The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

No wonder the Summit of the Americas needs the full force of law enforcement can Piatkowski's column about Sim: infringement of civil liber- ties during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec is a disturbing indictment of the negotiators and our government's support of the ini- lialive. But the assumption that these and other world trade negotiations are about free trade is incorrect. This past Monday. March 5, 40 of the world‘s largest pharmaceutical com- panies went to court in South Africa specifically to block South Africa from implementing free trade. The pharmaceutical industry is challenging South Africa's laws, instituted under Nelson Mandela's government, which allows it to pur- We have to tell the Ministry of Transportation we don't need a 401 between Guelph and Kitchener You said it Widening existing Highway 7 is the fastest, cheapest and simplist solution e the new Highway 7 propos- Ri The people and municipal fficials of Waterloo and Wellington are feeling pressured by the Ministry ofTranspor1 of Ontario in accept a hugely expensive and wasteful highway that no one wants or needs. ontroversy continues around ( what to do about Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph. Some businesses along the newly proposed route, which would use the rural part of Highway 7, are lobbying for the old proposal of an entirely new expressway along a northerly route /idwiver, as had been estab lished, this would destroy many sig nificant wetlands as well as farm QUESTION HOW DO you FEEL ABOUT THIS LATEST BLAST OF WINTER? The has! majority of people do chase low cost generic AIDS drugs, drugs which can preserve life among the five million South Africans who have the AIDS virus and which can also prevent babies from contracting the disease. The South African case will determine whether the tens of millions of peo- ple in Africa will be able to afford the drugs which can save their and their children's lives. Under free trade one would think that competition would be encour- aged and such lower cost drugs would be readily available to enhance and preserve life. However the pharmaceutical industry main- tains that importing the cheaper generics infringes on their drug not want either the new controlled- access mad or the previously pro- posed "northern mute" that wnuld have cut through precious natural areas and farms. Simply widening the existing highway would be adequate for a very long time to come, and would save $100 million, land. Both of these Ministry of Transportation proposals would also have the disadvantage of cost- ing well over $100 million, The fastest, cheapest, and sim- plest solution, and also the solution which would allow access to busi- nesses along the way. would be to widen the existing road in the rural section - not as a superhighway. but as a four-lane road with some turning lanes - without doing any- 1llS1() "I'm doing ok. It doesnt really bother me, but I am sick of winter and looking forward to springf "lt's rough weather. That groundhog was nuts. He said two more weeks to spring what a liar" Carmen Frost cols/ry/Ile]))]" Joe Ktesby patents which are protected under the trade rules. Obviously, here we have a case where the pharmaceutical industry is using the World Trade Organization to protect and increase their obscene profits, in spite of free trade. while letting mil- lions of people die. If this is the type of free trade the Summit of the Americas is all about, no wonder the negotiators need the full farce of the police. the RCMP, and local law enforcement to allow them to negotiate in secrecy while protecting their interests and profits. Think how our regions could use that $100 million to maintain our deteriorating local roads. We don't need a 401 between Guelph and Kitchener. and weie got to make the Ministry listen, EleanorGranl We must [not roll over and play dead. thing else at either end Over 80 per cent of the public surveyed agreed that this simple widening would be the best solution for our community. It would also allow time to develop alternative transportation systems so that a super highway would, in all likelihood. never be needed “Completely, utterly sick om, ljusl cringe when winter comes. I just despise it; I wear a million layers. [feel like the abominable snowman." “If you are not a fan of winter sports, this is one day too many." (”RI Elizabeth Wharton, Waterloo Melanie Young John Brouwer, Waterloo mutatis Have you eaten any genetically modified foods lately? Chances are high that you have. particulady if you favour process foods con- taining soy or canola. Chances are even higher that you can't say for sure, Canada does not require genetically modified foods to be labelled as such. -iTGiiUiiilk the "free market" rhetoric spouted by our govern- ment and business leaders. neither appears interested in allowing consumers to make a truly infomeq choice. Freelance