PLANET IN PERIL

(Reuters) - Heavy use of the world's most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson's, infertility and cancers, according to a new study. Details here. Related article: Field of Nightmares - Ottawa continues to embrace the use of Roundup on Canadian farms by letting corporate seduction trump scientific evidence. Crop-duster.  PLT photo

House of Commons April  16, 2013 Elizabeth May:  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told this House that Canada legally withdrew from the treaty to combat drought and desertification because it was “ …not an effective way to [use] taxpayers’ money”. The cost of the treaty, $300,000 a year, is roughly equivalent to half the cost of a G8 gazebo or 109 days of the care and feeding of a rented panda, less than 4% of the PMO office budget, a third the cost of shipping an armoured vehicle to India, or two days of government advertising to tell us how happy we should all be with the way the government is spending our money. By what criteria is that spending more effective than pulling our weight in the world to confront drought and expanding deserts? Hon. Julian Fantino:  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the criteria. That is making Canada's assistance more effective and efficient so we can dedicate those resources to the people most in need. We are

Society for a GE Free BC 51 municipalities yesterday supported a motion brought forward by Metchosin to make Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities a genetically engineered free zone – Details here. Designed by PLT

Show Detail Friends, I have big news to share with you on the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA). The e-mails and letters you sent calling for the ELA to be saved, the petitions you signed, the pressure you helped to mount on social media – it has all paid off. Today the Ontario government announced that it will step in to help keep the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area operating. Public pressure from concerned citizens like you made this happen. Your support enabled the Council of Canadians to join other groups in sustaining a broad and effective campaign over the last several months. Our efforts culminated last month with our urgent '48 Hours to Save the ELA' action alert, in which nearly 4,000 Council members sent messages to Ontario Premier Wynne and Manitoba Premier Selinger calling on them to intervene – and today, they did! You and I must build on the momentum of this victory for the next fight to protect water. We must challenge the Harper Conservative

Winnipeg Free Press The animal has been wiped out in parts of Manitoba, so why is it easy to get moose meat? Details here. Graham Powell Photography

Wow -- 35,000 pledges already! Let's reach 45,000 and stop the take over of our food and our politics. Click  here  to pledge now. Dear Avaazers, One mega-company is gradually taking over our food supply -- putting the planet’s food future in serious danger.  But we can turn the tide on Monsanto and other companies that push through policies that prioritise their profits over the public good.  Pledge $4 now to help stop this dangerous domination of our politics and our food: One mega-company is gradually taking over our global food supply, poisoning our politics and putting the planet’s food future in serious danger.  To stop it we need to expose and break up Monsanto’s worldwide grip. Monsanto, the chemical giant that gave us poisons like Agent Orange and DDT, has a super-profitable racket.  Step 1: Develop pesticides and genetically modified (GM) seeds designed to resist them, patent the seeds, prohibit farmers from replanting their seeds year to year, then send u