Health and safety Information Variatio n In peomlnence and br eadth

com ul tan ts could also be explored ｴｯ ｬ ｡ ｾ

carried by travel brochure s 01health and sal ety Inform ation
rauvet y between the tourism industr-y and
In Au strali a between 112 o ve rseas and 36 the medical profession .
no rthern Auatra Ua n tra ve l brochures' I , 1'$_ 1-10. ｡ｬｾ N£ ",__ "'ll'a..""O 1III'00Clw II"Q.I
Hedley G Pu en; Nico le E Bame tt' """'M . .d o.afely" _ ...... ",."._ --19 '110(1
• ProlessOl 01PUblic "-Itt< , t R" . .ｾ FeilO<W, The Number ('%0) 01bfOdlures ｊｾｍＢ ｬ＿ｩＤ ｯ ｬＨｲ ｮａ ｬＧＱ Ｙ ｜ｬ Ｓ［ｭ Ｗｾ ｾ
ｕ ＢＧｏｉｾｩｬｹ 01M"'ltlO" ne. a e ar Holall1l Se"'icea 8ue 2, ｾＱＭｉｏ Ｎｂ｡ｉｨｎｅ V>No<I ........... ｾ ..lIlo_..,trI)" ...
sn
I"ItJ!Ipitel , PO 80. A"II t VIC 33S3 ＢＧｾｩﾫｬ 'n ｾ 0ueenIieft(I e_ III .... 0/fltI ./

T o THE EDITOR: We have found previously

IntormallQn Overseas
Nofthem
AUSlra11/l 3_ ｐｑ｣ｾ
ＷＮＬｾ

I'G, 81'" NE
01 .,,0lf'llt00f0 l mong "lemltoonel ｟ ｉＮｾｧｲｬ
Ｑ

_Ilh _.. . .
_ _10: U -t9
PI\»..... .-.:11-..
ｴｬ･ｃ ｾｬｉ＼［Ｇ
that 30 % of AUlOtraliam trave Ui ng ovenels Non' 31 (28) 17 (47) ｉ ｐｙ ｯｵ ｾ ｮｯｲｴｨ ｡Ｎ･ｮｎ ｲ｣ｬ J 7,. . . _ 2OXl. 1 2:l4-23l
4 ｳｐＱｾ･ O. ｎ ｾ ･ｉ loll . f . . - 1Ml, Tr_ b'CII:*>.....
and 40% ofl'isitors to lJ'Opical Austnlia lack W,IDln Iast 10% _ 1O...ｲ ｹ ｟ Ｇ Ｍ ｯ ｉ ｬ ｨ ｟ ｾ CQnonIMPublrl:_
health and safety info r mati'ln . H Few tra v- OTDaQ6S 49( 44) 10(28) ｉ ｾ 1 U -43
ellen have informatio n abo ut food and S l l'Ol<Ot' G, Pel)ll S hllual"' lJ 17_' 808'U- ll'0>' 117> II
Wholly/parlly In ｾＢｉｨ _ _ lOlt..-.. ｔ ＼ｊｵｴ Ｂ Ｇ ｾ Ｑ Ｙ Ｑ［ IH.
water, the marin e environm ent, th e sun a nd sma t print 44 (39) 9 (25) ｉｾ ｾ

the ele ments o r fauna an d (lora, On e of the

most com mon sou rces of advice for u av- 01 genefsl nature 13 ( 12) 13 (36)
ellen is travel broch ures. Concer n ove r Sarety !cal"'es' 6(5) 10 (28)
Avoidng "jUry 5 (4) 1 (3) Vitamin D Insufficie ncy In
the p ro min en ce and bre adth of healm
Fac. Ili6 !!Jhc'O south-eas t Queensland
inform atio n in U nited Kin gdom tr avel ava labl e 6(5) 5 (14)
broch ures promp ted WI to surw:y Australi an John J Uc:Qr. lh,' U le"'el G Klmlln.1
broc h ures.' Medical 43(38) B (22) Suonta s..,..' De")" W Eyl e• •' Altlo V PartI/'
We co llec ted all b roc hu res cover in g Cee-eoce • O-:lQt_ O. . -ien<lI Cenh 10< S<;hi{Uph......
neede d 11 (10) 2(6) ReNarc:n. WolltO'l ｐ ｡ ｦ ｾ HoIIpolli . WIlCOl. OLD " OTli
nonhero Australia (the No nhero Territory,
Fitroess,/skl15 1 ...,;t ",uociele Prole" Q' . Oel:I."monl 01 ＬｹｲｴＮｬＧｉ･ｹｾ
th e Far No rth a nd No rt h regions o f 2(2) UMtelilly 01ｏｾ Ｎ OLD. tAIIOCI&18 Le<:tlKt·
eeedec
Queen slan d, and the northe rn pari o f ｐｨ ｾ Ｎ '11 50" 01 lKtur... Centre 10< oI.slfonomy."o
Avoid lf1g specific ａ ｬｾｩｃ flesaafCII . ()e.pa/'lmanl 01 BIOIDIJlCal l " J
West ern Austr alia (north of the Tr op ic o f
Capricor n\) and coun tr ies excep t the U K, p"""""" 34 (30) PhyK4l St...... Uni-.s<lll 01 Sou!t>e<n 0"",,11..-,,,
OlD . t _SSelentllls, Oueenllan d Centre 'ot
Europe, the United S lues, Canad a and
NCVo' Zealand from every travel agency in
"'''''''''
mana gement
Fao lille llJhalp
9(8) 2(6) Sc:hiloph,eni.
jlm. lqJn.""'" _uql!'dll ....
1le$M,c:r-, WIlc:Ol. OLD

