what if you are wrong? a question for Chameleons Montessori.

I've chosen to publish the following comment as a post in it's own right because it presents a view many parents, perhaps as yet undecided, may find of interest.

The question asked at the end describes the dilemma in stark terms. To those who feel that dodging minute spray particles in the wind for half the year is without risk I would reiterate, what if you're wrong?

One point of clarification; The incident referred to of a child being assaulted did not occur at the Chameleons Montessori and was no doubt related to indicate this writers willingness to take appropriate action where a child's safety is threatened. One would like to believe all parents would be as decisive.

"Hello all, it looks like a little war is going on this site; we have here people who are very scared / dead-certain that mass poisoning of small children is going on, and on the other hand we have those who say that the former group is a bunch of misguided, alarmist scare-mongerers.

So -from what we can learn here on this blog and elsewhere on the web- who’s right?

But first let me say that my own eight your old is safely removed from the winelands and that these problems are not directly mine. (Recently she was hit by a teacher, but after an immediate visit to a doctor, a criminal charge, the involvement of the Department of Education, said teacher is no longer employed by the school within less than three weeks. We all have problems, but it is our duty to tackle them –if they seem real!)

In the end I’m pro-child first and foremost. I hope that we all are. Emotions and personal issues (or ANY other issue for that matter) should be avoided when it comes to a child’s wellbeing –present and long-term.

And immediately, on my first visit to this blog, to this page, one can see blatant lies / inaccuracies being posted –why? How come do seemingly rational people deliberately gloss over what seems pretty much indisputable?

E.g: Mrs De Villiers says ” I am tired of hearing "where are your facts", because you haven't presented any facts specific to Nitida either”? (Apologies for selecting you madam, we don’t know each other and I sincerely hope you understand that this is a mere example.)
As I gather that MANCOZEB has been sprayed many times; I quickly Google: “MANCOZEB + cytotoxic” (as presented by the GG).

Taraaaa, there you are: even without reading the enormous mass of resulting info for the next week, it takes me less than five minutes to be certain that indeed there should be reasons for the gravest of concerns.

So I’m a bit hooked and ‘will look into this. Anyone who thinks that things may not be so bad and still have children on that school should perhaps do the same.

There’s enough info out there to empower oneself so as to be in a position to critically evaluate the merits of both camps’ arguments. And especially if you are already in either camp -be even more critical; you may be wrong after all……
In the case of the followers of The Galileo Group: you may take away children from a most effective system of learning (‘am a bit partial to Montessori myself), in a very idyllic location.
In the case of the school and all parents who do not remove their children: do you feel lucky, what if you are wrong?"

Anthony