seymour
snowboard
silliness

Dear Editor:

With absolute anger and
shock I watched the TV cov-
erage of yet another search
and rescue effort on our local
mountains. This time two
snowboarders on Cypress.

Our dedicated volunteer
North Shore Rescue team,
along with the Lions Bay
team and Cypress staff again
fought the weather, extreme
conditions and darkness to
rescue two daredevils who
thought it might be wicked to
Kiss some fresh powder, out
of bounds!

Apparently Mr. Andy
Bonitace, snowboard manag-
er on Mount Seymour, who
was interviewed about the
rescue during the snowboard
events at Seymour, agrees.

' He was quoted as saying
they (Mt. Seymour) encour-
age people to experience the
backcountry, as long as they
are educated and realize their
limitations. He then went on
to say that “with the few res-
:~ Cues we actually have it is a
- small price to’ pay to experi-
"ence that kind of terrain.”

».. Well, Mr. Boniface, if you
> think the lives of our North

Shore Rescue team, and oth-

ers are worth such a small

price then maybe you shouid
"talk to your bosses about cre-
ating your own rescue team.

Oh yeah and feel free to slip a
. cheque into the mail for the

$4,500 of taxpayers money it
cost to pull these two self:
confessed idiots out of

Australian Gulley!
~ Councillor Lisa Muri

North Vancouver District

Executive Committee

Member, North and West
Ven Emergency Program

Battle is
on for
power
over truth

ordination of visual and
“ motor activities.” -
’ This is evident in very
“small children. Kimura’s. .
‘findings explain “why men
“and women, on average,
have different occupational
preferences and skills, and
why women would not be
equally represented in profes-
sions such as physics and
enginceting, but might be.

“represented in medical diag-
nostic fields (where perceptu
al skills are important).”

. After years of producing

.- bad science on the wage gap,
. Statistics Canada has finally
“admitted the so-called pay

gap is NOT. due to discrimi-
nation, something the Fraser
Institute demonstrated
almost two decades back.

he same faulty premise .. °

held by. Dahl and Jones is ”
going to be equally hard to

elinquish because i cliti-
‘cally expedient: The fight is
on_ for power. not truth.

2. —gnome@attcanada.net...

GENETICALLY atTeReD

PéjaTo:

PCONGMICLLY

alteRed

FARMER:

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Ga Ties Coenast- Dist BY Wontn PRES Pac. Lens CAesdecartaon, cone

Foundation appreciated

Dear Editor:

On Dee. 24, Deana
Lancaster did a story on my
project, Keep Warm
Foundation. Iam writing this
to say thank you. Deana did
an amazing job.

1 would also like to thank
(News Classified Manager)
Val Stephenson and News
photographer Julie Iverson.
The response | am receiving is
overwhelming.

This article touched the
hearts and souls of many

- North Shore residents.

I also want to thank all

“those who have donated items

especially Collette’s
Consignment, The Harvest
Project, Touch of Class
Tanning Spa and ICBC.

The _ public’s
means so ntuch to me. [ have
had so many different types of
phone. calls. “Women have
called to talk about preblems
with ex-husbands and raising,
children alone;. addicts in
recovery have called to sup-

port what we are doing. ] now

support .

have a large list of volunteer
drivers and an abundant flow
of items.

I. received a call from a
man I was in a relationship
with years ago but was
destroyed because of my
cocaine use. He phoned to
support the cause as well as
myself. Another caller confid-
ed that her husband died of
addiction. She too donated
items.

Most recently, [ received a
call from a woman who told
me that she had sent the arti-
cle out with a letter of support
in regards to my children and
sent it to the Ministry of
Children and Families. Her
son is in a recovery house.

The one call that has
affected me the most was
from a woman who used to be
in the same 12-step program I
attend.

Her brother died of a
heroin overdose. She still had
clothes of his and wanted to
donate them. ‘The wonsan
told me her name. Her last

name was that of one of my
friends who died in the spring
of "98. I asked her if she was
his sister, and she was. This
connection has given me
Peace inside.

I cared very much about
my friend who overdosed. I
never met his family. I finally
have some closure around his
death. I did not find out until
three weeks after the fact,
therefore, I did not attend a
mass or funeral.

I plan to stay in contact
with this woman. We have a
common bond, love.

Thank you on behalf of the
Keep Warm Foundation and
the hearts of the homeless,
Kara Martin
North Vancouver

RDS”

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Friday, January 21, 2000 — Nortn Shore News - 9

Consumers don’t
want genetically
modified foods

Dear Editor:

Re: “Genetically modified food phobia will prove costly”
Jan. 7 News.

Right. For the corporations who misjudged consumers.
That, however, is the way business operates.

Almost everything Mr. Martin Zelder says gives a sense of
“black is white” — a feeling I often have reading the Fraser
Institute’s pronouncements.

The main point he misses is that consumers have a right to
decide what they buy. That’s fundamental democracy.

On the topic of GM organism modification a number of
recent studies suggest there might be harm to humans from
long-term use.

We are after al! creating food of a different molecular struc-
ture, thus in a sense a new food, and since it takes 100,000 years
to adapt our systems to new foods, this sort of storm troop
approach is alarming.

Mr. Zelder says costs would rise due to the need for separat-
ing GM from non-altered foods.

Not if there were no GM items to mix in. We should stop
this expensive experiment with the public’s health altogether.
Separation would then be a non-issue. .

Lagic tells me, that the expense of developing GM foods wilt
be passed onto the consumers. Food won’r be cheaper.

Who benefits? ,

The companies who can patent the new modified seeds and

“control the world’s feod supply. It is more about money than

consumer benefits.

Consumer reports that suggest harmlessness may be talking
in diplomatic language. Their research may be funded by the
companies in question, or they may be relying on data provid-.-
ed by the corporations manufacturing the items.

This is common these days. On the other hand, Canadian
health department scientists have issued warnings about some ™
of the GM products. :

Finally, if you say there is no evidence the: something is -
unsafe, you are not saying that it is safe. Mr. Zelder’s quote
from a book, stating that “the long term impacts of transgenic
plants ... are unpredictable and dithicuit ... to predict at the cur-
rent level of scientific understanding” is certainly not reassur-
ing, and I would not use it (as he seems to) to conclude that the -
modified organisms shouid be rushed into wide production.

I believe in the precautionary principle, rather than using
millions of humans as guinea pigs just to increase corporate :

rofits. . .
P Finally, herbicides and pesticides inevitably. find their way
into the ground water, and our danking water. Also wind blows’ |
the GM plant pollens off the fields, and they cross pollinate with
various weeds, . ok ™

Apparently we ore experiencing “Frankenweeds” already.

Some of the genes apparently. are. suspected of creating virus ,

resistance to antibiotics. There are just too many unanswered -
questions at this time. Onc of them is, who has the right-to -
secretly force consumers to eat something many would neve
buy willingly. ; he
In the meantime, f and many like me, exercise our consumer ©
rights, and buy organic foods. . feo om
Eva Lyman
West Vancouver

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