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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-01-31, Page 5Falling is fun Falling down seemed to be almost as much fun as snowshoeing for Daniel Sauve, who along with other members of the Blyth Cubs participated in a Winter Weekend. The youngsters spent Friday evening in the gym at Blyth Public School then were taken to Wawanosh Nature Centre to enjoy outdoor activities like cooking over an open fire, feeding birds and playing hare and lynx on snowshoes. The International Scene THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1990. PAGE 5. Letters Why waste money hiring lawyers, writer asks A new use for tobacco? BY RAYMOND CANON I have written on a couple of u?asions about tobacco as a dying .fop in such American states as Virginia and North Carolina, a decline that has not missed Cana­ dian growers by any stretch of the imagination. There have been a number of attempts by growers unwilling to leave the land they have lived on all their lives to find alternative crops but, even if they have, such crops are able to provide a financial yield not more than 30 per cent of what could be obtained from growing tobacco. Small wonder that the industry is in dire straits everywhere in North America. For this reason I was surprised recently to come across some information that affects the tobacco industry in a way nobody would have thought possible. As you probably know, one of the reasons for the decline in the acreage grown was the fact that evidence continues to pile up that tobacco is carcinogenic and is, in fact, bad for your health in a number of ways. One observer has commented that over its lifetime tobacco has proba­ bly killed more people that the sword, the bow and arrow, and the spear put together. All the more to be surprised at the news that the plant has new and exciting possibil­ ities. Biotechnologists at the Research Institute of the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif, have transplanted animal genes into tobacco plants and made these plants produce animal antibodies; the latter are, to the delight of everybody, exactly like normal antibodies. The point of growing them in a plant such as tobacco is to obtain them more cheaply than has been the case so far. The La Jolla team believes that it will be possible to grow anti­ bodies as cash crops in huge quantities. This would pave the way for them to be used on a large scale for, among other things, cancer treatment. What the scientists did was insert half of the genes for the selected antibody into one tobacco plant and the other half into another plant; they then fertilized one plant with pollen from the other. The offspring produced nothing less than complete anti­ bodies. Tobacco farmers should not start running to the telephone to call La Jolla. What is still needed is one or more techniques to sort out the antibodies from the chaff of the plants’ natural proteins. It is quite possible that other plants will be equally suitable for such produc­ tion. Soya beans are a possibility; so are the stalks of cereals such as wheat and maize. Researchers at the Scripps Clinic are developing and testing anti­ bodies that are the best suited to act against cancer cells. If they prove effective, they would be needed in relatively large quanti­ ties to provide treatment for mil­ lions of cancer patients. The antibodies might also play a role while still in the plants. Plants producing antibodies against such organic pollutants such as PCB’s could be grown in soil or water with low levels of contamination in order to clean it up. Pollutants absorbed by the plant might also be trapped by the antibodies so, when their growing season comes to an end, they could be burnt in a suitable container and the pollutants got rid of in this fashion. There is even the possibility that antibodies grown in plants might also be able to instill into plants a certain amount of disease resis­ tance. Again tobacco plants are being utilized for research. Scien­ tists are already inserting into tobacco plants antibodies against tobacco mosaic virus in order to determine if they give any type of protection against the disease. If this turns out to be possible, the next step would be to give plants the rudimentary fragments of an immune system. Finally another group of scien­ tists at the same Institute is looking into the possibility of developing antibodies that can act as enzymes or biochemical catalysts. These catalytic antibodies are being con­ sidered for such things as gobbiling up blood clots and scar tissue or even to producing certain types of bulk chemicals. It is again the plants which are being examined to see if they can supply enough antibodies. Now, if the tobacco farmers can hang in there, their crop that has earned so much opporbrium during the past decade could well be part of a growth industry. THE EDITOR, I read, with concern, in your newspaper, the account of the recent council meeting re - the Radford