Today's topics: polygamy; food safety; wine's footprint; MS and the media ... and moreGetty Images
It's 2010 … AD
The real issue here (Polygamy On Trial - Nov. 22) is not an ancient patriarchal practice that treats women as chattels and sexual collectibles, but whether the B.C. Supreme Court will uphold the sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantee women equality with men. That is the crux of the matter, no more, no less. Polygamy comes to us from the dark ages; the practice harms women and children and reduces women to second-class citizenship. It is more than past time that it was dumped into the garbage can of history, where it should have been discarded decades ago. It's 2010 AD, not 2010 BC.
Jancis M. Andrews, Sechelt, B.C.
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Small food, big issue
A quick note before I head to the supermarket to return all the Thai shrimp I bought on sale in anticipation of the holidays (Do You Know Where Your Shrimp Comes From? - Nov. 22). Tracking food via "HarvestMarks" will do little to ensure the safety of our food supply as long as Canada continues to import food from countries that use unscrupulous farming practices. If the Canadian Food Inspection Agency detects antibiotics and carcinogens in any imports, no matter how small the sample tested, it should not permit the product to enter the country. Retailers need to do their part by refusing to sell these tainted foods.
Lesley Barsky, Toronto
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Your article (Shrimp Cocktail - Nov. 22) describing problems with farmed shrimp from Thailand starts by suggesting readers "may want to consider cutting out shrimp" and goes on to say "you're likely to save more than just inches from your waistline."
There was no mention that there is a substantial Canadian shrimp industry that has no resemblance to the type of fishery in Thailand. Coldwater shrimp bearing a "Made in Canada" label is a delicious, healthy, weight-conscious dietary choice, hardly something you'd want to cut out.
Earle McCurdy, Mount Pearl, Nfld., president, Fish, Food and Allied Workers
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Swallow that
If 30 per cent of the overall global warming emissions of a bottle of wine comes from the purchaser's five kilometre drive to the store (How Green Is Your Wine? - Nov. 22), think what a difference the Ontario government could make by letting us buy wine in supermarkets. That extra trip to the LCBO isn't just an irksome chore, it's an active contributor to global warming.
Diana Carney, Ottawa
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Chew on this
Robert MacLeod (Football/CFL - Sports, Nov. 20) interviews Cory Boyd at a restaurant of Mr. Boyd's choice and wonders if the Argonaut running back will select "Scaramouche, for the elk with smoked bacon" or "Pangaea, for wild salmon ravioli" or "chestnut pappardelle"? But Mr. Boyd, from a troubled and humble background, chooses surf-and-turf at Red Lobster. Off we go to an interview in the same paper with Industry Minister Tony Clement by Iain Marlow (A True Tory Blue Plate Special - Report on Business). He expresses surprise that Mr. Clement chooses something as "quaint" as the West Side Fish & Chips Family Restaurant in Huntsville. It's a bustling place, Mr. Marlow concedes, but its collection of toucan and goat teapots seems to clash with his tie and Mr. Clement's blazer.
Both restaurants provide modest meals at modest prices. Is the food beneath the epicurean standards of sports and finance writers?
Orland French, Belleville, Ont.
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It was interesting to learn that Tony Clement's favourite band is The Clash. Ironically, if the band's front man Joe Strummer were still alive, he'd undoubtedly put Mr. Clement, along with his boss, at the top of the list of those most enthusiastically "working for the clampdown."
Michael Gardiner, London, Ont.
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MS and the media
André Picard (Tragic Case Proves Medical Truth: There Are No Free Passes - Nov. 20) argues that The Globe's initial story about the "liberation" treatment for MS patients, though filled with words such as "breakthrough" and "groundbreaking," was also balanced with cautions about the speculative treatment. He blames "the blogosphere" for hyping the treatment and promoting it as a cure.
Really? What about the dozens of stories, many of which included an anecdotal story of improvement and benefit from an MS sufferer? On Monday, The Globe ran another such story (Fellow MS Sufferer's Death No Deterrent, Ontario Woman Says). What you have not done with anywhere near the same presence is run stories that emphasize that Dr. Paolo Zamboni's theory is unproven, that he lacks evidence that MS sufferers even have blocked arteries, and that even if they did, how that might cause MS is unproven and to most scientists, implausible. His small, unblinded, nonrandomized trial proves nothing, but you run story after story about people going for the treatment and singing its praises. What do you think the cumulative effect of such coverage is on desperately ill people? It's at best naive and at worst disingenuous to suggest that the "increasingly breathless media coverage" described by Mr. Picard has nothing to do with you.
Paul Benedetti, Journalism Program Co-ordinator, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
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By representing the tragic death of MS patient Mahir Mostic in a context that suggests liberation therapy is ineffective and dangerous (Fellow MS Sufferer's Death No Deterrent, Ontario Woman Says - Nov. 22), the media do a huge disservice to multiple sclerosis patients. The case proves many things, among them: the desperation and determination of MS patients with debilitating symptoms to seek treatment; the dangers of using stents in vein therapy; the failure of the health-care system in Canada (with the exception of Saskatchewan) to initiate trials to study the Zamboni method.
People suffering from MS are already victims of a disease that can be devastating. To deny them the possibility of judicious and medically researched access to a new treatment victimizes them once more.
Anne Learn Sharpe, Angus, Ont.
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Landing rights
The Emirates airline and UAE government act as one (Reveal The Numbers - letters, Nov. 22); I believe nothing that either of them says. It is inconceivable that Ottawa would impose a visa requirement on the citizens of a country that was balking at landing rights for Air Canada. The scale of the Emirates airline's expansion plans is breathtaking, with orders for 90 A380s, which is more than the orders of Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas and Singapore Airlines combined. Now, the UAE airline is desperately searching for routes to fly.
Jon Preston, Victoria
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Such as?
I greatly enjoyed Margaret Wente's column about forgetfulness (I've Seen The Future - What Was It Again? - Nov. 20) and thought of several observations I'd like to make.
Frederick Sweet, Toronto