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Rebekah Barnett
Independent journalist reporting from Western Australia. BA Communications, Hons, University of Western Australia.
I dropped into the Hard Yarns studio this week to shoot the breeze with comedian Cameron Branch (co-host Daniel Delby was out of the studio due to a heavy show schedule – it’s festival season here in Perth).
Our discussion ran the gamut of sticky issues from hate speech laws, police brutality at recent protests, the growing ideological and cultural fractures shaping public debate, medical choices for children, and whether feminism has gone too far (I think it has, but tune in to find out why).
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A few notes on this episode –
At one point we discussed how harmful blanket public health directives can be and I emphasised the role of bureaucratic inertia in institutionalising bad ideas and preventing new and/or nuanced science and ideas from cutting through.
I realise I may have given the impression that I don’t think there are any nefarious actors trying to corral us into digital ID, smart cities and the like. That’s not the case — I do acknowledge that there are key players at high levels that are very invested in creating these systems of control. I just don’t think that’s the only explanation behind suboptimal government policies, so my point on the show was to discuss what I considered to be a major driver in the context of our conversation.
For listeners who like to go to the source, the studies I discussed relating to formula use in babies’ first week of life are:
Bhasin M, Cooper M, Macchiaverni, et al. (2025), “Colostrum as a Protective Factor Against Peanut Allergy: Evidence From a Birth Cohort,” Allergy [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/all.70043]
Key findings: Babies given formula supplementation in the first three days (partially fed colostrum) had a higher risk of developing multiple food allergies, including about five times higher odds of peanut allergy and 11 times higher odds of multiple food allergies, including cow’s milk allergy, by 12–18 months, compared with infants exclusively fed colostrum.
Press release: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2025/september/research-links-exclusive-colostrum-intake-to-reduced-peanut-allergy-risk
Urashima M, Mezawa H, Okuyama M, et al. (2019) “Primary Prevention of Cow’s Milk Sensitization and Food Allergy by Avoiding Supplementation With Cow’s Milk Formula at Birth: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA Pediatrics, (Vol. 73 No. 12).[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2753281]
Key findings: High risk of developing cow’s milk sensitisation, allergy, and anaphalaxis by the age to two in breastfed neonates supplemented with cow’s milk formula during the first three days of life.
And the report on German censorship that I referenced, produced by liber-net, can be found here: https://liber-net.org/germany/
A final note – I realise I have lapsed into being a bit sweary, as you will hear in the podcast! It’s prompted me to set up a swear jar at home. I quite look forward to seeing what vocab I can rummage for next time I feel the urge to cuss…
This article was originally published by Dystopian Down Under.
