From the Tyee:
The chair of a legislative
committee that reported on the cosmetic use of pesticides has dismissed people
who support a ban as "politically motivated left wing conspiracy
theorists."
It's an email outburst that has
critics questioning whether Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett's biases made him a
poor choice for Premier Christy Clark to pick as chair for the Special
Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides. In a May 30 message to Bill
Wells, a retired agrologist in the Kootenay town of Kaslo, Bennett wrote,
"I'll take the 350 scientists at Health Canada over the politically
motivated left wing conspiracy theorists any day."
Wells had written to Bennett
calling the committee's recommendation against a ban "disgraceful"
and expressing "disappointment that a committee of the BC Legislature
would be so prejudiced in reaching their 'decision' that they ignore and
humiliate those who would come to them to provide them with actual facts and
knowledgeable guidance."
Bennett's first response to Wells said,
"I am pleased to hear that you can read and encourage you to put your
skill to work reading the Special Committee's Report. Perhaps even an old dog
can learn a new trick!"
When Wells
wrote back saying the chemical industry has undue influence on Health Canada's
Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Bennett responded: "And a commie under
every rock and the grassy hill in Dallas and all corporations and all that
jazz. Sorry, I'm not a conspiracy theorist."
During its
hearings, the Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides heard from a wide range
of stakeholders and the public. "Of the 7,300 e-questionnaires submitted,
almost 5,000 supported a ban on the sale and use of pesticides for cosmetic
purposes," the committee's report said.
Complete article:http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/05/31/BillBennettComments/
For the actual email threads and conversations:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2012/05/31/BennettPest/
Oh, Billy Boy!! When will you ever learn? "A commie under every rock". That's so original coming from you of all people. Come on, Billy Boy. Time to change your script writer. Maybe even time to hit the road???
ReplyDeleteA ban because you think it will save the world, like the Toronto city council banning plastic bags without studying the issue, just removes freedoms from others. I don't know Wells but I have met some of the Health Canada researchers who are forced to go to extreme lengths to try to find some negative effects from many pesticides. One pesticide, Warfarin, is now used to save people with heart problems and another, Botox, is used for cosmetic reasons. I agree, all pesticides are poisons formulated or discovered to kill what humans consider as pests. But many pests either carry or produce toxins and bacteria that will kill their hosts or others, like the pine beetle which carries a vector that kills pines. I assume that saving a pine would be considered "cosmetic" by many but economically necessary by others. Same for fetch, tansy, thistles or ticks.
ReplyDelete