looked at as drug addicts.

It is the very nature of the disease that helps it to multiply so rapidly and infect so many victims. It is spread mostly from used drug equipment. I wouldn't even say dirty drug equipment but any drug equipment that isn't unused in sealed packets and sterile, has a high percentage chance of having the virus just hanging around waiting to infect. One million virus cells fit on a pinhead. So tiny, so minute and so easily transmitted under any non sterile conditions.

Hepatitis C Lives For Up To 48 Hours in The Atmosphere Without a Host – Some research has shown that HCV lives in dried blood for three months.

Aids lives in the atmosphere without a host for a matter of minutes, it has been found that the Hepatitis C virus lives outside the body for 48 hours or more. This is why it is spread so easily with sharing injecting drug users and through unclean, non sterile equipment. Many drug users are also under the misconception that is it just the needles it spreads on. Many drug users keep the same spoon and use it over and over, rinsing that spoon is a rarity that would waste any floating drug crystals left behind on the spoon for next time. Quite often a communal pot of "sterile" water is used between a group of users. Every time a needle goes into that water pot to draw up liquid, that needle has then contaminated that water, if Hepatitis C is on that needle millions and millions of virus cells have just been transferred to that water in that pot. If the pot is communal then every person drawing liquid into their syringes have a high probability of contracting the virus. The same goes for the swabs used to filter up the drug into the needle. I know of addicts that used to collect all the swabs so that when they were running low on drug themselves, they would still have a hit available.

Even the ties used to pump up the veins can also be contaminated. Drug users are not sterile and if the sterile swabs were not included with kits they would never be a thought, even in the kits they are often ignored and thrown away unused afterwards. The needle itself can be used multiple times by addicts and usually only a squirt through with water is used to stop the needle from clogging up with blood. The more self aware users and the  cleaner users will often squirt through with bleach. Although many an addict has suffered the horrible consequences this method by shooting a syringe into themselves that contains bleach residue. The veins and surrounding tissue collapses and sinks in instantly. This can be fatal and is often labeled with a more sinister event called a "Hot Shot".

Drug users often wipe blood away with their hands. I remember one occasion when an acquaintance shot up the bathroom, which then looked like something out of Friday the 13th although he looked more like Freddy himself than Jason as he was very unmasked at the time.

I had just watched him "belt up" (shoot) a full gram of speed and he sat on the edge of the bath with sweat and blood pouring off him everywhere, breathing heavily with his eyes rolling back into his head. He then amazingly reached into his pocket and pulled out another full gram pack and put it in the spoon. He was unsteady and asked me to mix it for him and get it into the needle. I did and handed it to him, silently watching in surreal shock at what he was doing as he slid it into his arm and shot the liquid into his veins. He fell to the floor, more blood and sweat pouring from him as I still stood there, rooted to the ground with stunned fascination over how far a person would go to the depths of this indescribable terrible lust.

He then got up from the floor looked at his now bright red arm, pulled the needle out, capped it, put it back in his bag with the spoon which he wiped on the back of his jeans and then he wiped down the blood with his other hand and wiped both arms and hands on his shirt. he then went out to the others in the lounge room and went back about his business.

Yes he had Hep C, No he didn't die of Hep C, he couldn't wait that long. He died just a few weeks later from a massive heart attack after shooting himself full of amphetamines. I was debating whether to include this anecdote in this article but feel that to write it as it was in it's graphic reality is the only way. To paint a picture of a user who does not care about Hepatitis C and does not care about anyone else getting that Hepatitis C.

When I say everyone had the virus, I mean "everyone" did have it. The entire social group all had Hep C. It was very casually bantered around and if you participated where a "mix was being made" it was just assumed that you had the virus so nobody cared about contamination or cleanliness. Many users often claim not to have Hep "as they have never shared needles" these same users are in shock when a positive test result comes back, forgetting the spoons, filters and water contamination methods.

