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Letter: Save our teddies and their bugs

Published 23 February 2002

From Helen Forrester

What in the name of all that’s cute and cuddly did the teddy Nazis think
that they would find when they tested the teddies
(2 February, p 7)?
Just teddy organisms? Of course the average teddy harbours “bugs”.

Teddies and related species, Pandas, Piglets and the odd Noddy add a great
deal to cold, sterile waiting rooms. I suspect the waiting rooms of the doctors
involved in this teddy-bashing exercise need all the humanising a good scruffy
teddy can manage.

Soft cuddly toys and their relations are important “prods” for immature
immune systems. I have been active in healthcare for 30 years. An elderly
gentleman once explained: “If a child has not eaten his or her own weight in
dirt by the time they are two, they may not make it.” This man possessed far
more insight than these soulless GPs.

Who is next on their hit list? The Tooth Fairy? Heaven knows what she has
lurking on her wings.

Christie's Beach, South Australia

Issue no. 2331 published 23 February 2002

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