Letters to the Editor

Protecting Canadian Lakes from Mining Waste Draws Reader Feedback

Inaccuracies in Fluoridation Article?

Residual Chemicals in Hospitals?

Confusion Over Vitamin D Dosage

A Heartfelt Thank You

Alternative Treatment for Uterine Fibroids

Jack Layton Gets Tough on Asbestos

Dear Helke Ferrie,

Thank you for taking the time to send me your article on asbestos (Vitality, March 2009). We know that asbestos is the single greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. In Canada, workplace asbestos-related diseases account for more than 60% of all deaths from occupational diseases and more than 100,000 deaths each year around the world.

Shamefully, while the rest of the developed world is banning all forms of asbestos, Canada is busy exporting more than 220,000 tonnes per year into under-developed and Third World countries, where health and safety regulations are non-existent or not enforced, thereby exposing millions of ill-informed and unsuspecting people to its hazards.

For years, New Democrats have called on successive Canadian Governments to start taking asbestos disease seriously. Although the Canadian asbestos industry has sustained generations of miners and processors, the moral costs of asbestos are simply too high to justify. And given the World Health Organization’s conclusion that there is no safe exposure level, my team of New Democrats is again calling for an end to asbestos exports and an improvement of health services for asbestos-related diseases, including better diagnosis and treatment. We are putting forward the following plan:

· An Asbestos ban by phasing out its use and export —as ethically required by the precautionary principle.

· A Just Transition Program to protect and create opportunities for workers and communities dependent on the asbestos industry.

· An Asbestos Abatement Program to test for and safely remove asbestos from homes and buildings across the country.

· Promotion of the safe cleanup of asbestos-laden sites that threaten human health or the environment.

· An end to the Canadian government’s attempts to block improved international health and safety conventions, such as the Rotterdam convention.

· Cooperation with provinces to develop a national asbestos disease registry.

Please visit our website at: www.ndp.ca to learn more about the latest work being done by our team.

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth). Leader, Canada’s New Democrats
 
Use the Sun Wisely to Make Your Own Vitamin D

I really enjoyed reading the fabulous article Vivacious Vitamin D by Helke Ferrie in the June 2009 edition of Vitality. I have known about this wonder vitamin for some time. I am studying nutrition and like to read the sources used for the article. I visited the Vitasearch website first and found only one article about sunscreen and sun protection which was directly opposite to Helke’s good advice. I wanted to give you a heads up that the information is contradictory. I really enjoy Helke's point of view. Thank you again for the fabulous life enhancing article. 

Lyme Disease Misdiagnosis Wastes Taxpayers’ Money

I would like to thank Helke Ferrie, and your magazine, for your much needed article on Lyme disease (Feb. 2009 issue). It has been so overlooked by those who are supposed to be there to help us. It is a crime to do this to people and it’s not fair! It is an awful thing to go through life sick and not have anyone or any doctor in your court. I am speaking from my own personal life and family. My family has four known cases of Lyme and only one of us was treated early enough to be classed as a cure (I hope). If it was not for a veterinarian friend four years ago, we would still be wondering what was wrong with us and running from one type of doctor to another. All this is a cost to Ontario tax payers. My tests and misdiagnosis and treatments have cost the system thousands of dollars over the years, all for nothing!

I co-run a support group in Toronto because of all the frustrated sick people who need help, or just a concerned ear. The stories we hear at our meetings would make you cry. It’s a crime; it’s a sin, and this should be illegal. I could go on, but I really just wanted to say thanks!

- Keith Poullos, GTA Lyme disease support group, kpoullos@hbwi.ca

(Editor’s note: If you missed the Lyme Disease article, you can find it on our website)

Bill C-6 Question

I was just told tonight that the latest version of the former Bill 51/52 has been introduced into the House of Commons as Bill C-6. Do you know if this is for real? If so where, when, how do we start the latest opposition?

- George Cridland, Tara, Ontario

Helke Ferrie’s Response

By the time Vitality comes out, it is possible that the situation has changed, but as of February 4 I understand Bill C-6 is the original C-52, i.e. an amendment to the Hazardous Products Act. It is not the former C-51 which was intended to amend the Food and Drugs Act. I learned from Conservative MP James Lunney that they intend to bring back C-51 also. C-6 is politically the safer of the two bills. In the previous parliament C-52 (now C-6) made it through third reading and it was sent to Committee when the fall election killed it.

Amending the Hazardous Products Act grants a lot of political mileage for the Harper government. They appear to be doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. It looks as if they are trying to detox the country and keep babies safe, but in fact they are grabbing more power and taking none of the really serious chemicals out of our ecological system.

Dear Vitality,

We need your help right away! We’ve just learned that the chemical industry is trying to postpone the Ontario pesticide ban by at least a year! Could you please e-mail the Ontario government saying you want the pesticide regulations implemented this Spring?

Please send an email to: spupatello.mpp@liberal.ola.org; mbryant.mpp.co@liber-al.ola.org; mbest.mpp@liberal.ola.org; jwatson.mpp@liberal.ola.org; htakhar.mpp@liberal.ola.org. Enitle it: Don't Delay the Pesticide Ban! to the Ontario government and then cut and paste the following into your message:

Dear Cabinet Minister,

The pesticide regulations will boost business and green jobs. Please ensure they come into effect this Spring. Do nothing to weaken them. Thank you very much.

 [Your name and address]

Even if you don't live in Ontario, please send a message to the Ontario government. This ban will help us win pesticide bans right across Canada.

Thanks again for all your help!

- Gideon Forman, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 130 Spadina Av., Suite 301, Toronto, CANADA  M5V 2L4. Phone (416) 306-2273, www.cape.ca