Ball Diamond. I find it very disconcerting that the Village of Blyth councillors, supposedly elected to speak on behalf of the Blyth residents, found it necessary to hire a lawyer (using valuable tax dollars) to speak for them. Surely in a village of one Village gives Radfords shoddy treatment THE EDITOR, Please allow me a few words in your newspaper to express my total outrage at the shoddy treatment given George Radford Construction Company by Blyth Council. I strongly object to my tax dollars being used to help pay a lawyer to discuss a matter that should have been handled easily among local people. Does this mean we are to hire a lawyer each time we wish to approach council? We are very fortunate to have several excellent corporate busi­ nesses in Blyth, all of whom, over many years, have contributed greatly to our community. Are they being led to believe that every time their generosity is offered to a local project, they will be looked upon as having an ulterior motive, or are trying to “rip off’ our village. Where is the horrible distrust coming from? The original owner of George Radford Construction Company has donated thousands of dollars for the benefit of everyone in our community. His successors have shown they have every intention of Caesarean surgery brings more risks to mother THE EDITOR, I am writing in reply to Mr. Doug Zehr’s reaction (printed in The Citizen, December 19, 1989) to our press release (printed December 13, 1989). Of course Mr. Zehr should be thankful for his three healthy baby girls. And we should be thankful whenever a necessary ceasarean saves the life of mother or child. But Mr. Zehr is sadly mistaken in assuming that a “weakened wall of the uterus from the first surgery” makes labour foolhardy. In fact, the danger of surgery is far greater. While not a single maternal death from rupture of a scarred uterus has been reported in the English language medical literature, the maternal death rate from caesarean surgery is estimated at from 1 to Choices on Huronview up to county, Riddell says THE EDITOR, I have been quite dismayed by recent reports in local newspapers as to the situation currently before County Council with respect to the construction of a new nursing home facility on the site of the present Huronview home. There are a number of misunder­ standings prevalent in the area about the Ontario government’s position which I would like to clarify for all those who have expressed their concern. Firstly, the decision whether to renovate the current building or to build a new one is solely that of Huron County Council, and always thousand people, this type of action is unnecessary. People here have always been willing to discuss and concilliate matters to mutual satis­ faction. I suggest that any further deal­ ings with groups trying to work on improving village facilities should feature co-operation not confronta­ tion. Fran Cook, Blyth. doing the same. Over the years the Radford Company has injected millions of dollars in wages into our commun­ ity. Even now many of their employees are more closely associ­ ated with the company than ever. I can easily imagine how badly hurt their feelings must be. Isn’t it ironic the feud is over the “George Radford Memorial Ball Diamond ”? Most of Radford’s employees are residents of Blyth. Are they expec­ ted to pay tax money so the village can involve their employer in a needless court action? It is my opinion council has put their com­ pany into a position impossible to back away from. What is this dreadful illness that is infecting our village? It must surely be sought out and eliminat­ ed fast before it turns cancerous and destroys us from within. We have a good little community here. If everyone works together it has the ingredients to be truly outstanding. Why do we keep shooting ourselves in the foot? Doug Whitmore Blyth. 500 to 1 in 5000. The fetal death rate is also higher for repeat caesarean surgery, partly due to prematurity caused when surgery is booked too early because of miscalculation of the woman’s due date. At a time when the medical resources of our province are strained to the point of month-long waiting lists for necessary cardiac surgery and chemotherapy it is deplorable to waste millions of dollars on a less safe birthing procedure. Caroline Sufrin-Disler VBAC Association of Ontario 8 Gllgorm Road Toronto, M5N 2M5 [416] 483-3370 and J. Harris RR 3, Blyth. has been. The Ministry has already given its approval for the building of two new homes - one in the north and one at the present Huronview site. Although the final decision is subject to the approval of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, since they will provide 50 per cent of the approved costs, it is up to Council to decide which route they want to take. Any suggestion of returning to the original idea of renovating would have to come from Council and would have to be resubmitted to the Ministry of approval. There are indications that reno- Contlnued on page 7