PLANET IN PERIL

by Larry Powell I'd like to correct several statements in a recent article by Cam Dahl of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy that are either misleading, inaccurate, or both. In it, he insisted that Canada's current system of food regulation is "efficient, science-based and safe." Sadly, history tells us something quite different. Almost five years ago, a bright, dedicated young graduate student at the University of Manitoba, Jennifer Magoon, (above)  found statistically significant links between the amount of farm pesticides used in certain regions of this province and the incidence of several health problems in infants. These included severe birth disorders including spina bifida, Down syndrome, cleft palate, lower birth weights, respiratory distress and jaundice. There were eye disorders, too, including retinal degeneration and cataracts. Magoon's findings were based on health records of tens of thousands of people living in rural Manitoba. Her res

Shellee Tyler Mar 24'11 - Planetsave Thousands of endangered penguins have been coated with oil after a cargo ship ran aground and broke up on a remote British South Atlantic territory, officials and conservationists said Tuesday. Details here.

Planet Save - Mar 24 '11 Worldwide, high crude oil prices, increasing extreme weather events, population growth and economic development of poorer countries, crop-based biofuels, political conflict and unrest in the Middle East, and slowing crop yield growth are all factors contributing to rising food prices. Details here.

Joshua S Hill - PlanetSave Mar '11 Despite a large majority of scientists with intimate knowledge of the planet’s climate agreeing that climate change is real and human-induced, the public still persists in distrusting the majority at the hands of a few wayward sceptics. Details here.

23 Mar'11 - United Nations VIENTIANE – For the first time in Lao PDR, close to 1,000 primary school children will receive a healthy and balanced school lunch prepared from foods bought at their local market. Details here. A Canadian farmers'  market. l.p. photo

Mar 24'11 Manitoba Co-Operator The person believed to be Canada's second-ever case of the type of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transmitted by BSE-infected beef is seen as unlikely to have picked it up in this country. Details here.