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6 stouffvaksunfrtinitiemsatifrdcty 6cilx2007 tstouflvffle mmm pinion sunlribune 6290 main st stoufmlleonl4a167 wwwyorkregioncom pubosher jaw proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technoijogy john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynn pashko letters to the edito ask families of deceased kids about dogbite statistics re mice in wonderland opinions useless letter to the editor by art woodruff oct 11 mr woodruff would like to see backup data on bite statistics so would we all that was just one of the recommen dations put forward at the public hear ings into amendments to the dog owners liability act that was completely ignored by the liberal panel perhaps we could ask the family of 17- monthold korie lyn edwards killed this summer by her grandparents rottweiler- german shepherd cross in smiths falls what did recent amendments to act do to protect korie lyn before you leap to the conclusion that the solution is to add rottweilers and ger man shepherds and any dogs substantially similar to our list of banned breeds con sider the following statistics actually the lead biter is the labrador retriever said mr emile therien head of the canada safety council the problem is that if you try to ban a particular breed you never stop statistics kept in the united states from 19652001 indicate at least 36 different breedstypes of dog have been involved in fatal attacks this number rises to at least 52 breeds types when surveying fatal attacks world wide the toronto dog to human bite sta tistics from animal services for 20012003 show about 70 breeds are reported as biting each year at the coroners inquest into the 1998 death of eightyearold courtney trempe in stouffville mauled by a bull mastiff the committee made 36 recommendations none of which were to ban certain breeds of dogs during the public hearings into liberal amendments to the dog owners act the two political parties opposing the breedspe cific portions made their own amendments based on the courtney trempe inquest findings they focused not on breed but rather on responsible dog ownership through the education of dog owners as well as the education of parents and children funding for municipalities and the establishment of a dog bite registry the liberals voted down these amend ments and chose instead the cheap and easy and politically popular solution the pit bull placebo so alice do you feel safer in wonderland now jeandabros kingston how much is a tomato really worthl recently a column appeared in the vancouver sun about the trend of eating locally grown food the author began by describing some municipal initia tives to encourage growing local food and then arrived at the thesis of his article the eatlocally grow- yourown phenomenon isnt about access to affordable food its about smashing the capitalist system at first i thought it was some kind of joke but the author went on to describe basic theories from eco nomics 101 like comparative advantage to show how nations that specialize in what they make most efficiently and then trade with other nations that also specialize in what they make most efficiently end up with more stuff than if they each made those same things on their own his point relating to local food was that most of us dont grow our own food because its cheaper or maybe he means easier since theo retically you could grow food for close to free to buy it from some one who can do it more efficiently than you thus he concludes buy local campaigns are attempts to disrupt international trade if this sounds nuts thats because it is im sure the nice elderly lady down the street isnt thinking screw the chinese as she har vests fresh tasty snap peas from her community garden theres a bigger issue here our current economic system by and large completely ignores important facets of life that are worth a great deal but have never been assigned a monetary value consider this sentence from the column the tomato you grow yourself may seem to taste better than storebought but it wont be cheaper note the word seem as though the tomato doesnt actually taste better it only seems to presum ably because of the satisfaction you received from growing it but even if that is the case then david suzuki you still enjoyed growing the toma to in the first place and isnt that worth something why is it ok to put a dollar value on our labour but not our plea sure and this is the problem only things you can actually buy have a monetary value so the value of a tomato is only what someone will pay for it not in the satisfac tion of watching it grow or the feel of the earth between your fingers when you plant it or the warmth of the juice from the summerripened fruit when you bite down on it none of these things have value because you cant buy them another thing that isnt valued in our economic system is nature more specifically natural ser vices like cleaning our air and water and providing a stable climate things grown halfway around the world and flown to our door steps get a lot more expensive if you actually include the cost of the damage this does to our atmo sphere so we cannot know the real price of our food unless we do fullcost accounting which considers all of these factors that traditional eco nomics considers externalities even then we still havent fac tored in the value of community of spending time outdoors with friends and family and so on that you might get from growing your own food what are these things worth needless to say the article had me pretty depressed is this how people think but then an amazing thing hap pened i picked up the newspaper a couple of days later and there they were letters a whole page of them in fact from people who thought the origi nal column was offbase too each of them pointed out vari ous flaws but all got at the same thing our economy is a social con struct that depends on the environ ment and our values not the other way around reading those letters gave me hope people get it and more and more of them are getting it every day obviously we still have a long way to go as a society but simplis tic economics that devalue some of the most important things in life are finally going the way of the dinosaur and thats as it should be because human life does not begin and end with a dollar sign take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribunerescrves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clar ity and space utters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a ig7 jmsongyrjiifcfipjri editorial editor jim mason jmason ynngcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandmusyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen 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