cen tra l Melbou rn e and th e regional Victo-
ria n city of Ballaral and examined them for
health and safety inform atio n.
W'e collec ted 148 different brochu res
published by 56 co m panies. Our find ings
are sum ma rised in the Box.
Not o nly did coverage of the diffe rent cat·
eg ories o f information va ry be twe en
brochu res, so d id the preci se ad vice offered .
For example, onl y seven brochures men-
tio ned c1orhing, a hal , su nsc ree n and sun-
glasses in co n nectio n w uh sun p rc tecrion .
The pr op ort ion of br ochures men tio ning a
particula r anivity and also relevan r u fety
and health information varied from on ly 1%
for visiting religious sites 10 18% for coach
touring, with diving. biking, be aring, swim-
mingod riVIng. cJimblng and Clmpmg tw:ing
intermed ilte values. Desp ite none of the
b rochures d evoung mor e than I % o f co n-
te n t 10 health and safety ad vice. tra velleu
we re refer red to other pu blicati ons, peop le
o r o rgan isatio ns by only 14% o f northern
Aus U'alian and 60% of overseas brochures
(the Ianer mainl)' to general practitioners for
"a CMllions or malaria pr oph ylaxis).
T ravellers Iho uld ha ve c om p rehe nsive
health and safety inform ation. The variation
we foun d between b rochures SUiKesls th e
(Ourism in dustry needs to reach a cc nM:n-
sus , tiNtly, 1$ 10 whether brochures sho uld
co nta in info rma tion or refer tra vellers eb e-
where an d. second ly, as 10 the prominence
eva rabie '0(9) 5 ( 14) T o THE EDITOR: Rece nt studies l-4 ｨ ｾ｜ ｾ
St.n protection 8 (7) 7 ( 19) d rawn arten don to high rat es o f vita min D
insuffi cien cy and defi ciency in so uth ..m
FeunalllOla
Avoi tlor{l specnc
AuSU'alia (often defined I I 25-hydr o'1'-
problemsl B(7) 5 (14) v ita mi n 0\ le ve ls II< 50 nm o l/ L <'loll
"Ii 38 nm otll.., resp ectively). H owever, th ere
Mar<oo related 6(5) 5( 14) are few dati from sub tro pica l regioDs s\I,;b
Fl!fIOssis 1,- as Q ueens land. where there iI. more in tense
reeoec 6(5) 5 ( 14}
ulrraviolet (UV) radiatio n. Our gro up ｢｡ ｾ JlI
AYOltl,r.g scecac
proolefT'.$1 1 (3) interest in vitamin 0,' and had the op por-
FacllllesJholp tunity to e xami ne vitlrnin D levels in I
available 1 (3) case-eon trol erudy d esigned to examine m k
oee- 1(3) facton for psychosis .'
Food/wa ler ,ela :ed 1B (16) 3(8)
The study, in 199 7-1 99 8, involved ::22
me n and 19 2 wom en (0'1= 4 14); 20 1 had
• Colurms lum to f"O"lI Itlan 112 01 36 ｢･ｾ bee n di agno sed with ps ythosi,; the mean
IO'Tl8 tlfocn.... es C¥l' eel >n!ol'malDl<r1 molil lt1an
one c.lOlloro Of 1ubC618QOfY I ｾＱＨｉｮ ol sale
age w.,
4 2 )'ear s (S O , 13.2; renge, 17- 6 5).
_enocla Of! aceommodal.Qn t Tho ｾ lor glXld They .....' ere from sou th-ea st Queenslan d (U f-
health and sw,,,nllng p<of<-4l"q' 'ot tIOetng Of itude 27"5 ), and 113 lived in " ru ral areas-
llrWlg § In'ocllOllt I;III&lIaS8ll, dehydlBbon altitude (as defined by the Australian Bureau of Su-
IICllnell8. InMcl DIIM dMng ｾ ｳ and box
1BlIy'II' $lIngS
tistics).· We measured seru m 25-hydro xy·
vitamin O J level. with a rad ioim mun oassay
kil (D iaSo rin, Snllwarer, Minn, USA ). l.'V
rad iation levels were mea sured with a ptf-
and nature o f any ad vice o r referrals. The m anently moun ted , outd oo r erythe mal VV
medica l profen ion could encourage an d m eter (model 50 1, So lar Ligh t C ompany,
assist the ind us lry in th i, . Phill d elphia, US A) and suns h ine d uut io/l
Experience in Europe: shows legi r.lation was mea sured with a Cam pbell -Sto kes
alone il nOI th e an swer. 4 Alth ough ma ny recorder (d n a prov ided by the Australian
tnIvel . genls may nOt cu rrtnll y see th em - Burea u of M et eoro lo gy). Ind ependenl
. elves as a source of health I dvice. tnlvellen group t-tC"!;tS were: used to usess differe nCes
will often eo nsuh th em wh t'n colle cting in ＲＵ ｾｨ ｹ､ｲｯｸＮ ｙＧ ＼ｬ ｬｭｩｮ 0 1 le\'e1, based ('Ill
brochures.' The role and su ppo rt of tra \'C1 u: x., pt esencelabsen ce of psychosis, sn d

150 MJ A Vol 174 5 Fe b rua ry 2001