I just got an email back from my local MP, Libby Davies, about Bill C-51. This bill proposes to regulate and illegalize consumer use of natural health remedies - the issue is currently a hot debate in Canada’s Parliament, and it’s nice to see so many of my neighbours getting riled up about it. Of course, Vancouver East residents are particularly fond of their natural health remedies.

While Bill C-51 is hardly the USA Patriot Act, it does contain some pretty scary stuff that infringes on our rights as private citizens. The Stop C-51 website lists some of the entries in the bill that are of particular interest, including information pertaining to the seizure of private property without a warrant and at the cost of the property holder. Check it out…

Here’s what her letter said, if you’re interested.

Dear Malloreigh,

Thanks for your message expressing your opposition to Bill C-51, An Act to Amend the Food and Drugs Act.

This bill contains a lot of proposed changes. Some of there are necessary and have been long needed. Others are more troublesome.

I am particularly concerned that this bill opens the door for direct-to-consumer advertising from pharmacological and other companies, which is currently banned in Canada. I do not feel this bill allows for strong enough pre-market testing of pharmaceuticals and do not feel it creates a transparent system of drug safety and testing.

One of the biggest issues I have heard from people in Vancouver East are the proposed changes to the way natural health products may be addressed. I favour an approach that will balance the right of Canadians to choose health products for themselves, with the need for oversight and regulation, to ensure the safety of consumers. As it is, I think the bill needs to be changed, in terms of what type of oversight it will mandate for natural health products.

My colleague, MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis, is the NDP Health Critic. She, and all of us, will be watching the progress of this bill very carefully, and will be representing the NDP on the committee that will study the
bill. She will be bringing all these concerns, and more, forward to the committee and will get this bill changed. I am including a link to the debate in Parliament about this bill, here:

Bill C-51 in Parliament

Thanks again for writing - letters like yours help me keep the pressure on here in Ottawa.

Sincerely,

Libby Davies, MP
Vancouver East

Six Masai warriors from Tanzania are running the London marathon to raise money (and awareness) to find a vital water source for their community. Seriously, we are such pussies; these guys are totally badass. Isaya, one of the runners, is quoted as saying “If we have no milk or meat, we cut the cow’s neck and let out the blood to drink. If I drink enough blood — maybe two or three litres — it gives me a lot of energy and I can go for days without food or water.”

These guys will also run for days and nights on end looking for water. That’s dedication…

Which brings me to my point. People all over the world suffer from a lack of clean drinking water. In Shanghai, the poor drink from a river that stinks so bad you can hardly breathe the air around it. All over Africa, people will drink from polluted wastewater sources - because they have nothing else. Water Aid says that 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water; that’s one sixth of the world’s population, more than three times the population of the USA. They quote something like 5,000 deaths per day due to unclean water.

And yet here - in North America - where we have permanent access to clean, safe drinking water (hint: it comes out of your kitchen and bathroom taps, and heck, even your garden tap) - we are the world’s largest consumers of bottled water. In 2007 in the US alone, 8.82 billion gallons of water were consumed. If bottled water is sold for about $1.79 per 750mL, let’s do some math - $83,675,340,000 spent on bottled water. In 2007. In just the US.

There’s a good assortment of water treatment organizations out there, but for an organization like Global Water, it can cost as little as a few thousand dollars to install a long-term safe water solution for a community.

That’s not even taking into account the amount of non-biodegradable plastic waste that results from this overconsumption of what’s basically filtered tap water anyway. Also, I can’t actually find any stats on how much water is used in the bottle recycling process, but it’s a lot.

So hay! You don’t have it so bad. I dare you to drink tap water. If you’re concerned about the levels of fluoride or other minerals in your drinking water, buy a filter, and petition your local government officials to stop fucking around with your water supply. Not everyone has as many options as we do… oh, and maybe donate some of that money you save from not consuming Nestle brand water in a “recyclable” bottle toward safe water projects worldwide.

This has been a public service announcement.

A group called the Yes Men impersonated oil execs at the world’s largest oil conference, held in Calgary, Alberta (yes, the very shit-city that I hail from) in 2007, apparently. Maybe it’s bullshit but I think it’s hilarious anyway. The group apparently revealed a new energy source called Vivoleum, which, like Soylent Green, uses the dead bodies of human beings. Awesome.

If you weren’t aware, there’s some shit going down in Alberta over the Athabasca Tar Sands - the most environmentally devastating oil acquisition project in the world. The Tar Sands are, if you were wondering, the reason Canada has rescinded its promise to meet Kyoto Protocol targets; our Prime Minister, one Stephen Harper, has promised Mr W Bush that Canada will more than double oil output from the Tar Sands in order to supply the USA with fuel.

Someone tell me why anyone thought this was a good idea?

Tar Sands Time Out is the Sierra Club’s official Tar Sands activism webpage. Click on to find out what you can do.

Greenpeace has a write a letter to PM Harper campaign; click to send a form letter that you can personalize.
Or find out some more about the Tar Sands.