The Salmon Recipes: A gift for everyone who wants to keep the North Coast oil tanker free
In The Salmon Recipes: Stories of our Endangered North Coast Cuisine, The Prince Rupert Environmental Society has woven a tapestry of incredible photographs, personal anecdotes from people living on the North Coast who are concerned about proposed oil tankers in their waters and of course, amazing recipes for salmon dishes. The non-profit organization created The Salmon Recipes to raise awareness of First Nations culture and how integral the salmon are to food security and how both are threatened by oil tankers. In this book, the people of the North Coast celebrate their rich culture of food in a region that has supported the sharing of bountiful sea resources since the beginning of time. ($19.99) For more information or to buy the book, visit saveourskeenasalmon.org All book profits go to keeping our coast oil tanker free. (See display ad in Common Ground.)
Will government implement Cohen’s salmon sustainability recommendations?
At the end of October, the Final Report of the Cohen Inquiry was made public. The 1,100 page Report was released almost three years after Prime Minister Harper announced Justice Bruce Cohen’s mandate to investigate and provide recommendations for improving the sustainability of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River, including any changes to the operations of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
The Cohen Report has some strong conclusions and recommendations regarding the recovery and sustainability of wild salmon. These include the DFO’s confusion around its primary mandate: – the conservation of wild fish, implementation of the Wild Salmon Policy, and the risks posed by pathogen and disease from open net-pen fish farms. Stan Proboszcz, Watershed Watch’s Fisheries Biologist who participated in the full Inquiry, has initial concerns about Justice Cohen’s Report, including the omission of recommendations around open net-pen salmon farms outside the Discovery Islands; there are also no recommendations regarding transitioning to closed containment.
The true test of the Cohen Inquiry will be quick implementation by all levels of government. However, Justice Cohen identified recent government actions as suggesting a lack of interest in salmon protection – and the results of the $26 million federally funded Inquiry itself. These include the weakening of environmental legislation – including the Fisheries Act – and granting of a new open net-pen salmon farm licence in Clayoquot Sound, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Visit www.watershed-watch.org and www.saveoursalmon.ca
Hope for cardiac patients – chelation proven safe and effective
The results of the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) were announced to the world in November at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Los Angeles. The bottom line result: EDTA chelation therapy is a safe, effective treatment for people who have had a heart attack. The double blind TACT trial randomized 1,700 patients over the age 50 who had suffered a heart attack to receive 40 infusions containing EDTA – with or without vitamins – or a placebo, over a period of about one year. After five years of follow-up, those who had received EDTA had a statistically significant 18% reduced risk of death, stroke, heart attack or revascularization. Participants who also had diabetes got much more benefit, with a 39% risk reduction. After a total of 55,222 infusions, there was no difference in side effects or complications between the two groups.
From Seekers Centre for Integrative Medicine, www.seekerscentre.com
GM 2,4-D-tolerant crops set to accelerate pesticide use
In November, civil society groups Équiterre, Nature Québec, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Prevent Cancer Now, the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network and Vigilance OGM denounced regulatory approval of Canada’s first corn and soy crop plants genetically engineered (also called genetically modified or GM) to tolerate doses of the herbicide 2,4-D. The groups say the new GM crops, developed by Dow AgroSciences, will lead to increased herbicide use, with more toxic pesticides in the environment and our food.
“The federal government has recklessly approved a GM food crop that is tolerant to yet another toxic pesticide, even though earlier GM glyphosate-tolerant crops already created superweeds and increased pesticide use. These same problems will be recreated by 2,4-D crops,” said Dr. Warren Bell (MD) of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, “Our environment, food and population will be increasingly exposed to another hazardous product.”
“The governments of Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia have already banned 2,4-D for cosmetic use because of environmental and health concerns, particularly risks to children,” said Nadine Bachand of Équiterre.
From Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, www.cban.ca
