OPINION: EOHA pamphlet… oh no pt.1

The EOHA is a newish website and incorporated business owned by a local Cornwall lawyer, Maurice Gatien (74). Despite the eerily similar name, it has no affiliation with the EOHU.

To my knowledge, Mr. Gatien has no medical or peripheral health training. I have serious questions about his expertise and intentions when placing himself at the helm of a “health alliance”.

In October 2021, paid-for anti-vaccine/ anti-mask ads began to appear in the Standard-Freeholder from the EOHAlliance Incorporated as a public service. This was before the EOHA was a registered corporation and before it had a website.

After registering the corporation, a website appeared and the EOHU warned the community that the EOHA was not the health unit.

In the  “health” section of the website, we are warned that this is not a medical website. And yet, the entire site is devoted to Covid-19, vaccines, masks, and health practices supposedly to protect yourself from Covid and against accepted but somehow sinister mainstream medical practices. I particularly enjoyed the vaccine detoxifying bath instructions and have stocked up on unscented body lotion as an antidote.

In recent weeks, despite health mandates being lifted (for better or worse), the EOHA has been delivering “health” pamphlets door to door in select neighbourhoods.

The current offering is all about Masks: how they don’t work and worse, how they are harmful to your health!

Before I launch into the meat of this pamphlet, I want you to know that I write about this stuff because I feel that disinformation is dangerous from a health perspective and I don’t believe that the non-mainstream health & protest movements have as much to do with health issues as they do with knowingly or unknowingly promoting political and economic agendas that are dangerous to our society and democracy.

If you have any doubts about the latter, take a look at the “Freedom Convoy” and the direction (or lack thereof) that it’s taken.

It would take pages and pages to rebut all of the pamphlet’s claims with scientific papers that no one will read. While I did a lot of “googling” on my own, I was very lucky to have the support and guidance of two very generous medical researchers: Dr. Richard Bazinet and Dr. Tara Moriarty who each have research labs at the University of Toronto. I will include a couple of studies and articles but it’s of paramount importance to think rationally about the issues we face nowadays. We are not finished with the pandemic and we have other huge problems on our collective plates. 

The pamphlet “Covid-19 Counterpoint – Dropping the mask on masks”

The masks don’t work section makes many claims that are not backed up with verifiable links to up-to-date studies. There is exactly one quote from a May 2020 CDC journal from the beginning of the pandemic.

If the EOHA is going to play scientist, why not use the up-to-date revised CDC  studies like this one from 2021? Or this one in 2022?

In response to the claim that there is “no such study” showing the effectiveness of masks, Dr. Bazinet referred me to “.. the largest [STUDY] and larger than all others put together… published in a leading journal”. And an overview of studies with different [MASK] designs suggesting they work.

One problem with being a LayPerson opining on science is that the LP does NOT know where to look, does NOT have unfettered access to current world studies and does NOT know how to interpret them. The layperson also has no knowledge or understanding of the methods used in the study and does not know the reputability of the researchers. 

Beware of “Talking Points That Mean Nothing” that pepper the website and are found in the pamphlet.

I noted that Mr. Gatien was wearing both clothing and glasses on his recent 110 Km “old man walk” in February to join the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. Given the temperature and distance, I’m sure they were rather essential for his survival and I doubt he was born with either. 

This is what they mean when they say “size matters”: Covid viruses are around 0.1 microns wide. “In everyday, however, the virus doesn’t travel alone. COVID-19 viruses are usually carried in the respiratory droplets…, which are generally at least 10 times larger than the virus”. ARTICLE. And… a molecule of carbon dioxide is about 0.00033 microns wide, and oxygen is about the same—almost a thousand times smaller. No molecule that small will get trapped in a mask. 

There is a wealth of legitimate scientific and anecdotal information from around the world attesting to masks working. And if that is not enough and you have worn a mask regularly like me, you might have noticed NO colds or flu in the past 2 years! Not only do they work but we should strive to be more like our Asian friends and wear masks for the benefit of others when we get colds or flues.

If you are interested in more information on Covid and asking real scientists your questions, consider joining these informal “kitchen table” discussions online. They are free to join on Wednesday evenings from 8-10 pm. You have to sign up beforehand HERE.

Join me for part 2 (out of 3) of EOHA pamphlet… oh no when we look at the fascinating and untrue claims that “Masks are Harmful to Your Health” on Monday, April 4th.