north shore news

MAIL Rox

- Wictoria’s Lions Gate Bridge
- jobis another bad NDP joke

Dear Editor:
I am a North Shore resident and I would
like to talk to you about the Lions Gate Bridge.
sAs you know, our beloved premier decided

«on his own to reha dilitate the bridge using $78

’ million. { think this is pointless.

Yes, the bridge will be improved bur we will
stil have the same old problem: it’s still a
three-lane bridge! Duc to growing population,
the sasses of traffic will grow and along with it
the pollution. The cars will be jammed up
there, not moving and contributing large
amounts of smog. They say that a new
bridge/tunnel combination would cost $400
milion but in 10 years it might cost $+ billion!

Do you think that we can afford the cost
“not to da it now?

_ A thought this wa<-supposed to be a demo-
cratic country, All the mayors and politicians

make all these decisions without even asking
the people what they want. Why don’t they put
it toa vote and ict the taxpayers decide what
they want?

These gutless politicians only think of nor
having 3 deficit and have no concern for the
future. T would really like to see vou make
these guys look baa and show them for ‘vhar
they really are.

The pablic should be aware of this problem.
This temperary touch-up is going to come
back and haunt us in the furure. f just hate the
fact that these same people are going to be
responsible for our transit system. [f they can’t
even handle what’s on their plate now, how are
they going to handle something as big and per-
tinent as transit?

Amir Imani
North Vancouver

. ~ Column’ S accuracy questioned

: Dear. Editor:
<) o« Re: Janice Mucalov article,
“page 27, Wednesday, March
20. While I don’t agree with
‘the North Shore News on
“Many issues,-I find chat it is
formally quite <n ‘accurate
“Newspaper and’. genevally

“states the facts. | would chal-.

lenge Ms. Mucalovw’s state-
-ment that. “there is an 80%
“chance: of success with ‘fran.

and “Swensons” are only a
few of the many failures in the
past.

Furthermore, many peo-
ple who are fighting franchis-
es currently have paid huge
amounts of monies ro the
franchise holder and are not
making any return on their
investment. This article looks
like a “puff piece” for the
franchising industry and does
not reflect the normal critical

analysis that we expect from
the North Shore News,
especially since the Vancouver
Sus is now being attacked for
writing only “puff” pieces
about condos and not print-
ing stories about leaks in
1993.

We hope you will change
your ways.
A. John Lakes
Lakes Straith & Bilinsky
North Vancouver

As someone ewho ‘has been
dvising people as a lawyer
for, over 20 -years, while
many franchises have been

many others have

; Names such as. “Produce
ity,” “Cookies by George”

MAILBOX

LETTERS to the editor must be legible (preferably typewrit-
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ber. Submissions can be faxed to 985-2104.

"40% OFF

Saturday only)

Sale Runs June 13-19th.

" Onmis MOUNTAIN SPORTS

~ Park Royal South

922-3468

Wednesday, June 10, 1998 — North Shore News - 9

ted white, m.p.

advertorial, June 10/1998

PROSTATE CANCER

On Father's Day, Sunday June 21st,
Canada's first ever Run (or Walk) for
Prostate Cancer Research will take
place in Victoria. Designed to raise
money for research and education
about a disease which killed around
4,000 men in Canada last year, the
event is the culmination of several
months of work by a group of
dedicated prostate cancer support
group voiunteers. ff you can be in
Victoria on Father's Day, please join the
run. If you cannot be there, | hope you
will consider financial support — the
organizers can be contacted at (250)
474-3860 or (250) 479-7303, and
additional information can be found on
the Internet at www.cce.cc. Prostate
cancer doesr;'t just affect the lives of
men. Like breast cancer, it usually has
a dramatic impact on the entire family,
and with one man in eight developing
prostate cancer during his lifetime, it is
virtually certain that you already know,
or will know, such a family.

BUILDING AWARENESS

There is @ story to how your MF’ came
to be working with prostate cancer
awareness groups, beginning at least 10
years ago, when the PSA (Prostatic
Specific Antigen) blood test for prostate
cancer first became available in Canada.
At the time, the BC Government, like other
provincial governments across the
country, had decided that the cost of PSA
testing would not be covered by
medicare, even though mammograms for
breast cancer (a similarly hormone driven
disease which occurs at roughly the same
frequency) were covered. | well remember
a former MLA at the time, David Schreck,
coming under fire from urologists at a
public meeting when he supported the
Government's decision and also indicated
that men should not be allowed to pay for
the test privately. Even though | was only
in my late thirties at the time, it annoyed
me that while medicare would not cover
the cost of PSA testing for men over 50,
the Government's ideolcagical position also
denied any opportunity to buy the test. |
resolved to work towards full funding for
PSA testing, as well as the right for men to
buy the test with their own money.

