STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS: Soil Degradation
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Date 26 March, 1998, Database House Hansard
Speaker Cameron, Eoin, MP (Stirling, LP, Government) Page 1762
Proof No, Source House, Type Speech
Context Statements by Members
Main Committee Yes

Read the following extract from the Hansard Australian Parliament records House Hansard, 26-03-1998 (Page 1762)

STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 
Soil Degradation
Mr EOIN CAMERON (Stirling)(9.50 a.m.)

A serious situation has been brought to my attention that should be of concern to all of us: a situation that affects every man, woman and child in this country, irrespective of age. I refer to the mineral degradation of the soils from which our food is derived. A United States Senate report in 1936 said that the alarming fact is that the foods (fruits, vegetables and grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us, no matter how much of them we eat.' From preliminary investigations, it has become evident that our soils are equally as deficient in trace minerals as the soils in the United States are - if not more so - not only from the plants point of view, but also from the human body's point of view.

There is little, if any, consideration given to the mineral content of our foods. The only consideration to date has been to maximising the yields of any given crop. So, if the crop requires more trace minerals to grow well, it is given them; but if we humans require trace minerals to be healthy but the plant does not need them our requirements are totally ignored.

What is more, it is not commonly realised that vitamins control the body's use of minerals and that, in the absence of minerals, vitamins have no function to perform at all. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals; but, lacking minerals, vitamins are completely useless.

This is vital to the health of our nation. Without the proper mineral balance in our bodies, we cannot function properly and we start degenerating in a progressively downward spiral - slowly at first, but then faster and faster until the degeneration gets to a point where we, as individuals, can no longer ignore the devastating symptoms that, more often than not, end up killing us.

That is the way it happens to most of us. And the sad part is that we think it is natural, just a part of getting old. It is not natural and it is not part of getting old.

Back in 1936, the warning was loud and clear that, if we do not get all the minerals we need to stay healthy, we will get sick, suffer and have shorter lives. Dr Linus Pauling, twice a Nobel prize winner, stated that you can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to mineral deficiency.

What we have been doing for the past 50 years or so is taking 60 minerals [start page 1763] out of the soil and only replacing three: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If you ran your bank account like that, with $60 out and $3 in, what would happen? You would end up bankrupt.

Although this is a very serious and complex situation, there are some simple, commonsense answers. For example, some very positive research has been conducted over several years in North Queensland and elsewhere, where the adding of mineral rock dust containing up to 70 mineral elements to various soils not only increased the tonnage of the crops there but also reduced the acidity of the soil, while replenishing the depleted minerals at the same time. According to our preliminary research, this Queensland quarry has an estimated reserve of around 20 million tonnes, while another 23 reserves have already been identified.

There is simple evidence to support what I am saying, for all of those who would like to check it out.

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