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

economist sunsuntribune saturday aug 20 2005 sunlhbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rrj floor stdufmlle on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director distribution director marketingpartnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor price of gasoline could put commuters out of work re consumer backlash coming economist warns aug 13 when talking with a coworker about the rising gasoline prices i jokingly said if one were to look at the cost per litre as compared to the cost of other commodities per litre the price really didnt seem so exorbitant imagine my surprise when i saw a similar perspective in your newspaper however i believe your reporter missed other points it is the rate of consumption that makes the price of gasoline so hard to bear beer and wine are luxury items and by most not consumed on a regular basis therefore the high price per litre is not such a shock i agree the price for filtered water is out landish but not when events like the walkerton disaster are taken into considera tion i feel my health is worth the cost of household filtration devices at the very least i dont mind paying 175 per litre of milk as i know some of that money supports our local dairy farmers and their families also knowing that feed and care of the cattle and collection storage pasteuriza tion and packaging of the milk are includ- ed in the cost it seems reasonable i pay more for milk from the store compared to a litre of milk which lasts me several days a litre of gasoline doesnt get me to the grocery store to buy the milk another point the reporter missed is that all of the other commodities offer a price- break for volume purchasing when i buy that litre of conditioner for my hair it costs less than buying four eight- ounce bottles of the same conditioner i have never had a gas station offer me a dis count if i fill my tank rather than only filling it a quarter of the way i travel 60 kilometres to and from work each day my shifts are irregular and the transit service does not offer a direct route from stouffville to my job in pickering carpooling is improbable and transit impossible i cannot picture myself ped- ailing to work in the dead of a canadian winter on a bicycle i have no choice but to pay the going rate for gasoline if i want to keep my job soon it will cost me more to go to work than i earn by working for a day with housing prices also in the stratos phere i cannot afford to move closer to work either if i end up having to quit my job because i cannot afford to commute do you think the government will smile and hand me a nice unemployment cheque janet yuill stouffville more research needed on environmental chemical exposure m ost of us are pretty strict about what we put in our bodies some people eat only organic meats and pro duce others are vegetarians many people dont use harsh chemicals in their homes or pes- ticides in their gardens because they dont relish being exposed to potentially hazardous sub stances unfortunately in many cases we arent given a choice- whether we like it or not the blood of every human being on the planet contains trace ele ments of industrial chemicals most of which werent even invented a century ago some of these chemicals have been well studied and we are aware of the risks associated with them but for many others we simply dont know what the longterm effects are or at what levels they become a hazard we are exposed to these chemicals every day in a variety of ways some are airborne and we breathe them into our lungs others are found in our water supplies some are in our soils and others are in the food we eat and products we buy most of them are byproducts of the way goods are made or how they break down after they are produced a recent report from the united states centre for disease control and prevention cdc looked at human exposure to these chemicals we are exposed to these chemicals every day in a variety of ways using data from urine and blood samples the report exam ined the amounts of 148 chemi cals in the us population from 2001 to 2002 the goal is to track exposure to these chemicals over time and try to determine risk levels for various segments of the population as the report points out just because these chemicals are in our blood does not necessarily david suzuki mean they are harmful to us however many of the chemicals such as lead and mercury are known to be dangerous while for many others there is just insufficient information the fact they find their way into our bodies at all is cause for some concern fortunately there is some good news in the report in the early 1990s 44 per cent of children tested had elevated levels of lead a neurotoxin in their blood by 2002 that num ber dropped to 16 per cent levels of certain pesticides like aldrin and dieldrin have also dropped to low or iinde- tectable levels these results show how effec tive strong environmental legis lation can be efforts to reduce lead in our environment such as by ban ning it as gasoline additive took many years to achieve because of industry opposition but have been very successful in reducing ounexposiire to this toxin pesticides like aldrin and dieldrin have also been phased out and as a result are also dis- appearingfrom our blood but there are new chemicals coming on the market practical ly every day the cdc found widespread exposure to pyrethroid pesti- tides which have been poorly studied in terms of human health and phthalates which are common in plastics and have been linked to reproductive abnormalities one of the groups most vul nerable to exposure to industrial chemicals is children children are not just small adults their bodies and brains are developing rapidly they metabolize things differently they play on grass and in the dirt they chew on things and get into everything in the us theres a great new initiative called the national childrens study which will examine the effect of environ mental influences on children from before birth to the age of 21 the study will follow 100000 children in the us as they grow to find out how chemical expo sure genetics physical sur roundings and a number of other factors affect develop ment right now there are no canadian children taking part inthe study but it is not too late for the federal government to fund a canadian component and take part in this vital research we all deserve a choice over what we put into our bodies an everexpanding list of pervasive chemicals in our environment takes away that choice we need to take it back take the nature challenge r learn moreatwwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissionsmust be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the v right to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 34 civic ave boxl54 stoufmiie on v 14a 725 0 i fc i v editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrngcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom- events management i manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrngcom- production manager pam nichols pniclwlsyrngcom- advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrngcom retail manager stacey allen sallenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales jdawnd andrews damlrewsymgcom new business manager steve kane skatieyrngcom managing director real estate mikerogers6n mrogcrsonyrngcom v editorial 905294220018668461889 fax 9052941538 iv advertising c 9056462612 classified 18007433353fax 9058531765 distribution- 9052948244 canadian ontario v- awn board mooter council ape tv jls mvmrum w i won waro memoer tva v- r i ihi- ifr u ft tr hi us frt j 3 art r s suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthornhillvaughan citizen the economist sun markhamthe erabanner newmarket aurora stouffville georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing ft- y r 7- n i t m tn i ktr- nwnnwjiwniiiflhi m i h m fl