back to the ideas room...

[Kathie Brosemer <kathie@cleannorth.org>]

Unfortunately, the fireball is not available for our annual meeting. 
Creative ideas desperately needed.  I'd really like to announce this in the 
paper newsletter as well as the electronic one, so we're really at deadline 
here.

thanks
k

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Friday, September 06, 2002 12:07 AM -0500
From: mark&maria <tellall@fireballcafe.com>
To: Kathie Brosemer <kathie@cleannorth.org>
Subject: Re: [Fwd: FW: West Nile]

Hello:
Unfortunately, we won't be doing any provate functions until well into the
new year.  The cafe is being leased as classroom space by an ESL program
this fall.

Kathie Brosemer wrote:

> and another thing...
>
> Is the cafe available for private functions this fall?  CN wants to have
> its annual meeting there again if we can rent the space.  It's convenient
> for keeping hot food hot, and near enough to the office that we can still
> have a 10 year anniversary celebration.  if it's available Sat. Nov 2 that
> would be our first choice, and if so, I'll write up a small article for
> the news...
>
> And I'll clip that cartoon.
>
> thanks
> k
>
> --On Thursday, September 05, 2002 5:02 PM -0500 mark&maria
> <tellall@fireballcafe.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi Kathie,
> >     Yes, by all means clip the cartoon & i'll try to get permission to
> > use it. Missed that one. It sounds great.
> > md
> >
> >
> > Kathie Brosemer wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Mark,
> >>
> >> this should be printed in our newsletter.  And that wonderful editorial
> >> cartoon that the Sault Star ran last week - person looking at a dead
> >> (dying?) bird, says "West Nile?" bird replies "Pesticides."
> >> I can clip the cartoon for you if you want.  But the Sault Star should
> >> probably be asked about permission to print it.
> >> thanks
> >> k
> >> -------- Original Message --------
> >> Subject: FW: West Nile
> >> From: "Janet McNeill" <janet@oen.ca>
> >> Date: Wed, September 4, 2002 7:39 pm
> >> To: "Janet McNeill" <janet@oen.ca>
> >>
> >> Subject: FW: West Nile
> >>
> >> A note with attached letter received from a contact in Prince Edward
> >> County (down near Lake Ontario, in the Belleville area)...
> >> *************************************************************
> >> Subject: West Nile
> >>
> >> Hi folks. Thanks for all your networking. Thought you'd be interested
> >> in letter one of our members got published earlier in Picton paper. bc.
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> -- Safe Water Group says, ?Don't spray to prevent West Nile Virus?
> >> Picton Gazette ? Guest Editorial : February 27, 2002
> >>
> >> As a new mosquito season approaches, and with it fear of the West Nile
> >> Virus, the Safe Water Group hopes to open a broad, informed public
> >> debate on the best ways to deal with this matter that concerns us all.
> >>
> >> So far the Hastings and Prince Edward Health Unit has taken a calm,
> >> reasoned approach to the mosquito-borne virus, as in the Unit's public
> >> education flyers, eg Put Mosquitoes out of Touch. But some authorities
> >> are now proposing a much more aggressive approach: to spray pesticides
> >> over wide areas, most likely by airplane, a practise called broadcast
> >> spraying. Experience in other places strongly suggests that broadcast
> >> spraying of pesticides in or around Prince Edward County would do a
> >> great deal more harm than good.
> >>
> >> A quick sampling from available public health studies:
> >>
> >> " "Based upon experience, we know that typically less than one tenth of
> >> one percent of people bitten by infected mosquitoes develop any
> >> clinical signs of disease, and of those who do develop disease
> >> symptoms, most do not develop the serious encephalitis manifestations.
> >> Seven deaths in a population of over 10 million people over a one-month
> >> period (in New York City three years ago) is certainly tragic, but (in
> >> New York) more people died each day of respiratory diseases such as
> >> asthma and tuberculosis." Michael Gochfeld, Professor of Environmental
> >> and Community Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
> >>
> >> " "New research on the dangers of the mosquito control pesticides
> >> Dibrom (Naled) and the pyrethroid pesticide Permethrin are reported