Journalist Stephen Leahy points out that, in stark con- trast to New Zealand, which has appointed a Royal Commission to study genetically modified crops before they decide whether to allow them to be grown. our own federal govemment waited five years to ask for a less detailed study by the Royal Society of Canada The Canadian study, released last month, casts serious doubt on the safe- ty of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the almost total lack of due process that led to their approval. In the wake of the study, a coalition of groups -. including the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Health Coalition and Greenpeace - called for a moratorium on the approval of new GMOs by the federal govemmenc as the report's recommendations are implemented. In a press release, the groups argue that the report supports their contention that "current governmental approval pro- cedures for GMOs are totally inadequate to guarantee health and environmental safety and the agency responsible for the regulation of GMOs -- the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFlA) - is in a conflict of interest as both a regulator and promoter for the industry" The report recommendations include: o adopitn of rigorous scientific meth- ods to evaluate GMOs as opposed to con- cepts like "substantial equivalence" (the idea that GMOs don't require testing because they are basically the same as existing food products) . use of independent regulators for sci- entific assessment of GMOs and clear sep- aration between the mandates of scientif- ic assessment and economic promotion of GMOs in order m "maintain an objec- tive and neutral stance" - {total "public transparency of the sci- l-rl-l- entifw data and rationales" SCOTT . mandatory labeling of all GMOs . regulations to ensure the traceability PIATKOWSKI of GMOs that are used in other products . "exhaustive. longterm testing for ecological effects of biotech nology products" . .- . A - J 7 .,A r ....I...,'.. "and“ a "may r’ _ - For more information on the study. wwwstraightgoodscom or visit the Co wwwcanadiansorg. The groups: érgi-imcnls are further bolstered by an earlier study (released a year ago) by a group called Ge Alert. Led by Dr. E. Ann Clark, a professor at the University of Guelph, the study critiques "the _ _ - N . _. _ ‘73.. A.‘J _,."--.,".., mum, " "WWW“. a. _., - r _ j . _ 7 process by which Health ( Lanada assesses the toxicity and allergenic- ity of GE crops. . . The study found that toxicity was not actually test- ed or measured on 70 per cent of the 42 GE crops approved in Canada" Clark also found that "Allergenicily was not assessed through lah or feeding trial measurements on any of the 42 GE crops. All conclusions of safety regarding toxicity and from allergenic responses were based entirely on inferences and assumptions ' t The ' . .. .. n- ' " 7 _ -- .L- --l In, A rundqnqnn ""'r'"""'"" WWWew__ ____6._i_ mm“; 'e"' __ _ analysis presented." said Clark, "supports the need for a fundamen tal reassessment of the pmcess by which the safety ofGE food is test ed in Canada. " An Environics poll (sponsored by the Council ofCanadians) con, ducted early last year shows that Canadians have a deep sense of unease regarding GMOs. Environics surveyed 902 Canadians who said they were somewhat or very familiar with the topic. Of that group. 75 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that they "worry about the safety of genetically engineered foods", while 95 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that "Genetically engineered foods should always be labelled as such". The same percentage of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that "Consumers should be able to buy food that is not genetically engineered". Despite the advice of nearly every sci. entist whose work is not being funded by the biotechnology industry. and despite the clear weight of citizen and consumer opinion, the federal government has persisted in its role as cheerleader for GMOs. - _ _ . 44- .A I _ ., AL .:,_,___.'LIA a..-” hwy......,.e. W. . - - While much of the concern about GMOs relates to their possible affects on our health, we should be equally concerned about what they maybe doing to the environment Pollen from genetically mod - ified corn has been shown to devastate populations of monarch but - terilies that fed on nearby milkweed. In a lune 1999 article in the Boston Globe. American biotech critic Jeremy Rifkin argues that "genetically engineered crops are radically different from conven- tional crops because they contain genes in their biological makeup from completely unrelated species. ‘. Ecologists are unsure of the impacts of bypassing natural species boundaries, ' . Who, then, will be held liable for losses if a transgenic plant introduction were to trig- get genetic pollution over an extended terrain for an indefinite peri- od of time?" We are what we eat dy, see mahy's article at Council of Canadians at