Recently in Alan Johnson Category

The Independent on Sunday has a creepy report about Government plans for forced mass medication in Schools, for behavior modification purposes.

Brain food: Why the Government wants your child to take Omega-3, the fish oil supplement

A tiny daily capsule can have a dramatic effect on pupils who usually play up in class, improving behaviour and work. Now all youngsters may be given them. Marie Woolf and Jeremy Laurance report
Published: 11 June 2006

Schoolchildren are to be given fish oil supplements to boost their brain power and improve their behaviour and ability to concentrate under plans being considered by the Government.

Health professionals fear that youngsters do not get enough Omega-3 in a daily diet dominated by modern convenience foods. Increasingly, they believe a lack of these nutrients can contribute to poor learning, disorder and violence in the classroom.

Now government experts are to examine whether daily doses of fish oil in capsule or liquid form might help to improve classroom behaviour and exam results.

The Food Standards Agency, the Government's advisory body on food, is conducting a major review into the effect of Omega-3 fish oil supplements on children's behaviour.

Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Education, who recently met the chef Jamie Oliver to discuss nutrition in schools, has asked to see the results. "The Food Standards Agency is currently conducting a systematic review of research looking at the effect of nutrition and diet on performance and behaviour of children in schools," he said. "This includes investigating studies that have used Omega-3 and -6 fish oil supplements in schools. While this work is not yet concluded, we will of course examine its results with interest.

"The Government is committed to ensuring that children are provided with the healthy food and nutrients they require during the school day, not just to aid their physical health, but to ensure they can study hard and behave well."

[...]

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions.

Has nothing been learned over the years from debates about forced mass vaccination, water fluoridisation, vitamin enhanced free school milk etc. ?

It is astonishing that the small scale trials cited in the article are apparently being used as the basis for NuLabour Government policy. The Food Standards Agency has a job to do regarding testing the safety and quality of food,
they will no doubt be conducting a review of existing small scale trials, but they should not be be allowed to conduct large scale clinical trials on our children.

Without such large scale voluntary trials, the Government should not even be contemplating forced mass medication, in the way in which Alan Johnson's statements imply.

This is especially so, since the positive benefit which is being hypothesised is not a health benefit, but a behavioral one i.e. this is a mild form of mind control.

The utterly pointless names changes experienced by the Department for Trade and Industry / Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry, following Tony Blair's Cabinet re-shuffle, wasted at least £30,000 of public money, and probably more, as the civil service staff and external consultancy costs are almost certainly not included in the figures given to Parliament in these Written Answers:

House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 20 Jun 2005 (pt 17)

"Departmental Name

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the proposal to change the name of his Department cost in terms of (a) signage, (b) stationery and (c) literature. [1085]

Alan Johnson: Preliminary work was undertaken to meet the name change of the Department at an overall cost of £14,500. This was broken down into:

(a) Signage £7,500
(b) Design changes to stationery templates £4,000
(c) Literature including web site changes £3,000

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total cost was of (a) changing the title of the Department of Trade and Industry to the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry and (b) reverting to the original title. [2689]

Alan Johnson [holding answer 9 June 2005]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 June 2005, Official Report, column 304W."

House of Lords Hansard for 20 Jun 2005 (pt 2)

"Department of Trade and Industry: Change of Name Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:

What costs were incurred following the name change to the Department for Trade and Industry; and how these costs are broken down. [HL113]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): In order to put into effect the renaming of the department, the following actions were undertaken: replacement nameplates for the department's London buildings were commissioned; a small number of publications and event literature were amended; websites were changed and departmental guidelines and stationery templates were adjusted and distributed. The total cost of these actions was £14,500.

The total cost involved in the name reverting to the Department of Trade and Industry was £15,400."