Understanding politics in Malta

Reading Alan Zelt’s ‘Trying to understand politics and voting’ (March 20) in Malta was like a breath of fresh air. I was beginning to think that nobody but me had the slightest bit of interest in, or even noticed, the obtuse mentality that still exists on the island. 

Fortunately for me, I don’t live there, so I only comment on what I know and learn looking in from the outside. He has to live with it.

He asks why should a party know how he voted. How long has he been living in Malta? The word ‘corruption’ jumps up every day in connection with anyone who is in authority.  The previous prime minister and some of his cabinet had to resign. I actually liked Joseph Muscat because he seemed a decent person but, at best, those around him let him down.

I share Alan’s sentiments about abstaining or wasting your vote. If you want to protest against a party, vote for somebody else. Voting is a great responsibility. Some countries even considered making it compulsory. But then one can deliberately waste a vote. If you don’t vote you have no right to complain if the party in government fails to live up to expectations.

In Malta, nobody votes according to their conscience. Voting for a party is in the genes. You can trace it back to great grandfather and ‘brainwashing’ springs to mind. Indeed, you generally find same party supporters hang around in cliques, denigrating the opposing party and exalting their own and most of the time they haven’t got a clue what they’ve talking about.

Alan is  obviously a recent expat. I thank him for at least taking an interest in the country he chose to live in and making an effort to engender debate in the hope of educating others.  Myself and others have been trying to do the same for a while, with no response, so don’t hold your breath.

PAUL BRINCAU – Uxbridge, UK

Noise impacts on health

The impact of noise on health has been an issue for several years. Photo: Shutterstock.com

With flats getting smaller and smaller, noise nuisance has become a major threat to health. The impact of noise on health has been an issue for several years. A neighbour’s noise penetrates through a whole block of flats. This is exacerbated by traffic noise and by building noise.

The European Commission funds major research projects on the impairment of health due to noise. The World Health Organisation has provided guidelines on environmental noise and the impact of noise on health.

The right to quiet enjoyment of living in one’s flat is enshrined in the Guidelines of the Human Rights Council. A citizen has the right to the exclusive and quiet enjoyment of one’s flat, whether one has bought or rented. This excludes invasion of one’s flat by noise, vibrations and air emissions by a polluter. Every citizen has an inalienable right to the exclusive use of one’s mental space.

Modern Policies for Health Protection take a holistic approach: avoid noise at the sources and protect the natural resource ‘tranquillity’ because tranquillity is a valuable resource for human health and well-being.

A contemporary objective is that “we have to create an environment that makes health behaviour easy”. Avoiding noise at the sources follows the Precautionary Principle and the Polluter Pays, which applies throughout the European Union.

This is not only conventional wisdom but also the primary concept of environmental law and European environmental legislation. The ‘Polluter Pays Principle’ holds the noise emitter responsible for eliminating the noise.

The ear is not made to be constantly stimulated but to respond to clues in the environment. It is there to protect from danger and for communication. The inner ear has the function of responding to noise. Hearing results from hairs on a membrane in the inner ear set vibrating by sound. The tips of these hairs knock against a membrane that sends impulses to the brain to interpret sound. These are fragile and are damaged by loud noise, leading to hearing loss.

Community noise causes health problems: psychological effects, body effects and social effects. The WHO 2018, 1998 reports describe the biological mechanisms related to cardiovascular and metabolic effects caused by community noise. These occur even during sleep. Noise interferes with thoughts, feelings and activities and disturbs sleep.

Research has shown a strong interrelation between exposure to environmental noise and impaired sleep quality, chronic fatigue, nervousness, annoyance, increased irritability and cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, blood pressure elevations, ischemic heart disease (including myocardial infraction) and stroke.

Secretion of stress hormones stimulate the sympathetic-adrenal medullary and the Hypothalamic- Pituitary-Adrenal axis. These occur even during sleep. The first is a chain reaction caused by stressors acting on the central nervous system leading to the secretion of adrenaline causing increased heart rate, stroke volume, increased vascular resistance and blood pressure culminating in cardiac arrest.

The second system stimulates the pituitary glands to secrete a hormone which influences metabolic functions such as the secretion of cortisol which results in elevation of blood glucose levels, lipolysis, immune suppression and elevations of blood pressure, shifts in electrolyte balance (Mg/Ca).

These reactions commonly result in chronic situations associated with feelings of distress, anxiety, depression, fatigue and reduced performance.

Children have been identified as vulnerable to noise exposure. The long-term consequences of these effects on children’s development is particularly significant. Noise impacts on children’s ability to read, cognitive impairment and emotional stability. Noise interferes with cognitive functions, including attention, concentration, memory and reading ability.

JOAN RIBI PhD – Specialist in environment and public health