Drugs are a very underground subset and not really "seen" or know about by neighbours or family of the addicts. They don't have people around visiting often that are not addicts themselves and their whole social set will likely be enclosed by the drug involved. Heroin addicts don't generally mix with "Whizzheads" or people with amphetamine habits. The very nature of the two drugs is opposite ends of the spectrum, one drug is a laid back calm, in your own head space, zombified downer that spaces you out sleepily and lazily and the other is an adrenalin stimulator that causes the users to go into hyped up super mode with no sleep and boundless amounts of energy which affects the brain patterns and can cause psychotic states. So Whizz heads don't like junkies and vice versa. One thing each using group does have in common is Hepatitis C, all the groups are heavily saturated with the virus, it matters not the type of drug you have in your needle, as soon as you insert that needle into your veins you have a high percentage chance of having hep C.

If you use, even sparingly, on and off for a period of twelve months. That is if you shoot now and not again for another 11 months, or you shoot daily or weekly, you have a 50 percent chance of having Hepatitis C. That is a twelve month period …... a fifty percent chance of contracting the virus… If you use drugs for a period OVER twelve months, that is if you shoot now, again in 11 months and again in another 6 months you have a WHOPPING 90 percent chance of having hepatitis C. yes that is correct, 90 percent chance.

Hepatitis C is relatively hard to spread as far as viruses go. Currently it is thought that it is only spread by blood to blood contact. Indeed I am living proof that it is hard to spread as I have lived with two husbands with the virus and I am negative. Hepatitis B is by far easier to spread as is Hepatitis A.

Spit and sweat does contain minute quantities of Hepatitis C. Some new research is showing that it can exist in mucous but only in minute amounts. Sperm does contain Hepatitis C once again, only in minute quantites. . So sex is safe, usually. Since the 1990's however there is an increasing occurrence of Hepatitis C of being transferred between sexual partners. Unsafe sex practices which involve violence and blood can easily spread the disease. Menstrual blood DOES contain the hepatitis C virus, so sex during menstruation is unsafe for carriers. The disease is spread through cuts, open sores and scratches on the skin, gums and genitals. During sex activity if blood gets on sex toys or lubrication gel it is contaminated with Hep C if the bleeder is positive. Any user of those toys and lube is at extremely high risk of contracting Hepatitis C.

Theoretically Hepatitis C can pass through the delicate mucous membranes of the vaginal canal, cervix, nose and rectum. Toothbrushes and razors can contain minute amounts of the virus as well.

It is better to be safe than sorry. I live with fear that every three months when I troddle off down to the doctors for my test results, that one day a positive will come back. We are careful but we are married, we sleep together, eat together and swap spit. I buy different colored razors, his are blue mine are green but still the risk exists. If he spills his blood it is my job to pick the children up and remove them while he cleans up, if the blood is too serious for him to clean up it is call an ambulance. We share food and drink often from the same container. We do not "do drugs" and my husband owas one of those madical transmission ten percent who contracted it after a head on car accident in 1983.

When were you last tested? Hundreds of thousands of people are walking around with this insidious killer without knowing and without being aware they are carrying the disease and possibly passing it on.

Get Tested.... One tiny test can save your life and the lives of those around you.. Hepatitis C is an insidious killer. A fatal disease that sends it's victim into many years of pain and mental toment before they finally succumb to it's deathly clutches....

When the kids broke out in the pox, I treated them as any other mother would treat a kid with the pox. I gave them oat baths and the standard pink calomine lotion. What I noticed about this was there was nothing to stop the Spots from getting very infected. When left alone the craters would grow and go really horrid and icky. This caused the kids temperatures to stay high and they were irritated longer. The whole time the pox were infected, they were ill with nausea and temperatures.


No matter what I did, nothing made it clear up any quicker. Then one day, when Kaelan was at his sickest and covered in pox infections. I decided to use something other than the calomine and oats. I told him it may sting a bit a first and got out my trusty bottle of Australian Tea Tree Oil. I smeared it on his back and chest. He said a couple of spots, stung a bit and it was a bit hot at first but then he said it felt great. He looked at me and said it felt so much better. He was getting sicker from the effects of the pox on his weakened body and now in hindsight I wish I had tried the tea tree oil on him sooner. His spots started drying an hour or so after I applied the tea tree. Mind you he was in hospital shortly after from his other symptoms but at least when they checked his spots on arrival they had started to clear. Kiralea's were still awfully infected at this point but she wasn't so sick. I then used the tea tree oil on her and the pox cleared immediately without the deep damage done to her little sister.



