Angel >>Kenex Ltd. Based in Chatham, Ont., the hemp goods-producing company is suing the U.S. government over the DEA’s sweeping, ridiculous ban on any and all hemp products. The ban cuts Kenex off from three-quarters of its market, Kenex claims, which is illegal under NAFTA terms. The ban, instituted in October, covers such mind-melting items as snack bars, veggie burgers and salad oils. Kenex, whose goods are approved by both Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, uses industrial hemp in its oil, livestock meal and other products. They’re suing for $20-million (Canadian).

Insect >>Montreal’s environmental sloth It took until last Monday for the city to do something about the Technoparc, the industrial park alongside the Bonaventure highway between Nuns’ Island and the Old Port, that has been leaking toxic sludge into the St. Lawrence. The city has known about it since 1998, but only called for submissions for plans to contain the PCB-heavy slime (containing, in the words of one environmentalist, “hundreds of thousands of times” the acceptable amount of PCBs) this week. A $3.5-million cleanup project was canned in May 2000 for feasibility problems. Some environmentalists, meanwhile, are considering legal action.