onthejourney

If I was closer, I would so go! Public Notice: Call to attend the Agriculture Committee meeting Thursday March 10, 11:30-1:00, 151 Sparks Street, Ottawa Come on out! Show your support for the motion for a moratorium on GM alfalfa! WHAT: Tomorrow, Thursday March 10, 11:00 - 1:00 the House of Commons Agriculture Committee is meeting and will, unless the Conservatives stall or the Liberals do not push the motion to the top of the agenda, debate and decide on a motion for a moratorium on GM alfalfa. The motion will then go to the House of Commons for a vote. WHY: A large audience of interested observers at the meeting will help push the moratorium through! It is a small room and an audience will help pressure the Liberals and Conservatives. There is rarely a significant audience at the meetings and so it will be remarked on and show strong public support. Your presence at the Committee hearings will make a lasting impression to these MPs of the public support behind the moratorium. If the motion is passed, this impression will help Conservatives and Liberals to support the motion in the House of Commons. TIMING: 11:00 - 11:30 The first half hour of the meeting is closed to observers. 11:30 - 1:00 the meeting will open to the public and the motions will be debated. This schedule inside the two hour period could change slightly. The meeting notice is here LOCATION: 151 Sparks Street, Room 268 (up the stairs), Ottawa. PLEASE NOTE: * Bring photo ID. * Arrive 15 minutes ahead of time so you can go through security and get a pass. * Please remember that observers to Committee hearings, just as to Question Period, cannot participate in the meeting and are asked to refrain from making loud comments etc. However, a nice round of applause after a good decision is not unprecedented and can be most welcome to Committee members who rarely get this feedback. * A lunch will be brought in for the MPs to allow the Committee to meet over the lunch period, please note that food and beverages are for the MPs and we are asked to refrain from munching (even though its lunchtime!). Bring a snack if you will get peckish! * There is a small waiting area outside the Committee room where we can wait for the closed part of the meeting to finish. * There are translation devices so that you can listen in English or French. Unplug these to unwind the cords. If the Bloc members speak and you do not speak French you will appreciate easy access to your device - Channel 1 should be English. * CBAN Coordinator, Lucy Sharratt, will be attending and will arrive for 11:00. Come on out to show your support, make change happen, and witness the results of your actions! Your presence could make a big difference. Please contact me if you have questions. Best, regards, Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice 431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5 Phone: 613 241 2267 ext. 25 Fax: 613 241 2506 coordinator@cban.ca www.cban.ca Support the Moratorium on GM Alfalfa! Take action by March 10, 2011 at http://www.cban.ca/alfalfa

Don't know if this is already posted. I didn't see it though. Little Feat are playing Toronto's Beerfest on the Sunday. $40 includeds some beer tasting I think. I am FREAKIN excited! http://www.beerfestival.ca/main-stage

oh my hubby said it all! Best bar ever in so many ways. No other bar in town or else where has such great sound (thanks in part to Dougie!!), such a great vibe, and such great folks! Many memories for me as well, especially meeting the husband there! So many awesome shows and forever, Little Feat will be one of my top shows...something like that will not happen again I don't think! Loved the late nights helpin you crazy kids clean up when Kev still worked there and the killer smoothies Kenny used to make us! I could go on and on, as I am sure many of us could. We need to make the 30th a right blow-out!! Truly it does feel like an end of an era.............do I really gotta grow up now???

no tour - no tickets. Thanks for postin that Jaimoe...I was just about to.

son of biatch. The Blind melon forum, which is supposed to keep me freaking on top of things, just let me know about this show on wednesday. Well they were already sold out by wednesday because the tickets went on sale on the 23rd. I am royally pissed, I must say. So if anyone happens upon tickets that aren't being f'n scalped for $279 a piece, let me know.

$24.50 me thinks... Yah, Shannon is not coming back....nothing we can do about that. I would just love to hear the old songs as I never made it out to see them when he was alive.

Holy Moses! Yes, I know, no Shannon. But Blind Melon is coming baby! I am excited...very excited. From email: The GOOD NEWS is we have added Toronto and Montreal. Here are the details: Nov 20................Les Saints................Montreal, Quebec Nov 22................The Mod Club......... Toronto, Ontario oh ya............

Phishtaper - I apologize as maybe I am wrong. I read that in an article - several actually - by a reputable natural health proponent (who is also trained as a pharmacist). I thought I could trust his information, but maybe I am wrong. Like I said, I don't know everything and I think I will do some more research into that. Thank you. Hux - unfortunately, the government website that I looked at in regards to how a bill is passed, didn't go into that much detail, so thankyou for making that a little more clear. All in all, I still find some of the wording to be pretty open-ended in the bill, which would lead me to worry that it could be used wrongly in future situations. Also, I really don't trust a whole lot of what the government has to say in regards to all of this. I personally think they are trying to pacify the public now and like good little passive Canadians, we will go back to the usual and forget. I truly believe that things are leading up to Codex compliance. Whether you agree or disagree with me on that - I honestly don't care because although I believe in the goodness of mankind, I don't believe that the powers that be (gov't (not all), the Big Five companies, etc.) have our well-being in mind. I believe that money drives them, and at whatever cost. Call me jaded, call me a conspiracy-theorist, whatever. We'll see how this all plays out in the next 2 years.

thank you mattm

okay...whoa I am sorry if it was such an all-encompassing statement. Do you really think that I don't feel that all those people work hard and genuinely care for those afflicted, with say, diabetes? Give me a break! I know those people care! I know those people work their butts off! And I know that those with Type 1 Diabetes need insulin! What I meant to say, is that there are some groups who, when you donate money to them, some of the money is given for research --- that is all well and good and I applaud research - I love it. But what I don't like is when money is used to get scientists and chemists to find a way to make a marketable and patentable drug for a condition, that in the end hurts people! (when there are often much safer ways) AGAIN...this is a broad statement and does not mean everyone is out to hurt people. Alot of scientists and chemists have the utmost best intention of helping people become well. I will give you an example. The new vaccine for HPV. This vaccine has already killed over 13 young girls. Over 3500 adverse events have been reported and over 400 have been reported serious (including complications like Bells Palsy, seizures, paralysis, and Guillian-Barre Syndrome). Of the 42 women vaccinated with HPV while pregnant 18 have experienced complications from fetal abnormalities to miscarriages. Most importantly, the lead researcher who spent 20 years developing the vaccine for HPV Diane M. Harper states that, "The HPV vaccine is not for younger women and that it is "silly" for anyone to be mandating it for them". She says, "The vaccine has not been tested for effectiveness in girls as young as 9 and it may not even protect them. And, in the worst-case scenario, instead of serving to reduce the numbers of cervical cancers within 25 years, such a vaccination crusade may actually cause the numbers to increase." Diane Harper, a scientist and professor states "Giving the vaccine to 11 year olds is a great big public health experiment. Not to mention that Gardisil only protects you from 4 of the 100 HPV viruses. Now why, would the pharmaceutical company knowingly disregard that part of her research?? This is what I am bothered by. I am also bothered by the fact that if I donate money to the Canadian Cancer Society, only 2% of that money is going to preventative and natural medicine research.! Damn right this pisses me off! I have every right to be pissed off at the "big guys"!I know that there are so many people with great intentions and people who care for those in terminal illness and I would never, never say that they don't deserve respect and adulation. I am mad because I believe that health care would be so much different if people were taught proper preventative measures to health. If some of the sickening poisons we called food, we not allowed on the shelf and if some of the medicine that is approved, the company that sells it would actually follow the recommendations of the "little chemist closed up in room" figured out, instead of omitting it so that it becomes passed and people start dying!! Listen, I am not a proponent of natural health, because I take a vitamin here and there. I have been to school for various forms of natural medicine (and still going) and I have seen people become well, from serious diseases, simply by changing diet and using certain herbs and vitamins! One of my old professors who has been in this for over 40 years has seen people heal from cancer and the like. So of course I am mad, when I KNOW that people can heal without the side effects of some other treatments! and then there is a possibility of this being taken away from me and from others! I am not saying I know everything! Far from it. But what it comes down to is choice. It is my choice to heal myself the way I want to. And please, for the love of god, I never in anyway wanted to put those down that work and care so much...I know they do, and I never meant to do that. I should have elaborated more, but to be honest with you, I hate sitting on the computer and I have a habit of not realizing that when I type something, people don't always understand what I mean. Now, I realize that the Canadian Diabetes Association is there to inform people and help people find outlets for information on drugs and diet etc. But Brad M, you were the one that stated that if there was a "cure" from natural medicine for diabetes, that they would be all over it. Hux - the bill has already gone through 2 readings. All that remains is a third reading and then Royal Assent. I would love to updated on proposed changes to the bill by members of the house. I know there are several organizations that have put forth discussion papers to the government on clarification on terms. Also, if you go to the Canadian Health Food Associations website, they too have letters to the gov and ways to voice your concerns over this bill. Another thing, where Codex Alimentarus has become law in the EU (in my opinion, bill c-51 is leading up to us complying with this as well) in France, I heard that one woman got arrested for making therapeutic level Vitamin C 500mg on her own because now all they can get is low dose Vit. C.