So at that point I thought I was on to something but I wasn't sure. Well nature had more ideas for me. Yes as you by now know, I came out with the dreaded little things myself and I was scared. See I have a pretty "Phucked up Immune System". Don't mind my language and don't mind my P.U.I.S.


Back to the pox, with my already weakened condition the pox spread on me faster than ants on a honey sandwich at a picnic. The kids offered to fry eggs on my forehead and the eye I can't see out of is now a numb left side of face that looks like Mike Tyson right hooked me. So I needed to do something fast, to stop from being out for the count.

Glen's too sick to get out of bed for more than half an hour before falling unconscious so we had a huge problem. I sent Kiralea down to the shop to buy me two bottles of the Tea Tree Oil and when she got home I smothered it all over me. Even in my scalp.

Oh I didn't smother it in my tender areas. It can kinda burn... So I wouldn't advise that. and for kids, I would dab each spot.. but as I was so covered, I just smeared it all over.



It felt warm at first, a couple of spots smarted for a sec but then there was relief. It took the itch away. It took the irritation away. I was still vomiting, my temp was sky high but my body didn't feel like it was on fire with a thousand fairy needles spiking out from under my skin.

Then I noticed the blisters. I knew from experience with the kids, that if they were left, they just grew huge and left huge holes but I also knew how infectious they were. Everyone else in the household were over it all now. So I popped the larger blisters gently with a sterlized needle and then pressed a cotton ball soaked in tea tree oil against the blister for a few seconds.

You don't have to do this, in fact it is always advised not to touch them but I had seen the craters left on the kids faces and I didn't want them.

Every few hours I would smear myself all over again and at night I would smear the bottom of my feet with eucalyptus oil, this is fantastic for stopping sore throats in their tracks.

Well, my spots dried up without festering in around three days. Most have disapeared now, except the few where I missed with the oil. They were the only ones to go yucky. There is no huge red patch around the spots like there was on the children. Not one spot came up and festered or blistered right up or left a crater. My husband was amazed at the difference, especially as he knows how touchy my skin is.

Overall I cleared up five days earlier or more than the kids, even though I had much more coverage of spots than any of them and my other symptoms were also severe, headache, aches, vomiting and liver swelling. I came out with the spots over Thursday and Friday, On Saturday I was really bad and today is Monday, the spots are almost clear, all are dried up completetly.

I would rub the tea tree oil all over, even on the back of my neck and aching joints. Instant relief, from the aches and the burning itch. Instant drying out. I am still using the tea tree oil now.

So there you have it. An old aboriginal cure that truly does wonders. Scientists are only just now discovering the benefits of Tea Tree Oil. They know it has anti fungal anti microbial, anti bacterial and anti viral properties but they haven't tested to see just how far this little miracle "snake Oil" Melaleuca Oil can be. It is so handy and versatile.

School Sores, Impetago, pox, rashes, insect bites, scratches, grazes, ulcers, spider bites, poison ivy and any other skin wound that can cause irritation and infection can be helped and healed by one of nature's little miracles and one of our Australian Aboriginal's greatest secrets.

So there you have it... If you can get your hands on a bottle of this stuff.. keep it aorund.. it i invaluable...

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Tea tree oil is a yellow- or green-tinged essential oil with a fresh amphoraceous odour. It is extracted from the leaves of the tree Melaleuca alternifolia which is native to the northeast coast of New South Wales, Australia. The oil is claimed to have benefical cosmetic and medical properties (including antiseptic and antifungal action). Australian Aborigines have used oil extracted from the tree's needles for hundreds of years. Currently, tea tree oil is obtained by steam distillation of the leaves. Of the over 100 compounds contained in the oil, terpinen-4-ol is responsible for most of the antimicrobial actions. The international standard ISO 4730 ("Oil of Melaleuca, Terpinen-4-ol type") specifies levels of 14 components of the oil.

