For sale: Brooklyn Bridge
If the claim "it's access to information that makes our democracy function" by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff, Guy Giorno, is accurate, then Canada's democracy is in an abysmal state, indeed (Delays Leave Access To Information Rights 'Totally Obliterated' - online, April 13).
Joel MacDonald, Saskatoon
Nuclear security
Thank you, Prime Minister, for taking action on returning the bomb material "highly enriched uranium," accumulated for years at Chalk River from medical isotope production, to the United States ( Harper To Push Canadian-Led Effort - April 13). We've been incredibly slow in waking up to the need to stop international trafficking in this dangerous stuff.
In 1992, our U.S. friends passed the Schumer Amendment to the Energy Policy Act that required us to switch to low enriched uranium, not usable for bombs. We said we would but didn't. The reason we didn't was the cost of the conversion to this country's medical isotope manufacturer, MDS Nordion. Moving from HEU to LEU would have added a dollar or so in the price to the user. It was a cost the taxpayer should have absorbed, but we were too short-sighted.
Now we're in a mess. Our 50-year-old reactor for making medical isotopes is corroded and under repair for short-term use. Of course, it requires HEU. Fortunately, we have two new reactors, Maple 1 and 2. Unfortunately, they have a fundamental design flaw and have not been licensed. Appallingly, they were configured to take HEU.
What to do? Do we accept the fact that Canada goes from the world's foremost supplier of medical isotopes to zero? It boggles the mind that Maple 1 and 2 can't be modified to pass inspection. But, this time, we must make the change to LEU. If we do so, we can still pluck victory from the jaws of defeat - though we seem to prefer to do the reverse.
John Polanyi, Nobel laureate, Toronto
The Guergis-Jaffer affair
Re Why Do We Thrill To The Bonfire Of The Tiaras? (Life, April 13): Bonfire of the Tiaras? More like Bonfire of the Vanities meets the Peter Principle, with the latter prevailing.
Geoff Smith, Kingston, Ont.
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Sarah Hampson says beauty queen contestants are ambitious, opportunistic and vain. I was a contestant when I was 21 and I was none of those things. I was jealous. When an old girlfriend of my husband placed second in a beauty contest, I told my mother that, if she could be No. 2, I could be No. 1. Ignoring my mother's protests, off I went - and, like the other losers, was given a box of chocolates.
When I returned home, my mother demanded: "Well?" "I got nowhere," I answered. "Serves you right, you conceited bitch," said my mother, not noted for her tact. But it does say a lot about my sweet nature that I shared my chocolates with her anyway.
Jancis M. Andrews, Sechelt, B.C.
Wind turbulence
As one of seven scientific and medical professionals from Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Denmark whose literature review on sound produced by wind turbines and its effects on human health was called a "survey" in your editorial Turbine Turbulence (April 7), I'd like to point out that our study, the most thorough of its kind, was developed as a reference for policymakers wanting to make sense of conflicting information.
The expert panel concluded that wind turbine sounds are not unique in character or intensity. Ground-borne vibrations are too weak to be perceived or to affect humans. There is no evidence that sounds from wind turbines have any direct adverse physiological effects.
The editorial noted "there are hundreds of people around the world who report severe health problems that they relate directly to the presence of nearby wind turbines." These reports represent a tiny fraction of those exposed and are self-reported, uncontrolled and unverified. The symptoms, including fatigue, ear pressure, memory deficits, irritability, anger, loss of motivation, nausea, headaches and insomnia, are common and related to annoyance. It's questionable to classify annoyance as an adverse health effect or a disease.
The panel concluded that the number and uncontrolled nature of existing case reports of adverse health effects allegedly due to wind turbines are insufficient to advocate for public funding of further studies. Depriving funding for something else on flimsy evidence, or a moratorium on wind power developments that would prolong the use of unhealthy coal-fired or nuclear generators, would be irresponsible.