More than eight years passed! before |
was in a position, as an MP, to open doors
which have helped, along with the efforts
of countless volunteers, to move us almost
to the point of achieving those goals.
Building awareness amongst legislators at
the federal level was, the first ‘ask,
culminating in an agreement with Abbett
Diagnostics to fund an_ information

. seminar and PSA testing tor MPs and
. Senators on Parliament Hill on March 10th

of this year. Vancouver's world renowned
research urologist, Dr. Martin Gleave,
conducted the seminar, and almost 80
men took the PSA test that day, with three
registering levels well above the normal
maximum of four microgramsi/litre. My
colleagues from all parties have

‘learned, in the most dramatic of
ways, the value of the PSA test in
detecting prostate problems.

As a direct result of the success of the
information session on Parliament Hill,
Abbott Diagnostics has agreed to work
with North Vancouver/Seymour MLA, Dan
Jarvis, to organize a similar event at the
legislature in Victoria. This means that
intormation about prostate cancer, ar and

how it is diagnosed and treated, will be
reaching the decision-makers, the very
people who can authorize cost coverage
for routine PSA testing for men above the
age of fifty, and for younger men on the
request of a doctor. Our MLAs will be
forced to confront the reality that a great
many men in Canada only discovered that
they have prostate cancer after they
insisted on having a PSA test, even
though their ORE (Digital Rectal Exam),
which can only check about one third of
the surface of the prostate gland, came up
negative.

Ample evidence now exists from more
than a decade of data in the United States,
and from a recent study in Quebec, that
early diagnosis of prostate cancer. saves
lives, ai.d that regular PSA testing after the |
age of 50, or after 40 where there is a:

family history of prostate cancer, is the. {

best way to both predict and detect the”
presence of the disease. In fact, despite
some false positives and negatives, PSA
testing is around 30% more accurate.as a
diagnostic too! than are mammograms for
women. (Please remember though, if:you:.
are going for a PSA test, you should stop,

taking Saw Palmetto, or any other natural f°

treatments for prostate problems, at least
a week before going for the test. PSA
ievels can be depressed by | these’
remedies, with the. possibility that
underlying disease will not be detected.).

MORE ABOUT THE PROSTATE |
The prostate gland is located just below*
the bladder in men, and is normally about: :
the size of a walnut. Its primary role is ‘to: ].
provide part of the fluid necessary. for.
ejaculation. As men age, the gland tends
to become enlarged, usually due to a
condition known as Benign. Prostatic”
Hyperplasia, or BPH. In some men this.
enlargement can cause difficulty’ in.
urinating, because the urethra,’ which.
carries urine from’.the bladder, ‘passes
through the prostate and: can “become
compressed or restricted. White BPH: in‘,
itself is not usually harmtul,- there are.

treatments available, so men experienci
difficulty urinating should be senecked
doctor. . we
if you would tike more information:
about prostate cancer, call the: North:

Shore Prostate Cancer Support Group: |

at. 929-5183. if you would ‘Sike
information about other. types - of:
cancer, you can. contact. the. -Cance’
Information Service ‘at 1-888-939-3333

RECOGNITION ©
Until fairly recently, a large number

_of volunteers across Canada have been

working to build” prostate cancer
awareness with very little financiat
assistance from major. donors.
However, some’ major breakthroughs
have occurred. in | 1998; . and . they
certainly deserve mention. The
employees of BC Tel raised more than
$240,000 for prostate cancer related:

equipment early in the. year,” Abbott |

Diagnostics has generously funded a
and supported. my efforts to inform
legislators’ both’. federally and
provincially, and the CIBC: recently |
agreed to help ‘with funding for the
Victoria Run For. Prostate. Cancer.
Recognizing and donating. to. this

worthwhile cause has finally become : oS

mainstream.

HELPING THE WORLD
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Self-sufficiency through
literacy in the developing wortd
For infarmation, call 1-800-661-2633