Preliminary scientific research (mainly in vitro) supports claims for various health benefits. Inhaled, tea tree oil is said to make breathing easier by "breaking up congestion". It supposedly can alleviate a sore throat and minimize the symptoms of cold, flu and systemic fungal infections. It seems effective against candidiasis and other vaginal infections and for hemorrhoids. As a bath additive it may control bacteria in spas and pools. For fungal nail infections, application is twice daily and relief or cure is typically seen in 3–4 months in contrast with the currently accepted medicine which requires costly prescriptions and is taken internally daily for up to a year. Tea tree oil also is used for athlete's foot, foul body odour, burning feet, etc. Massaging tea tree oil into the affected area may alleviate the discomfort of sore muscles or joint injuries. It also reduces hypertrophic scarring.

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Tea Tree Oil

Tea Tree Oil Info - Great Link

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Tea Tree Oil can be used to treat:
Acne and Pimples - Arthritis - Boils and Abscesses - Bruises - Burns and Sun burn - Cuts and Abrasions - Cystitis - Dental Plaque - Dermatitis - Fungal Infections - Head Lice - Herpes - Insect Bites - Muscular Aches and Pains - Respiratory Tract Infections - Vaginal Infections - Varicose Veins - Warts

Goanna Tea Tree Oil is a premium solution for cuts, abrasions, bites, stings, burns, acne and is blended with alcohol to strengthen its antiseptic properties. It can also be used as a natural germicide and fungicide, and for use in sensitive areas it can be diluted with water.

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An All-Over healing oil from Down Under!

Tea Tree Oil Well Being

The medicinal powers of tea tree oil, a plant native of Australia used for centuries by aboriginal tribes, now is supported by scientific research. It's being planted all over the world, and is available at your local health food store. The oil comes from the cedar-like tea tree leaves and branches, as well as its blooms, bark, and wood. You learn how it works, and the sources of its healing properties. An A-to-Z list of ailments that tea oil heals covers a variety of fungi (intestinal, feet, skin, nails); toothaches, headaches, muscle and joint aches; and acne, colds and coughs, and insect bites. Other possible uses that are featured: as a portable medicine chest and aromatherapy, as well as pet care and a household disinfectant.

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Australian Tea Tree Oil Guide: First Aid Kit in a Bottle

The Australian Tea Tree Oil Guide contains up-to-date clinical research into tea tree oil's effectiveness against conditions ranging from acne to candida. This guide may persuade you to explore the medicinal use of herbs and plant essences, long known to our ancestors.
Australian Tea tree Oil Guide

 

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To Oder it from Australia direct. The product we use. $3.45 AU which is about 3.20 US. for a 50 ml bottle. This would work out cheap even with postage.
Pharmacy Direct Australia - Tea Tree Oil
Above link has oversea ordering info.
Downunder Enterprises Ohio
Tea Tree Wonders Ordering and Product Info

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But I found this link below where you can order it direct from USA and it says 100 percent Australian Tea Tree Oil.

Drugstore.com

11.50 plus postage. pretty cheap still.




Honestly this stuff is a wonder.. One of those products from nature that is pure gold... sorry if this was a boring blog, but I really wanted to share that all with you, because this stuff can save a lot of pain and healing time.

Fragmented Health - A Must Read For Australians <Tracey Wickham, who is arguably one of Australia's greatest swimmers, lost her daughter to cancer recently. The worse thing a parent can do is to bury a child and the pain for her must be the worse nightmare.

Now it has been announced that she and others will campaign for youth and child services for cancer so that the teens don't have to spend time with old and sick and demented patients. This is great..in one way..... and the high profile of Wickham will help to push the cause to a fast fruition.

But there is a downside to this campaigning. The whole of the health system is in a shambles. As an adult I spent over a week in children' ward because there were no adult beds. I even got served children's sized meals and woke up to Mickey mouse music and donald duck posters on the walls.

Disgraceful really. But it serves to show that the problem between the different "departments" within the health system are over taxed and over burdoned everywhere. This campaigning will only serve to further fragment the health system. Campaigning should be taking place everywhere for the whole picture not just pieces.

Fragmenting into groups like this serve to keep the "whole picture" from the public. That pictures is clearly visible and saying that the total health system needs to be averhauled, not just cancer, not just children's services, not just hep c, not just AIDS, not just womens services. The whole lot needs restructuring and modernization. Proceedures have to be completely overhauled and drastic changes made.

