So, you'd think that those in charge of public health would only impose the safest vaccines on the market, those with a proven track record of safety and the least number of nasty side effects and consequences. You'd be wrong... and this is brewing into a massive public health scandal.

Vaccination of children is obligatory in France. You run the risk of a 3750 Euro fine and six months in prison if you refuse.  Serious stuff. And why worry, we all know, justice is impartial and independent of any political influence…

It seems to be logic that two-month old babies have to be vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and polio (DTP). Well, up until September 2014, this was not a problem. They had the tried and trusted DTP vaccine that's been on market for many decades. All kids had it, with no problem.

Bizarrely, pharmaceutical laboratories stopped producing this vaccine in 2008 for no apparent reason. In its place are "super-vaccines" such as Infanrix hexa which contains, in addition to DTP, three non-obligatory vaccines - whooping cough, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b - plus the neuro-toxin aluminium, formaldehyde, and antibiotics (polymixine-B, neomycine) which are not at all necessary for babies and are potentially dangerous.

The traditional DTP vaccine cost a little over 6 Eur. Unsurprisingly, Infanrix hexa costs a lot more - nearly seven times more in fact, at 40 Eur! Follow the money. And we all know it since bird-flue and other flues as Millions of tax-payers money went straight into the coffers of a few very big international pharmaceutical manufacturers with no reason. Lobby is their best friend and can get only worse as Brussels is preparing for more of this sort of lobby support once TTIP is in place.

These vaccines are too much for small babies and risk setting off an anaphylactic shock in the short term, and auto-immune diseases in the long term. Aluminium and formaldehyde are both toxic, and the vaccine against hepatitis B is suspected of provoking multiple sclerosis. Cases of MS increased dramatically after a hepatitis B vaccine was put on the market in 1994...

Parents are in a total panic about what to do. If they do nothing, they are condemned by the courts; if they accept the vaccine, they are playing Russian roulette with the health of their precious child.

However, the most unbelievable and devious issue coming to light concerns compensation: The law says that if your child falls ill after being vaccinated with an official vaccine (the traditional ones), you can claim compensation. However, if your child dies, or has an adverse reaction to one of the new vaccines, the ones you have no choice but to buy, you are told that you vaccinated your child with a vaccine not on the official list, so you are liable - it's your fault!

This video has been produced by Pr Henri Joyeux, oncologist, who is trying to rouse the medical community as well as the wider population to demonstrate massively their objections to this situation worthy of a totalitarian state. His aim is to bring back the traditional DTP vaccine which has a proven safety record and is dead cheap. 

To this end, he has set up a petition which is acquiring signatures by the minute. In two days, it reached 200,000 names. We cannot stand by and let the health of the nation's babies be compromised by voracious greedy pharmaceutical companies and governments which are proving each day that they only care only about hanging onto power, and not a little bit about the health of the most vulnerable members of the population.

Le petit village de Montaren-et-Saint-Médiers dans le Sud de la France célébrait son annuel "fete de fleurs" au 17 mai 2015. Pour mes voisins et pour une période de 7 jours, les 20 photos de la fete peuvent être téléchargés ici.

In recent years it has been becoming more or less the standard for small villages and towns to upheld its own small market-day, at least once a week. This is the best way to support local manufacturers of products. 

This measure was necessary because many of the small food manufacturers and farmers had become increasingly the prey of more and more radicalised business practices of major supermarket chains. The chains, with their purchasing power, were able to dictate farmers and small producers the purchase prices the supermarket chain was willing to pay. This dependency of producers to the supermarket chain have lead to a kind of mono-culture in agriculture. 

There is nothing "green" or spiritual behind this concept, - its the demand of those simple rules of free market: Who is so naive planting crops for a price which does not even cover the costs for the helpers during the harvest-times, not to mention all the other works. For an example: A few years ago farmer in the South of France had left the cherries on the trees because a harvester needs to be paid ca 8 €uros.  The helper can pick 6 kilo per hour. The supermarket chains where only willing to pay a price per kilo of 2 €uro ... Now you must calculate transport, amortisation of agricultural machines, taxes insurances and you will figure out yourself that the farmer would actually pay to work... 

In consequence of the creation of these small local markets there is another very good effect: the buying behaviour of citizens has increasingly changed, giving heed to healthy sustainable products which do not contain health risks as they are assumed to be caused by GMO products.. 

Of course, the most important effect is that the citizens just also meet in these markets, talk and exchange news that are really of relevance for the immediate region. The markets are therefore not an easy trick of a village to make their villages more attractive for tourists, that's rather a minor effect.