W. David Colby, acting medical officer of health, Chatham-Kent (Ont.)
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A letter writer's suggestion that wind plants operate "100 per cent of the time" ( Green With Wente - April 12) reminds me of a true story. In the dark age preceding the 1940s farm electrification program on the Prairies, a progressive farmer installed a Model T version of a wind-propelled generator to light up his house. When a travelling sales rep suggested he buy a second generator-topped tower to extend electrical power to his barn and outbuildings, the farmer replied firmly: "No way. Not enough wind."
S.P. Black, Toronto
The frontiers of knowledge
The sad truth is that Canadian universities are perfectly viable but have been overburdened by absurdly expansive, yet ineffective, administrative branches ( Universities Are Sitting Ducks - April 13). At my university, the number of administrative middle managers has doubled over the past decade. The root problem with Canadian universities is not far from Margaret Wente's lament: a lack of focus on our core mission of academic teaching and research. The solution is to gut the administrative ranks, not the university system itself.
Brian J. Lowry, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick
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Margaret Wente is right: A research university is an inefficient way to produce large numbers of people with an undergraduate education. They are necessary, though, to produce people with advanced understanding of a subject, and trained to do research in that area. The many colleges in Ontario fulfill the function of providing an undergraduate education and training admirably; so why not either close the research universities or turn them into colleges?
Derek Walton, professor emeritus, McMaster University
The drug showdown
Re Ontario Pharmacies' Pain Will Be Canadian Consumers' Gain (April 13): Ontarians will be the big losers if their government succeeds in its attempt to cut the cost of generic drugs. Would consumers pay for a recommendation from a pharmacist that keeps them from waiting in the emergency room all night? Would they pay for the free health advice that pharmacists currently give every day and that physicians are too busy or unwilling to provide? The pharmacists keep our stressed, underfunded system working. If these cuts are made, everyone will feel the pain.
Lou Celli, Waterloo, Ont.
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I own and operate a small independent pharmacy in a rural village. The closest pharmacy to us is 17 kilometres away. I cover all the hours myself, and every person who walks through my door has the opportunity to discuss whatever problems they have.
On Monday, I spent the first 20 minutes of my day explaining to a customer the results of his colonoscopy, since he was unclear as to what his doctor had told him. My customers know they can call me at home evenings and Sundays, and I'll be there for them. I've made home visits to explain medications to seniors who are unable to get out. I hold yearly flu clinics, write a regular column in our local paper, do in-store blood pressures, and generally address my customers' health concerns, all in addition to the regular dispensing function. These added services would be financially impossible without the professional allowances we are currently afforded.
Mary Ellen Budreau, Paisley, Ont.
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As Shoppers Drug Mart begins its campaign of punishing its customers (Pharmacy Chain Takes Fight To Minister's Riding - April 13), I call on their customers to punish them. Let's boycott all other merchandise in their stores - no cosmetics, food, detergent, vitamins etc. Buy only your prescriptions.
Nigel Berrisford, Oakville, Ont.
Water, water, not everywhere
Your article 'It's Almost As If Nature Has Forgotten To Rain And Snow' (April 12) rightly emphasizes the potentially dire consequences of Alberta's drought but tells only half the story. Historical data from tree rings show that southern Alberta suffered droughts in the 18th and 19th centuries that were longer and more severe than the calamitous dust bowl of the 1930s. Surely, then, there's a very real chance that one or more such "mega-drought" will recur in the 21st century. The need to rethink Alberta's water management system, therefore, is even more pressing than your article implies.
L.R. Kennard, Calgary
Ah, the English language
Impact as a verb is perfectly fine if used correctly ( Don't Let Using Nouns As Verbs Impact You - April 8). While I was a university student, I had a summer job as a ward clerk at Vancouver General Hospital. When any of the nurses said her patient was impacted, it meant she was obliged to give the patient an enema.
Judy Stoffman, Toronto
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Letter writer Sarah Taylor's take on Russell Smith's "impact" column ( Podium This - April 13) reminds me why I'm a faithful reader of Letters to the Editor. It's for gems such as "'Medalled' and 'impacted' are the zebra mussels of the English language." If I weren't happily married, I'd beg Ms. Taylor to run off to a desert island with me.
David Owen, Toronto