But health is a low priority in these ages. It is too much a drain on the economy so the weak fall by the wayside, health is not the rich industry to get into, Funeral homes and crematoriums are the new rags to riches trade and are being consumed and taken over by multi national conglomerates at a rapid speed. Patients are continually put into the too hard basket and left by the side to die painful miserable deaths from chronic diseases, viruses and cancers that could have been cured if acted on quick enough or thoroughly enough.

With the public system in dissarry the correct testing is not carried out. The right tests are not being ordered because they are "too expensive" for the public system.

Full examinations and diagnosis for people presenting with unusual symptoms are not carried out. Reality is not like Dr House on tv where no matter what, he will find the cause and cure, all in the space of a few days.

Emergency departments are full and running flat out with staff often working 28 hours straight. The correct diagnosis is not being made and bandaid cures are applied with the patient being sent home.

The good doctors and staff are seeing all this dissarry and turning away from the public system to private practise. Nowadays not many of the "good" doctors "bulk bill" or take public patients. The gap between the rich and the poor divides wider. The poor are left on waiting lists for years, waiitng lists for cancer chemotherapy treatments, waiting lists to see specialist over suspected cancers and more. Everywhere there is waiting lists and when you finally do get to see the specialist, you find you are dealing with a fresh faced college student who is doing internship with the specialist and really doesn't have a clue.

If you ask to see the actual specialist himself you are told you are quite welcome to consult with him in his private rooms, at a cost in the hundreds of dollars.

Doctors just out of college are filling the gaps as the experienced and respected staff migrate in droves to the private hospitals, I know of cases where doctors with just five years out of college are the medical superintendant of a hospital and head of all other staff. Five years to run a hospital? There is no way that person could see and learn enough as a doctor in that period of time to be able to run the medical division of an entire hospital.

But there's no one else to do it, the good doctors have gone so it is the consumer, the patient that suffers through inexperience, lack of resources and more. Meanwhile it is voting time, the government is blowing money left right and centre on buying peoples votes. But health is a state issue so it is not dished up on the election plate. And those funds that could be going to health are lowering the taxes of the rich and lining the government's personal pockets. Something like 20 million dollars spent on an ad campaign over workplace laws of money that could have been spent saving lives, or even wasted on feasability studies of our public health system even. I could wear that one, but no health is of no concern.

Recently in the news there was the story of a woman who miscarried her baby in the toilets of an emergency department at a Sydney hospital after she was told to wait in the waiting room. This story is disgusting and has made the people sit up and pay attention to this health crisis but this story is not unusual, there is stories like this going on daily in hospitals around the country. The government is advertising for staff but no good staff are filling the vacancies. New staff are being recruited from overseas and after the Dr Patel saga where an overseas trained doctor killed many patients by his incompetance, Australian's are wary of these people

Another overseas trained Dr was the centre of a terrorist scare by the Government recently, Dr Haneef, who was later deported and then the government admitted that they had handled the case wrong. All this served to highlight the medical crisis with overseas staff.

Staff are falling out of college, trained by doctors not much more experienced than themselves and then those staff are soon recruited to fill management and specialist positions themselves, still green and still learning. A good doctor takes many years of experience and knowledge to make.

Australia has a Medicare based system, a so called free health system that is taxed from earnings. Unfortunately this is the result of that free system. The free system is overburdened with not enough funding injected into it. Instead of having one great health system for all we have a good one for the rich and a terrible deadly one for the poor. It has created a divide that is killing more and more per day.

So yeah we can campaign for breast cancer, we can campaign for AIDS< we can campaign for child and youth cancer services, we can campaign for Hep c and we can campaign for old barney with his prostrate cancer too but lets not, lets instead campaign as one, for one, for the whole health system to be put back how it should be, accessible equally to the rich and the poor, with full services and lets campaign to get health services put back where it should be, the top of the agenda for the top of quality care.

Once society used to protect the weak and the sick. Once we used to protect and care for those who couldn't care for themselves, now we don't care, we throw them away and neglect them like a child's discarded toy.

Don't fragment, join together... Get our health system fixed and on par with the standards an Australian Should expect.