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The Brussels Post, 1975-11-26, Page 12Today's Health Too much food, drink daMages stomach When it comes to ,the care and feeding of the gastro-intestinal tract, most people focus on the feeding and forget about the care.; And that, up to a point, is fine. The so-called GI tract, through which everything we eat or drink is carried, is a busy and efficient. thoroughfare. Leading from the mouth through the pharynx, the oesophagus, the stomach, and on into the large and small intestines and' then to the rectum, the GI, tract not only,transports what we! eat -- it transforms it. At various, stages along the route ingested material is - chemically treated,' reorganized, stored, distributed, or dispatched. All of this movement and activity we take pretty much for granted. But, like any other transportation system, this one can get snarled up. The main enemies of the GI, tract are ASA (acetyl salicylic' acid), alcohol, smoking,' antibiotics and laxatives. ASA, whether • in tablet or seltzer form, can have a damaging effect on the tough lining of the stomach wall -- the mucous membrance -- making the stomach more vulnerable to. acids r involved in the digestive process. The result of all this will depend! on the amount of aspirin taken, and, of course, on the person and the stomach involved. But it .can mean heartburn, ulcers or even hemorrhage. Alcohol has much the same effect on the stomach lining, but large and consistent doses of it can also affect the liver and the pancreas -- both glands involved in the digesstive process -- and can also lead to pancreatitis and cirrhosis of the liver, difficult to treat (sometimes incurable) diseases. Alcohol has a third effect. It hampers the absorption of food as nutrient, thus depriving the body of the full value of what is eaten. • Smoking relaxes the valve between the stomach and the oesophagus, thus alloWing acids to flow back froth the stomach instead of moving along in the right dire,ction. 'This condition, known as reflux oesophagitis, ° causes heartburn. Also, while smoking hasn't actually "been shown to cause ulcers, it does prevent existing ones from healing properly. . Antibiotics can injure the GI tract in a number of ways, such as by causing inflammation of the; colon -- colitis. While these "wonder drugs" obviously serve 'a useful purpose, they shouldn't be used for trivial complaints. Finally, people who don't get enough roughage in their diet often. resort to laxatives, and' these, in their harsher forms, tend to flog the life out of the large bowel. This creates a vicious circle in which the bowel isn't elastic enough to' do its job, and so more laxatives are needed. The enemies of the GI tract are mostly quite easy, to deal with; their assets have to be weighed against their liabilities. Moderation is where care of the GI tract begins. At United Church Seminar discusses farm land use 'I' . ' ; fir ; 12—THE BRUSSELS POST P i (By Wilma Oke) To educate the members of the Huron-Perth Presbytery of the United Church on wise land use a two-day seminar at the Brucefield Church was initiated by Rev. Bert Daynard of Staffa. On the first day Thursday Mr. Daynard and Dr. Allan Churchill, Chatham, past president of the London Conference, established the theological foundations of the issue. Both quoted from the old and new testatments to show the interdependency of people and the land. Dr. Churchill said more wars' have been fought over land than, any other commodity as he warned against worshipping the land as a distinct entity. He said it was a gigantic' problem to use the land properly with the least harm and the greatest good for both people and the land itself. "We are so tempted to use land for our own purposes so as, to abuse it and' we need a strong theological basis for an adequate land use ethic." he said. "We can't get , this ethic by romanticising nature or by, developing our materialistic. philosophy to which we seem, to! be enslaved. We need to get back to the Biblical roots of ,a sound ethic, that recognizes God, the Creator, as still sovereign and. still the ultimate owner. of his creations." Free but responsible "We need to see man, made in the image of God, as having some freedom but also considerable responsibility to act as trustees of the land and all natural resources which God has put into his temporary care, but man has fallen and he continues to drag creation into his fallennesS with him." Continuing Dr. Churchill said, "The Bible seems to be saying; that man will not be redeemed ;without the land being redeemed' as well.! This is a revolutionary. idea and would be reap.); ' revolutionary if we treated all natural resources on the basis of this principle." In the afternoon session: Thursday, William Heine, editor of the London Fred Press; told of land-use attitudes in a number of countries he 'had visited around the World. "Nobody is more efficient than the farmer who is left alone to plant the crop he decides is best) for his own farm," he stated: "No totalitarian land has ever been, able to compare to our system in , North America where Sit per cent' of the population feeds the other 041 per cent and have a surplus of millions Of tons Of foodstuff to send OVerseas." Efficient "You have to accept the fact it is an enormously efficient system when a free man operates in a free market of supply and demand. Enlightened self-interest works best," he said. Mr. Heine said the Russians are notorious for the inefficient' use of land and must import tons of grain to feed the people, with their system . of centralized farming decisions, made by a bureaucracy and not the persons farming the land. The Chinese are much better at efficiently using land and are able to feed their over 800 million people, he said. While there is central ownership of land, the Chinese farmers themselves have a say in what crops to plant. He pointed out it takes 80•per cent of the Chinese to grow enough food for the remaining 20 per cent and in Russia 32 per cent of the population to feed the other 68 per cent. Mr. Heine spoke of the excellent use of land in Holland and