This petition addresses the health dangers to women and the children of women who wear veils and/or burkas and are confined to their homes in accordance with extremist religious ideology which mandates such practices.
Human beings, male and female who are deprived of sunshine are at high risk of developing vitamin D deficiency without alternative vitamin D supplementation.
Sunshine striking human skin is converted to vitamin D through a synthesis mechanism that takes place in the skin.
The effects of Vitamin D deficiency are bone thinning and deformity in the long bones of children (rickets), osteomalacia (bone thinning and fragility in adults), osteoporosis (loss of bone density).
Vitamin D definciency is also known to affect the development of children in the womb and is linked to high blood pressure, tuberculosis, cancer, periodontal disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, seasonal affective disorder, peripheral artery disease, cognitive impairment (poor brain function) which includes memory loss and foggy brain and several autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes.....vitamin D deficiency is also linked to Parkinson's disease.
Many of these diseases and manifestations of vitamin D deficiency can be disabling, painful and fatal.
People with high levels of melanin in their skin such as Middle Eastern men and women and people of African descent etc. are at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency than people of European descent (white people) because the melanin (pigment) levels in their skin are higher, making it more difficult for sunshine to penetrate to the underlying skin layers to make vitamin D.....so they need more sunshine to produce vitamin D in healthy, adequate amounts to sustain healthy body function.
This is especially so if these populations relocate to northern climates where there are more clouds and/or the sun is weaker than in countries which lie in desert and tropical zones of the world where their ancestors evolved darker skin pigmentation as protection from intense equatorial and/or desert sun.
This petition appeals to all Muslim nations, people and religious organizations who enforce burka and veil wearing to reconsider this practice for the well being of women and children who's health is being adversely and dangerously affected by this religious custom.
This petition also calls on the UN and the World Health Organization to educate men, women and children in Muslim nations or nations with significant Muslim populations of the importance of adequate sunshine and vitamin D.
For further info also go to:
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/00268.htlm We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of this author.
