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economist sunsuntribune saturday july 23 2005 0wuifvme m suntribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville 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 gordpaolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor homolkas lack of remorse makes it difficult to forgive re dont throw stones at karla letter to the editor by gord alton while i appreciate the sentiments of pastor alton he misunderstands die anger the karla homolka affair has cre ated far from being judgmental the families of the victims and citizens in general are expressing dieir outrage over the failure of the justice system as well as the lack of remorse on die part of ms homolka there is much to suggest she has not repented for her terrible crimes and without genuine repentance diere can be no forgiveness the story from the bible is used ten- den tiously as if the story exculpates die woman it does not jesus was pointing out the hypocrisy of the religious offi cials- because of the unjust way they brought her before him as in where was the man who committed adulteiy widi her true forgiveness is realized when the offender objectively conciliates in repentance only then can restoration take place and the stones fall- to the ground carmelo tropiano unionville where were green bins at ribfest event when my wife and i attended ribfest at the markham fairgrounds die weath er was great and the food and entertain ment was equally wonderful one thing we did notice was the lack of green box recycling there were recy cling containers for bottles and plastic but none for food leftovers styrofoam cardboard paper towels etc i mentioned this to my friends and diey attested to the fact that not every one would partcipate and the problems would outweigh the advantages i dont believe this with the town embarking on a campaign to reduce waste and increase recycling this festi val presented a wonderful opportunity to educate markham residents reduce waste and show outoftown visitors the commitment die town has to waste reduction and recycling would it have been so difficult to provide green and cardboard recycling bins withone town employee or volun teer at each location to explain die pur pose and showcase our mission green it presented the town with a wonder ful opportunity now its an opportunity lost lets not reapet this mistake at any other events this year dave stewart markham curbing pollution may help in cancer battle ever since united states president richard nixon declared war on cancer hundreds of billions of dollars have beenspent batdingthis dread disease we routinely hear- about breakthroughs in cancer treat ment as biotech companies tout their newest products yet this year for the first time cancer has surpassed heart disease as out number 1 killer on a recent cbc radio pro gram cancer experts pointed out the disease is related to old age so as die proportion of older people increases in the population can cer rates will climb but while progress has been made in detecring treating and prolonging the life of cancer patients overall die experts con cluded we are still losing the war so whatelse is going on i- used to take my daughters fishing off the jetty near our house until one day we noticed lumps at the base of the fins of one of the flounders we took it home to cut open the lumps expecdng to find parasites instead we found they were tumours recently at a talk i gave in toronto a veterinarian- told me when she started her practice 20 years ago she would see pets with cancer once or twice a month now she says she sees one or two a day humans are incredibly inven tive creatures and during die past 100 years technological innova- tion has transformed the planet in 1962 when rachel carson published silent spring about die unexpected effects of pesticides she pushed the environment into public consciousness and was attacked outrageously by the chemical industry today more pesticides are applied worldwide dian when ms carson issued her warning in fact we have altered the chemical makeup of the bios phere to such an extent that we cannot escape the toxic debris of david suzuki industrial activity scientific monitoring stations in antarctica detect pollutants spread on the winds and in water vapour from all parts of the planet volatile compounds sprayed on fields in the southern us or russia evaporate into the atmos phere circle the globe precipitate over glaciers or ice sheets and end up concentrated in lake trout caught in banff and jasper more dian 70000 human-cre- atedcompounds most never test ed for toxicity or carcinogenicity are now in use but these chemicals dont just disappear from the momentof our birth to the last breath we take before death we suck air deep into our bodies and filter whatever is in it more than 60 per cent of our body weight is water diat must be con- standy replenished a most of our food is grown in soil the same soil in which we dump our wastes we even spray the plants and animals we eat widi poisons is it any wonder why all our bodies now contain trace amounts of these chemicals it takes an enormous effort to pinpoint a deleterious compound it took years before dialidomide was tracked down as the cause of limb malformations and des as die cause of reproductive cancers in daughters of women treated widi it during pregnancy tests must be carried out on a scale large enough to yield num bers that are statistically signifi cant and each compound must be studied under different conditions and concentrations such studies are also normally done in isolation but this is not how these chemicals are used in the real world where they can combine with dozens of other compounds a report published earlier this year in die journal environmental health perspectives for example found common pesticide roundup was more than twice as toxic as glyphosale alone its only supposed active ingredient the pesticide mixture was also linked to potential reproductive prob lems someuiing else not attrib uted to glyphosate alone scientists are reluctant to sug- gest a polluted world may be an important factor in the epidemic of cancer afflicting us today but common sense should tell us that many of- these compounds have powerful biological effects if we stop using die biosphere as a toxic dump we might actually make better progress in die war against cancer letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissions must be less than loo words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 34 civic ave box 154 stouflville on l4a7z5 mason8yrngcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrngcom administration ofticc manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom events management manager bonnie rondeau brondcaiiyrngcom production manager pam nichols imicbolsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell- acanwbcllyrngcom retail manager stacey allen saltenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrcwsymgcom new business manager steve kane skancyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogersqn mrogcrsonyrngcom editorial 905294220018668461889 rw 9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fix 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 canadian ctolauom bahil audit board member press dpc suntribune 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 and thornhill vaughan citizen the economist sun markham the erabanner newmarket aurora stouflville suntribune georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing