Monday, May 12, 2008

Business first - always

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is about to make a ruling. Whether polar bears should be placed on the 'endangered species' list. We know the bears have already been categorized as doomed because of global warming and the fact that they hunt from ice floes which could no longer exist in the near future.
Companies are contesting the ruling because of 'business' interests. Northern communities make lots of money by guiding American hunters to the polar bears, charging $30,000. to shoot one. An endangered species ruling would also influence the oil and gas exploration business in the north because of laws which would be enacted regarding roads, installations etc. and protected habitat.
ONE of the reasons we have all those toxic toys and poisonous products coming from China, is because business was first when American and Canadian companies, like WalMart needed to import cheap goods. Of course those companies didn't stay in China to ensure that the products they contracted for were made under our strict laws for safe consumer products.
The same thing is happening with edible food from China and South America and elsewhere. These countries could use all the DDT they wanted and no one from the importing company is 'in the field' to protect Americans and Canadians and their kids. Children are already testing positive for chemicals that are not used by North American farmers!
Do you trust the beef industry in Canada OR America to tell you the truth about Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Mad Cow disease? The US is presently involved in a trade agreement with South Korea and one of the RULES of the trade pact will be that Korea MUST allow free imports of American beef and CANNOT STOP importing even if Mad Cow is found in US beef! No wonder the Korean people are afraid. And if they go about it like here in Canada, they'll not tell them what actually IS US beef!
Did you know that all those greenhouses that grow hothouse tomatoes for us actually IMPORT tomatoes from other countries while our season is too cold to grow and package them and RELABEL those tomatoes as 'Product of Canada'! Business over truth, of course.
Dow Chemical recently had Mary Gade, a regional EPA official in Chicago removed from her post because she continued to pressure Dow for dumping dioxins into rivers! (if you're not up on dioxins, they cause cancer and immune system problems in humans) She did her job and got fired for it without a whimper from government. Business first, as always.

It might be only a matter of a short time before there's a picture of a great white hunter standing over a great white bear with the proud inscription, I shot the last polar bear!
Business first as always.

update: I was wrong! Hooray for America - Under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act the polar bear has been classed as a 'threatened species'. And as such the trophies cannot be imported into America. Furthermore, the decision means all U.S. federal agencies now have to ensure nothing they do jeopardizes the bears' survival or the sea ice on which the bears live. However the fight will probably start from private concerns now. Hunters especially.

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