Huron Expositor, 2007-04-04, Page 4Page 4 April 4, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1WO
Pet food scandal
a warning for all
food supplies
Pet owners have been left scrambling as of late as
each day seems to bring yet another pet -food scan-
dal related to the Menu Foods' problem wherein
dozens of animals have been poisoned, and several
killed, because of tainted food. .
The initial news, though since muted, was the
problem lies with a supplier at the multinational
corporation's plant in China. There was a problem
with wheat gluten was the official word.
Thankfully, such a problem hasn't hit the human
food -supply chain. Yet.
While it's true that Canada, and many developed
countries, have inspection agencies and regulations
out the ying-yang to prevent such dire problems,
the fact nonetheless remains that it could happen.
And, thanks to the vast number of multinational
corporations that import their ingredients from the
cheapest possible supplier, there is a real opportu-
nity for a similar outbreak to occur in something as
innocuous as a processed meal.
As has been shown in past cases, like the
Walkerton water problem, for example, the typical
government reaction is of the knee-jerk variety,
with sweeping regulations that cost lots of money
that are quickly downloadedonto the municipali-
ties to handle.
Such a scenario cannot be allowed. to happen
with the human food -supply chain.
In short, it is time both the provincial and federal
governments get serious about the large amounts
of processed food currently filling up supermarket
shelves.
The reason to do so is twofold: one, and most
importantly, as a food safety issue, and secondly, in
order to address Canada's growing battle with obe-
sity.
One step in the right direction is more labelling.
If a company is importing its fructose from
Thailand, have it on the label, and if its sucrose is
from Brazil, write that down, too.
At the very least, it will allow the consumer to
educate himself about how truly global his choco-
late bar is and, in a best -case scenario, it will allow
that same consumer to steer clear of a product con-
taining something from a country that is in the
midst of battling a series of unexplained illnesses.
— The Clinton News -Record
There's never been a
better time to plant trees
I'll admit it. I am a tree
hugger - sometimes literal-
ly.
I have always loved trees
for their majestic beauty,
their cooling shade, their
fruit (especially apples),
their sturdy rootedness
and their peaceful comfort.
As a child, I liked noth-
ing better than climbing to
the top of an old apple tree and sitting there
munching a ripe apple for hours.
As an adult, nothing gives me more comfort
than lying in a hammock and gazing up
through the trees' leafy branches and into the
blue sky.
And, if there's no hammock handy, I'm quite
content to sit on the earth next to a big, old
tree imagining how much strength and wis-
dom I could soak up if my roots went as deep
and as wide as the tree supporting me.
Anyone who drives through the countryside
these days has to admit that there are very
few roads left where mature trees on either
side create that beautiful leafy canopy over-
head that used to be so common in rural
areas.
In fact, for a region that was complete for-
est little more than 100 years ago, Huron
County is almost embarrassingly lacking in
much forest cover anymore.
Sure, there are woodlots here and there but
on most journeys up and down county roads,
you'll be more likely to find empty places
by Susan Hundertmark
where trees could be plant-
ed than the trees them-
selves.
In a recent report card
created by the Ausable
Bayfield Conservation
Authority, the region
around Seaforth earned a D
for its tree cover. Not a fail-
ing grade but barely a pass
really.
And, while there will always be a forest of
reasons to plant trees, it seems that with the
growing threat to the planet with global
warming, there has never been a better rea-
son and more urgency to plant trees than
right now.
While all plants absorb carbon dioxide, the
large size and extensive root structure of
trees allows them to absorb so much that sci-
entists are looking at trees as "carbon sinks,"
and one of the least expensive and easiest
ways for people to offset the CO2 they create
everyday with their cars and extensive use of
electricity.
But, the tricky part is that humanity has
been chopping down trees at such a rapid
pace without replenishing them that to make
up for the loss of trees over the past decade,
an area as large as Peru - or 14 billion trees -
would have to be planted every year for 10
years.
Plant a Billion Trees is a project that was
launched at the United Nations Climate
See DIG, Page 5
Ron dt Dave
Really? Wow,
that's scary.
But, he's going
to be all right
then?
Hey, my friend Mike just
had a heart attack...he's
going to be okay, but it
was scary.
I'll bet.
falt
You don't expect that sort
of thing at our age.
That's the kind of thing
that happens to grown-ups.
by David Lacey
We are
grown-ups.
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