Letters Byron cyclists I am a driver, cyclist, pedestrian: so cyclists for your safety, could you please: 1. Make yourselves visible at night. Wear high visibility clothing, add lights and reflectors to your bike. 2. Ride in the same direction as traffic when using designated bike lanes. If a large vehicle is turning right, vehicles proceeding on the left can’t see you coming if you’re riding on the wrong side of the road because you are hidden from view by the turning vehicle. 3. Not use mobile phones while riding on a road or footpath. Your attention needs to be on safety – yours and pedestrians. 4. Consider the advantages of wearing a helmet. Denise Nagorcka Byron Bay
Main Arm MO Ratepayers and residents are to eat dust, cooked in potholes on Blindmouth Road because of the road conditions and an approval for 12 more houses. And during floods the creek becomes the road. A resident and the local residents’ association MARRA addressed Council last Thursday about the staff report recommending approval of a development application (DA) for a new 12-way Multiple Occupancy on Blindmouth Road and on Blindmouth Creek. Councillors did listen on the flood issue and approved the DA with ‘Deferred Commencement’. That means the causeway will be upgraded and some hundreds of metres of Blindmouth Road will be sealed (not all) before the rest of the DA takes effect. This avoids what happened for similar DA’s in Main Arm a couple of years ago – their requirement to upgrade another causeway over Blindmouth Creek was scuttled and the public ended up paying $1.6 million to build it. The upgrades don’t address the rest of the issues with Blindmouth Road and the fact most of it turns into a creek when it rains. I know of one buyer who recently withdrew from a property purchase on Blindmouth Road fearing emergency vehicles wouldn’t be able to access them. The Councillors and staff seem blinded by the lust for developers dollars and for
Cartoon by Paul Pattie housing at any cost. They dismissed the other half dozen objections by MARRA and approved the DA essentially as applied for. One of the defects in the MO’s DA is that it has no intentional community to agree a collective Management Plan. Instead, a generic Plan was put forward and accepted. Another was that Council says MO houses should be clustered in groups of at least three. This DA has a cluster of two. What would be wrong if the DA was for 10 houses that can cluster rather than 12 that can’t? And why have these rules if you’re happy to waive them at the drop of a hat. Ray Goodwin MARRA
Dunoon Dam Here’s a simple question about the proposed new Dunoon Dam and some local observations from a longtime resident living beside Rocky Creek, Dunoon. What responsible local water authority would risk placing TWO dams on the same creek, less than 20kms apart? Isn’t that putting all their ‘water-resource’ eggs in one basket when weather patterns are becoming so fickle? Those recommending the construction of a new Dunoon Dam should extend their research. Visit the current Rocky Creek Dam, view the spillway and check the amount of water in Rocky Creek below. Observe it at the low road-crossing into the National Park on Gibbergunyah Range Road. Rocky Creek is definitely a creek, not a river. The proposed dam is also
situated on Rocky Creek. Water flow in Rocky Creek is dependent on water from the Rocky Creek Dam spillway. That occurs during cyclonic weather, because general rainfall does not fill the dam ie, not full – no overflow. A new Dunoon dDam just a short distance downstream from the current one would soon be titled ‘Lake Will-it-Fill’, and come at huge financial and environmental cost. Since the exceptionally severe drought of 2019 broke, Rocky Creek has not received the rainfalls predicted by the BOM. Since the beginning of 2020 higher rainfalls have drenched the Tweed and then around Kyogle, often leaving Rocky Creek in a pocket receiving showers. Maybe the weather pattern has already changed? As a farmer, weather observations are essential. R Musgrave Rocky Creek
I have been advocating for better medication-prescribing practices with the NSW Local Health District (NSW LHD) for over three years. When I speak locally at events, I estimate around 10 per cent of the audience come to me and tell me about a severe adverse reaction. Adverse drug reactions are a leading cause of death, disability, and hospital admissions in NSW. It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of admissions are owing to adverse drug reactions, of which around 50 per cent were avoidable. Doctors are well trained in the known side effects of prescription medication that can be ‘adverse’ but not on how to recognise less obvious or unexpected adverse drug reactions. Adverse drug reactions can be attributed to genetics, allergies including anaphylaxis, drug to drug interactions, delirium,
to these individuals. I am one of the 10 per cent – and I have an acquired brain injury, owing to poor prescribing practices, which was wholly avoidable. In my opinion, the current Health Pathway does nothing to reduce the risk to people like me. If anything, it increases it. Residents of Northern NSW LHD still do not have access to doctors trained in pharmacogenomics and the policy implemented simply refers doctors to the report, which comes with genetic testing for the list of drugs that can be tolerated. Only problem is that the report does not come with a list. The policy is far short of best practices in pharmacogenomics, which have been widely implemented into prescribing systems in America, and Europe. It is beyond infuriating that after three years the Northern NSW Local Health District is none the wiser. If you would like to help me advocate for better resources and health pathways would you please write to the NSW Minister for Health, telling him this issue is important to you. Alison Vickery Lennox Head
▶ More letters on page 15
Peter Farrell
PHYSIOTHERAPIST Now at Mullumbimby Comprehensive Health Centre
6684 1511
Morning Tea The Brunswick Valley Cancer Action Group (BVCAG) recently held a raffle, a couple of bucket shakes and small morning teas to raise funds for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea to support the Cancer Council NSW. Our thanks and appreciation to the businesses that supported us: Dino’s IGA Mullumbimby, Devine’s Quality Meats, Cactus Hill Project, Mullum InStyle Living and Byron Beach Hotel. Thanks also to the community of Mullumbimby for your support in these unusual times helping us raise $1,870. Susan Tsicalas President, BVCAG
Letters to the Editor and cartoons Send to Letters Editor Aslan Shand, fax: 6684 1719 email: editor@echo.net.au Deadline: Noon, Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. Letters already published in other papers will not be considered. Please include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.
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Adverse reactions
addictions and difficulty deprescribing, and so on. The NSW Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard, advised me, around three years ago, that there were no local doctors trained in adverse drug reactions. This means that when (not if) there are life-threatening adverse drug reactions there is no assistance available locally. This is still the case today. The NSW LHD have, finally put into place a Health Pathway to cover ‘Drug Allergy and Adverse Reactions’ which is wholly inadequate. A doctor who is a specialist in prescribing medication is called a Clinical Pharmacologist. Residents of the Northern NSW LHD do not have access to a Clinical Pharmacologist and the Health Pathway still does not provide one. This quality of care is significantly less than that available in other hospital districts. Secondly, a significant reason for adverse drug reactions is genetic differences called pharmacogenomics. Around 10 per cent of Caucasians and up to 70 per cent of other races have racially based differences that alter the effectiveness (including having no effect or causing avoidable harm)
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