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6 stouffvute suntribune saturday nov 10 2007 suntnbune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a 1g7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynn pashko editorial teen smoking study misses point a study released last week truly misses the point when it comes to teenage smok ing in our high schools the study paid for by the canadian convenience store association anal ysed 1100 discarded cigarettes on pub lic grounds at 55 ontario high schools including schools in newmarket aurora markham and richmond hill it found a large percentage of cigarettes these young people are puffing on are contraband the study reported 50 per cent of dis carded cigarettes near school properties in newmarket were contraband followed by 47 per cent in aurora 27 per cent in markham and 15 per cent in richmond hill the market for illegal cigarettes which are typically nativemade and available on reserves has exploded due to the increase in tobacco taxes toward levels not seen since the mid1990s the prevalence of contraband smokes has raised concerns among health officials who highlight the fact ingredients in illegal cigarettes are unregulated in addition to the human cost of con traband there is a mounting financial cost to governments that is estimated conser vatively at 16 billion each year dave bryans the associations president said 4 but is this the real problem besides native claims they have a right to sell tobacco without collecting taxes the real problem is young people are smoking and native reserves are selling cigarettes to teenagers the ontario tobacco control act set the legal age for tobacco sales at 19 it also increased fines for sales to under age smokers to 2000 for a first offence to 25000 for three or more offences convenience stores have no right to sell to them legally anyway and should not be lamenting the loss of clientele nor does the government have a right to collect billions in taxes from teen smok ers statistics show smoking among young people continues to decline but the province should be doing more to stamp out this addiction if convenience store owners were truly concerned about peoples health they wouldnt sell cigarettes to anybody unfortunately they are in the business of making a profit and as long as cigarettes are a legal product thafs what they are concerned about but dont try to tell us its about health or societys safety picking through cigarette butts on the edges of high school properties to see if their native competitors are profiting off this terrible habit is unseemly and hardly makes us feel sorry for them our leaders need serious reality check ever read the newspaper and get the eerie feeling that youve entered the twilight zone i have got that feeling a lot recently heres the source of my current frustration scientists warnings about the threats that global warming pose to nature human health and the world econ omy have never been more acute more specific or more worrisome some of the latest stories include the following the us national snow and ice data center reports this year arctic sea ice shrank to the smallest area ever recorded in the 30year history of satellite monitor ing a study from the journal geo physical research letters reports greenland is rising by some four centimetres a year due to melting ice a fourfold increase in just four years another article in the same jour nal reports new computer models indicate a 90percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will be required if we are to have any hope of preventing dangerous climate change efforts to reduce those emissions arent going so well either a study published in the pro ceedings of the national academy of sciences reported in the first six years of this new century carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas emissions rose more than twice as fast as they did during the 1990s not exactly good news but the authors report the earths natural carbon sinks such as forests and oceans that store car bon and buffer us against climate change dont appear to be working as efficiently as they did 50 years ago in other words natures ability to soak up our greenhouse pollution is weakening and that threatens to speed up global warming even more all of these stories were reported in october then toward the end of the month julie gerberding the direc- david suzuki with faisal moola tor of the us centers for disease control and prevention testified before the senate environment and public works committee the committee was holding its firstever session on the health impacts of climate change and what happened the white house censored her report according to an article in the journal science her 12page report was cut in half scientists with the centre for disease control said it was gutted and sections talking about some of the health implications of global warming including the effects of heat waves increases in infectious diseases and worsening allergic dis eases were entirely removed this is where it starts feeling as if it were the twilight zone it is as though we have gone back in time here we have the government of the most powerful nation on earth still living in denial in spite of all the evidence in spite of the empirical data the computer models the satellite readings in spite of the fact the countrys former vicepresident and inter national scientific body investigat ing the problem just won a nobel peace prize for their work on cli mate change in spite of all that the white house still continues to censor its own scientists whats happening in the us wouldnt be quite as disturbing if our own federal government was actually making headway on the issue it isnt although our prime minister says he takes global warming very seriously his government has thus far done nothing that will result in significant greenhouse gas reduc tions heres a message for all leaders talk wont solve global warming wishful thinking or aspirational targets wont stop global warming happy educational programs wont solve global warming targets and timelines for sub stantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions a carbonpricing mechanism protecting our natural carbon sinks and a massive ramp- up of research and development in renewable energy and efficiency all brought together at an international scale can until that happens were just living in the twilight zone 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 thesuntribuncreserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clar ity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a ig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jriwsonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrcwsgtyrmgcom advertising retail manager staccyallen sallcnyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acamplcllyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondcauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom ontario press council ope fdsflgj canaft crcolacioris auot board 0ccab editorial 9056402612 fi 9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353 fax 9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thornhill vaughan citizen the erabanner newmarkey aurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city 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