Honest Universe

NZ Police pursuits keep killing people

Mark Hanna • May 28, 2018

• police pursuits

Despite a repeated cycle of calls for change, people keep dying in police pursuits in New Zealand. Just today, a teenager and a child died as the result of a police pursuit in Palmerston North. News stories like these keep appearing. In February this year I asked NZ Police to release a number of statistics regarding police … Read More

2

Personalised Supplements

Mark Hanna • May 08, 2018

• natural health industry,
• personalised supplements

Can an online quiz give good recommendations for taking supplements? Stuff today published an article about two New Zealand companies that launched recently, Vitally and Wondermins, which each use online quizzes to sell “personalised vitamins”. Unfortunately, Stuff chose to focus on the question “What’s the point?” rather than “What’s the evidence?”. I thought it would be an … Read More

What we owe our pets

Mark Hanna • Mar 22, 2018

• Alternative,
• complementary,
• Health and Medicine,
• healthcare,
• Homeopathy,
• oxygen therapy,
• pets,
• responsibility,
• Treatment,
• vetenary association

I recently complained about a vet promoting quackery in the Bay of Plenty Times. In response to my complaint, the editor agreed to publish a response I wrote, regarding what we owe our pets. Now that it’s been up for a little while, I’m also publishing it here on my blog. The Bay of Plenty Times recently … Read More

New Rules for Pharmacists

Mark Hanna • Mar 07, 2018

• Alternative Medicine,
• enforcement,
• goods and services,
• government,
• healh products,
• Health and Medicine,
• Medicine,
• patient's rights,
• Pharmacy

The Pharmacy Council has (finally) published their new Code of Ethics 2018. I’ve written several times on the ongoing saga of the Pharmacy Council’s Code of Ethics. In late 2014 we put together a complaint at the Society for Science Based Healthcare arguing that their Code of Ethics 2011 had been violated by … Read More

Can you trust Band-Aids?

Mark Hanna • Nov 29, 2017

• adhesive plasters,
• band aid,
• consuming science,
• Health and Medicine,
• health products,
• johnson & johnson

Band-Aid is a household name, but can you trust the way they’re promoted? For years Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of Band-Aid adhesive bandages, have been making a simple claim about them. If you put a Band-Aid on a cut, it will heal faster than it would have if left uncovered. Specifically, they say it will heal twice … Read More

OIA Accessibility

Mark Hanna • Nov 20, 2017

• accessibility,
• Data,
• government,
• OCR,
• official information act,
• oia,
• pdf,
• Science and Society

The Official Information Act has an accessibility problem. I wrote recently about asking the government for information, having just published a guide to using the OIA. The OIA is a powerful tool, but it can be limited by how government agencies choose to follow it. One particular limitation that comes up, again and again, … Read More

Asking the government for information

Mark Hanna • Oct 31, 2017

• Data,
• government,
• information,
• official information act,
• oia,
• Science and Society

You have the right to ask the government for information. Because of a law called the Official Information Act (OIA), they’re obliged to give it to you unless there is a good reason not to. You’ve likely seen the OIA mentioned in the news. Phrases like “Documents released to [news outlet] under the Official Information Act” can often be found … Read More

NZ political parties’ transgender health plans

Mark Hanna • Aug 31, 2017

• gender,
• gender affirmation surgery,
• politics health,
• transgender

Access to gender affirmation surgery in New Zealand is abysmal, with waiting lists that are decades long. I’ve asked our major political parties what they will do about it if elected. On the 27th of July, I sent emails to four political parties outlining the issue of access to gender affirmation surgery*. I contacted the healthcare spokespersons for the Green, … Read More

3

New Zealand should not regulate naturopaths

Mark Hanna • Aug 28, 2017

• Health and Medicine,
• Health Practitioners,
• Medicines Act,
• naturopaths,
• pseudoscience,
• regulation

Naturopaths can kill, but regulating them is not the answer. Over the weekend, the Sunday Star Times published an article by Simon Maude on an unnamed naturopath whose inept attempts at cancer treatment led to the death of an Auckland woman last year: Naturopathy under microscope after cancer sufferers speak from under shadow of death At … Read More

1

Pharmacy Ethics: Have Your Say

Mark Hanna • Jul 24, 2017

• health and disability,
• Health and Medicine,
• healthcare information,
• Homeopathy,
• Pharmacy Council

The Pharmacy Council has opened consultations on a proposed new code of ethics. Following an initial consultation in 2015 where they’d proposed changing one part of the existing code, the council has since decided the whole code could do with a review. The Pharmacy Council is the regulatory body for pharmacists in New Zealand, set up … Read More

3