Tracy Glynn
May 12, 2008
Earth Week 2008 was celebrated in Ontario with the announcement of a ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides, and in British Columbia with the ushering in of revised mining rules to prohibit companies from staking claims for uranium and thorium.
How did the New Brunswick government celebrate Earth Day?
Three ministers announced new sheriff cars fueled by ethanol. The announcement was reported the next day on the front page of this newspaper with the photo caption: Cars for justice. But are the cars just?
While there is debate over how much rising food prices can be blamed on ethanol production, ethanol comes from corn and there is definitely a push to replace some traditional fuels with ethanol. This has created a new demand for corn that has thrown off world food prices.
Jean Ziegler, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has called using food crops to create ethanol “a crime against humanity.”
The food-versus-fuel controversy has never been so great, with riots in the streets of Haiti over food prices, recently forcing Haiti’s prime minister from office.
Some Haitians cannot afford a meal a day and are eating cookies made of yellow dirt.
Quebec, and most recently Ontario, have introduced legislation banning the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes on lawns and gardens. A recent study by the Canadian Cancer Society shows that New Brunswickers support pesticide legislation.
Victoria, B.C., has become one of the latest municipalities to implement a pesticide-restriction bylaw, joining a growing list of over 150 municipalities across the country.
Meanwhile, the provinces of British Columbia and Nova Scotia, and the Inuit government of Labrador, have passed bans or moratoriums on uranium activity.
It is time for the government of New Brunswick to take similar actions in the public interest.
We have known for well over 20 years, ever since it was scientifically proven, that pesticides are carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors.
There is already too much radioactivity in our environments. We do not need more exposure to hazardous radioactive emissions from uranium mining.
As U. Utah Phillips, folksinger and historian, so eloquently put it: “The planet is not dying. It is being killed and those killing it have names and addresses.”
Tracy Glynn
Fredericton
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