China Rejects Over Half-a-Million Tons of US Corn After Finding an Unapproved Genetically Modified Strain

Winnipeg Free Press

BEIJING, China - China has rejected 545,000 tons of imported U.S. corn found to contain an unapproved GM strain, the country's product safety agency announced Friday. Details here.

Outsourcing is Short-Sighted

Winnipeg Free Press

My initial impression upon reading your Dec. 16 editorial Gear Canada to create new jobs was that the writer was indulging in sarcasm. Sadly, as I read on I realized that the message is that manufacturing and agricultural jobs are better off going off-shore, allowing goods to crisscross continents and oceans before landing on our plates or stores. Details here.

Legal Expert Warns Canada-EU Trade Agreement Could Damage Sovereignty

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

The draft agreement "will provide foreign investors into Canada with the most investor-friendly set of corporate rights ever drafted by the Canadian government into a treaty. " Full story here.

IISD legal expert, Howard Mann

In Northern Gateway Pipeline Decision, Economics Trumped All Else

Inside Climate News

"Canadians will be better off with this project than without it." - Review Panel. Details here.

Related: "Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel doesn’t address aboriginal concerns, says federal adviser"

"Gateway Pipeline Recommendations Ignore Citizens - PLEASE TAKE ACTION!"

We Need a Mandatory Ban on Sub-Therapeutic Doses of Antibiotics for Livestock—in the US (and Canada! PLT)

Organic Consumers Association 

More than 36 years ago the U.S. Food & Drug Administration acknowledged there was a problem with the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms. In March 2012, the courts forced the FDA's hand. Finally, last week, the  FDA announced a plan to curb the routine use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to treat and fatten up livestock on factory farms. But the mostly voluntary, loophole-riddled “plan” falls far short of what scientists say is needed to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs that now pose a real and widespread danger to public health. Details here. 

Related: "Food and Drug Administration in the US Moves To Phase Out Widespread Use Of Antibiotics In Meat"

Chemicals Causing Cancer and Infertility Found at Fracking Sites

Huffington Post

Hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to cancer, infertility and a slew of other health problems have been found in water samples collected at and near hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," sites in Colorado, according to a new study published in the journal Endocrinology this week. Details here.

Gateway Pipeline Recommendations Ignore Citizens - PLEASE TAKE ACTION!

Make your voice heard

Photo Marco Guada via Flickr Many people are upset by the Joint Review Panel’s recommendation to go ahead with the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. However, don’t despair over the holidays -- this is far from over. This recommendation does not mean the pipeline will be built. Right now it’s time to take action. Send a message of support to the 130 First Nations that still oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

Freedom for the Arctic 30!

Greenpeace

Hi Larry,

Big news! The Arctic 30 have been granted amnesty.

Earlier today the Russian government agreed to amend an amnesty bill to include the Arctic 30, and just now the bill was officially adopted by their parliament. This means legal proceedings against them will be halted and they should be home soon.

I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief, but the Arctic 30 have said they’re not celebrating. They’ve all spent two months in jail for a crime they didn’t commit, and faced criminal charges that were absurd. As Pete Willcox, captain of the Arctic Sunrise, said: “There’s no amnesty for the Arctic.”

Manitoba Doing Better Than Most in Conserving Woodland Caribou

Winnipeg Free Press

A study to see how well Canadian jurisdictions are responding to Ottawa's’s National Recovery Strategy for Caribou gives Manitoba a medium grade. Details here.

A Greenpeace Cartoon for the Season

PLT: Arctic ice has increased, for now. But global warming is not over, scientists warn.

What Would "Madiba" Have Done?

by Larry Powell

Prime Minister Harper's attendance at the funeral of Nelson Mandela has conjured up some fascinating scenarios for me.

While South Africa's repression of its black people will live on in infamy, Canada's treatment of our own indigenous people has hardly been exemplary, either. 

So, if Mandela, who so famously led his people out of bondage, were Prime Minister of Canada, what would he do here? 

Would he be; 

• slashing grants to native organizations? 
• refusing to hold a public inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women? 
• passing legislation (using closure) which leaves traditional native territories vulnerable to disruptive and polluting projects?
• rubber-stamping expansion of the tar sands which has, for years, been sickening the people of the Fort Chipewyan First Nation, downstream with rare cancers and other diseases? 
• cheerleading massive pipeline projects that cross pristine wilderness and fragile marine ecosystems on the doorstep of First Nations settlements?
• allowing "fracking" projects on traditional native territories and elsewhere (you know, the kinds that poison groundwater, turn tap water into something flammable and even trigger earthquakes)? 
• and allowing Members of Parliament like Rob Anders (see comment, below) to remain in his government? 

If my questions sound rhetorical, it's because they are.