Is there a petition site or a form letter that can be sent? I am not trying to be lazy...there are so many causes I agree with out there and I am a busy lady. Right now I am spending a lot of time on Bill C-51 but I would love to support this project as well.

also thank you yours truly for being able to articulate things better than I.

Firstly, I just want to say that I am not pro one thing and against the other. Pharmaceuticals have their place. For God's sake, if I get hit by a bus, don't take me to a naturopath or an herbalist!! The issue, as said above, is that there is a possiblity that my right to choice is going to be taken away. This is the issue. I am not trying to say that everyone should be on natural medicine...everyone has their own needs and is on their own path...I am not here to dictate that in anyway. In response to Momack in regards to the counterindications between herbs and pharmas is a very valid point and again, this is why there needs to be some sort of regulation or information provided with certain herbs/vitamins, or rather, people should be consulting with someone who knows what they are doing. (really this should be part of our healthcare system available to everyone but that is another story all together) In response again to the thesis done on the diabetes "cure" herb, I am actually surprised by the word "cure" initially because you are not allowed to claim that already, as a producer, manufacturer or natural health practitioner. It is illegal to use that word specifically so I find it interesting that those touting this herb could even say that. In fact, it is illegal to even say that you can cure cancer in north america (again another story all together). As for clinical studies, there have been literally thousands of independant clinical studies documenting various herbs and their ability to manage or even do away with certain conditions and diseases. The reason they are not readily used is because an herb can not be patented and therefore useless to big pharma. Let me give you an example of how big pharma takes a perfectly balanced herb and changes it to a patentable sythetic version. In the case of Valium, the origins of this drug come from the herb Valarian. Valarian can be safely used at a specific dosage without all side effects of Valium. When you look a all the chemical constituents of an herb, imagine a graph with ups and downs above each chemical constituent, showing the levels. Often with an herb there are many small ones and one or 2 big highs. The pharma comes and isolates these highs, figuring that is what make the herb work. The create this synthetically in a lab, patent it an ta-da...you have Valium for example. The problem with this is that the herb itself was pretty much perfectly balanced and all those little 'ups' although little are important to balancing or cancelling out any side effects from the big ones. That is why once they have isolated the big ones and come out with something like valium, so many side effects abound now. I know that might be confusing and I tried to explain it the best I could without a picture. Brad M...I am not trying to be mean, but to the post above- these associations don't do much except make new drugs to mask symptomology. There is more money in treating than there is in curing. This is a sad, disturbing fact that would take entirely too long to get into here. But I beg of you to do some research on what a lot of these charities and organizations are spending their money on. Again, I am not painting them all with the same brush, but there is a whole lot of corruption going on there.

Like I said, I see the need in the industry for better regulation on claims, potentcy, manufacturing and efficacy. There are "bad guys" in every lot. But taking the right completely away is not the answer and leaving it to those untrained to make the decisions is not a good idea either. Either way, that is one tea(herb) that proved not to cure diabetes. Guess what, either does diabetes medication from the pharmacuetical companies - it manages it, often with side effects. There are many herbs and vitamins that also help to manage diabetes, with no side effects. Which would you choose. Although I would love to see all the info on that study -- just saying it doesn't work doesn't say what sort of trials were done, on who, what time, what age, was diet changed or not etc. There are so many variables. Of course in all of this, not every herb is for everybody. There are definitely abuses going on where someone reads something, goes out and buys a product without knowing their bodies needs - we are all different. That is why there are trained naturopaths, herbalists, traditional chinese medical doctors, holistic nutritionists and the like. People need to be educated and a good practitioner (of the natural medicine kind) will provide their client the education, the knowledge, and the means for which the client will heal themselves.