explained the kibutz way of life in Israel. In India the agony of starvation can be seen. The wealthy own the land which is being erroded as the poor tenant tries to get that last grain of rice. He said most Arab people don't understand the use of land. If Misused Mr. Heine commended • the British system of - control over land use which allows farmers to grow.what they like but will step in if land is grossly misused and. given to someone who will use it to grow foodstuff. This is done in much the same way we have organizations which take away animals abused and suffering, he said. In the 'Friday morning session ° Gary Davidson, Goderich, Huron County planner, presented the local view on how man uses land and some of the pressures he is presently placing on it, Mr..Davidson said as a practitioner of land use planning he deals with it on a daily basis. He said man uses land for material gain. "We are not users of our land;• we are exploiters of it," he said. "In Southwestern Ontario which \his the best land in Canada, disintegration , of farmland is reaching crisis proportions," he warned. MI'. bAvidsOn said ; "The best land in the country is in Tuckersmith Township 98 per cent of it is class one latid.It's a national resource) There is (more class one land in Tuckersmith than in all of Neva Scotia,• In Huron County 89 percent of the land is class one!' baVidSon Said that NOVEMBER 26 0 i9'15lt planning is a form of control--the control of the use of land. "Planning goes against the concept of free will; some say even against the concept of democracy," he said. "During the past,few years, we have been going merrily along destroying the land--now we are reaching certain types of crises which are overcoming arguments against planning." °Planners Advice , Mr. Davidson said of planning, `The authority rests with the local elected officials, planners only advise." One delegate said the provincial authorities have the final say in planning. Mr. .Davidson said that when 'people are talking about planning they might ask,"What's another five or ten acres going out of production?" . said this attitude must be changed. Many delegates asked questions, among them ,Norman Alexander of Londesboro, who is a drainage. inspector for Hullett Township in Huron. Mr. Alexander said he is concerned that farm drainage may be causing erosion problems., Mr. Davidson answered that from a study made in Grey Township it has been' found that the land is drained so extensively that the river system is incapable of taking any more. He said experts are looking at the dangers of overdraining and said drains should be considered carefully. The artificial drainage system in Grey compresses the peak drainage period so much there is a severe flooding problem,, he said. In an undrained area spring drainage would normally take three or four months, he said, but we have compressed that down to four weeks' with the peak being only one week. This results in the low flow of rivers or streams or the drying up of some, the rest of the year. During low flow of the river there is a tendency for it to be polluted, he added. Costly dams and flood-control systems are demanded for the brief flooding periods, he said. A four-man panel discussed the wise use of land in the afternoon session. The menibers were Jack Riddell, M.P.P. for Huron- Middlesex Doug. Fisher, , executive secretary, London Conference of United Church, , Elgin Thompson, reeve Of Tuckersmith Township and chairman of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority, and Ron White,. Birr farther and president of the Middlesex' Federation of Agriculture Mr. Fisher toad Of the importance of personal awareness Of the need for wise land tiSe. lie Said we as individuals elect our governments to do the things we can not do personally and that we can make people aware that the land is not a ' commodity dependent on the pressureStipm the marketplace. Mr. Thompson spoke of the 38 conservation . authorities in Ontario which provide recreation areas, preserve wild life areas, build dams, provide gully control and grass waterways to prevent flood damage . He stressed the important part the Authorities play in educating the public with programs for school children who make field trips to conservation areas. Mr.White outlined the land use planning responsibilities, of the Federation of A griculture at the local, regional, -provincial and federal levels. He said the Ontario Federation has called for a national policy on agriculture and land use. "The federal government must safeguard long term agricultural policy from the 'effects of short- term trading decisions," he stated. "The federal government must co-ordinate and integrat e its agricultUre and land-use policies with the provinces and municipalities. Orderly Growth Mr.White said that we need orderly growth but he warned the delegates that the world population has less than 26 days food stockpiled at the present time. Mr. Riddell said two million acres of farmland were retired from farming between 1951 and 1966 and the rate of loss has doubled since 1966. "There are 42 acres of farmland going out of use every hour," he said. "Remember that Canada has only 24 million acres of farmland. "If we continue on the course we're taking at this time, experts predict that 60 per cent of the food consumed here in Ontario will have to be imported." Speaking on the vital need for housing Mr. Riddell said urban areas, have the capacity .to absorb the demands for housing and there should be no pressure on farmland, but there is. He said that planning has to be put back into the hands of local officials --they know best but said he knew municipalities are reluctant to go ahead with planning because their finances restricted. Vanastra Pool Winter Registration December 13 for details see Huron Shopping News November 27 -41 Province of Ontario Ministry of Comniunity & Social Services NOTICES to.-Recipients' of Fainity ,Benefits' Allowances' ilyBenefitt Allowances cheques Will' be available at your. Post Office offer November 26, 1915. • They Will also be deity -deed in hOrttidiftittrther all tied( .1'600 tusto•tilet'S,