> >> from six medical journals. Health risks found include genetic damage -
> >> cancer potential - neurotoxic dangers to unborn children - and harm to
> >> marine life. Researchers also find pesticide applications appear to be
> >> dramatically increasing the incidence of encephalitis-carrying
> >> mosquitoes. Theories regarding this include immune system damage to
> >> wildlife (predators that eat mosquitoes) and genetic damage to the
> >> mosquitoes' inherent defenses." Wayne Sinclair, MD, Allergy, Asthma &
> >> Immunology, Tampa, Florida; and Richard Pressinger, M.Ed., both of
> >> Tampa, Florida.
> >>
> >> " "Malathion (the pesticide most commonly used to kill mosquitoes) was
> >> the second leading cause of hospitalization for occupational pesticide
> >> poisoning in the United States during the period 1977-1982." Blondell,
> >> J. 1997. Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews. 12(2)
> >> 209-221.
> >>
> >> " "Infants and children, whose immature nervous systems are vulnerable,
> >> and newborns, whose metabolisms are less capable of detoxifying
> >> malathion, are more susceptible than adults to its toxic effects." (US)
> >> National Research Council. 1993. Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and
> >> Children. National Academy Press. Washington D.C.
> >>
> >> " "Exposure to chemical pesticides leads to subsequent weakening of the
> >> immune system and actually increases the risk of developing West Nile
> >> virus encephalitis." Dr. Libuse Gilka, Physicians and Scientists for a
> >> Healthy World.
> >>
> >> " "Until it crosses the blood-brain barrier, the effects of West Nile
> >> Virus tend to be mild. Pesticides can damage this barrier, making it
> >> easier for WNV to enter the brain." Dr Dennis Goode, Department of
> >> Biology, University of Maryland.
> >>
> >> " "Last year, prompted by concern about the spread of West Nile Virus,
> >> New York State asked counties to report dead birds to its wildlife
> >> pathology laboratory. After receiving more than 80,000 birds, Dr. Ward
> >> Stone, a New York State wildlife official, discovered that while the
> >> virus was a factor in some of the deaths, the leading cause was
> >> pesticide poisoning." The National Audubon Society, June 2000.
> >>
> >> " " Like canaries in a coalmine, birds warn of danger in our
> >> environment. If these chemicals kill birds, what are they doing to our
> >> kids?" Frank Gill, Audubon's Senior Vice President of Science.
> >>
> >> " "It is bad public health policy to combat a relatively mild threat to
> >> human health with an intervention associated with serious morbidity and
> >> mortality." Warren Bell, President, Canadian Association of Physicians
> >> for the Environment.
> >>
> >> " "Get ready for class action suits when environmentally sensitive
> >> populations become ill from pesticide exposure." Judith Spence, RN, of
> >> the Environmental Illness Society of Canada. (Several suits are
> >> currently before the courts in NY.)
> >>
> >> " "Harris County (Texas), which has one of the most active St. Louis
> >> encephalitis (a mosquito-carried illness) programs in the country, has
> >> not resorted to aerial spraying for years. Through effective
> >> monitoring, its program can identify infected areas a month before any
> >> human comes down with the virus, and thereby address potential
> >> outbreaks at the source. This approach not only saves human lives, but
> >> also reduces pesticide use and saves the county approximately one
> >> million dollars each year." Dr. Ray Parsons, Harris County (Texas)
> >> Mosquito Control Division.
> >>
> >> These studies and conclusions cannot be ignored.
> >>
> >> With due regard for the balance of risks, we strongly urge public
> >> health officials to refuse any broadcast spraying of pesticides, either
> >> from the air or by any other means, as an unacceptable method of
> >> dealing with the West Nile Virus. Safer options are available. All of
> >> them begin with a well-informed public.
> >>
> >> Michael Riordon,
> >> for the Safe Water Group.
> >> www.safewatergroup.org
> >>
> >> "I awake each morning torn between a desire to save the world and a
> >> desire to savour the world. This makes it hard to plan my day."- E.B.
> >> White
> >


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