Endangered eats

As an environmentalist, I had to let you know my reaction to the Feb. 7 restaurant review by Sarah Musgrave [“Chinese rocks”]. First, I’m glad she exposed the menu ingredients of Keung Kee: I, for one, will certainly give it a miss if I ever set food in Chinatown again. Second, those particular ingredients—bird’s nest soup, and shark’s fin soup—are worth more than a passing mention as just another two food items, albeit of an exotic nature.

I don’t know whether the swallows which make the nests are endangered, but I think it’s better to err on the side of caution and boycott the soups. However, I do know without a doubt that sharks around the world are not only approaching the critically endangered level (these top predators have very late maturities and breed infrequently, therefore populations bounce back from over-fishing very slowly), but they are fished in a very inhumane manner. Since fins can command hundreds of dollars a pound, many fishermen simply catch the animals, cut off their fins, and toss the living sharks back into the sea. They sink to the bottom unable to swim. A perhaps tasty (but frivolous) meal hardly seems worth the drastic impacts on populations and individuals alike!
I urge all gastronomes to avoid supporting this unconscionable practice. If the demand drops, so will the supply, and maybe more sharks will be left in the sea where they belong—maintaining their crucial role in the marine food web.

— Louise Fabiani

Radioactive response, pt. 1
In his letter to the Mirror [Jan. 31], Niocan President Richard Faucher misquotes me. He has confused “radon” with “uranium”. Radon gas is given off from the surface of any rock that contains uranium. When the rock is broken, two new surfaces are created, and so more radon gas will be given off than previously. Further breaking of the rock increases radon emissions still further. If the rock is crushed into a fine sand, the amount of radon escaping from the rock is increased by a factor of many thousands. This is not a matter of debate; it is a scientific fact.
Other scientific facts about radioactivity are misrepresented in Niocan’s Environmental Assessment Report (done by Roche):

• less than one-quarter of the various radioactive materials contained in the ore body were identified;

• three non-existent radioactive substances were reported and two of these fictitious materials were actually measured—an impossible feat;

• the formula used to determine when radioactive wastes must be treated as hazardous materials under Quebec law was miscalculated every time it was tried, leading to false values 10 times lower than they should have been;

• there was no discussion or measurement of alpha radiation in the report, despite the fact that alpha emitters are the most significant radioactive constituents of the mining residues since they pose the most serious threat to human health as well as to the local environment;

• polonium, the most dangerous of all these alpha-emitting materials, was not once mentioned in the report.
Niocan intends to leave on the surface about six-million tons of radioactive residues. While the concentration of radioactivity is quite low in these sandy residues, they are nevertheless about five times more radioactive than normal soil. As such, they do have the potential to contaminate a good deal of water, air, and soil if not carefully maintained for thousands of years into the future.

—Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.,
Radioactivity consultant

Radioactive response, pt. 2

I would like to make a correction to my memo of Jan. 31, which Dr. Edwards pointed out to me, very kindly. I said, “Contrary to Mr. Edwards’ statement, breaking the rock into small fragments does not liberate uranium, which remains locked in the pyrochlore mineral itself.”
Mr. Edwards was referring to radon gas being released, not uranium. This is the correction which should have been made in my memo, which should have read: Uranium remains locked in the pyrochlore minerals; this is a fact. We are in disagreement with Mr. Edwards as to the effect of release it has on radon gas since the uranium is locked in the mineral of pyrochlore even after crushing.

—Richard Faucher
Niocan president and CEO

Curator hater

While focusing on the kerfuffle between a caring mother and a quasi-necrophiliac dating-service escort of the inert body of hospitalized and incapable Carolyn Royes, Kristian Gravenor’s article [“Girlfriend in a coma,” Feb. 14] wonderfully exposes two telling flaws about the Public Curator’s office, the state agency that is supposed to protect incompetent people: it does not know anything about the situation of its helpless wards and it is often used as an instrument by intruders to neglect care of wards while enabling the misappropriation of their property.
As clearly illustrated by that story, after a costly, ballyhooed overhaul undertaken in 1998, the agency is no different and not any better run that it was before—and just as perilous for anguished people that have to deal with it.

—Ura Greenbaum
Executive Director, Association pour la défense des personnes et biens sous curatelle publique

Condo crisis

Regarding Patrick Lejtenyi’s article “Condo conundrum,” [Feb. 7]: I am dismayed that once again a condo project has been ramrodded through without any democratic consultation. The blame here of course lies with ex-mayor Pierre Bourque who should have been dubbed ‘’The Condo Mayor’’ for allowing hundreds of condo buildings to be built while the affordable housing crisis exacerbated.
But under Gerald Tremblay things should be different. Not only has he promised to build 5,000 social housing units soon, but he should be pressured into implementing legislation that stipulates for every two condo buildings built there should be one apartment building or social housing complex constructed. Legislation like that would make a dent in the affordable housing crisis.
Otherwise apartment rents for tenants will continue to rise and the ranks of the homeless will swell further. Who wants more poor people and elderly tenants to visit food banks because they are forced to fork over ever-rising amounts for rent and medication?

— Manish Patwari

The Mirror, racist?

Do you think anyone that is a member of a visible minority that is discriminated against is “chronically disgruntled” because they don’t like it [“A racist Rendez-vous,” Reeling, Jan. 31]? The facts are available for anyone to see. The factually obsessed can get numbers from Stats Canada, the rest of us know that the difference between the makeup of our work places and the lines at the local welfare office have everything to do with racism and nothing whatsoever to do with the “chronically disgruntled”.
So, here is your homework: get the actual stats from Stats Canada yourself, then do an inventory of all the people at the Mirror and report back to us. Is the Mirror any different from every other institution in Quebec? Or is it in fact “chronically racist?” Finally and most importantly, what is the Mirror doing to address these issues?

— Christopher Steel

Polish problems

To Chris Barry: you may be correct about the exhaustive list of Polish contributions to the world’s civilization [“Gdansk to the music,” Jan. 31]: war heroes, farting Walesa and pierogi (no “s” necessary; the word is already in the plural form). I am puzzled, however, over that dried fish. Are you speaking metaphorically, perhaps? Did your Polish relatives pull your English-speaking leg? Or is it that you are on such a high horse that you are not able to focus on the expected subject of your article?
Frankly, I would be more interested in your reporting on what to expect from the upcoming music event, than your elaboration on Polish culture or Kayah’s language skills. And was it not your job as a reporter to inquire what she meant by a particular choice of words? Maybe something to do with the Year of the Horse? But then again, it was just so much more clever to quote her, verbatim, with your smug commentary.
Intelligent writing? I guess, “that’s certainly not something you come across every day.”

— Ella Chmielewska
Montreal

Faith in the system

Natasha has a sad story [“Rape joke,” Feb. 14], but she should be glad it happened in Montreal and not Russia. There, if the guy had any cash, he’d just pay off the cops to go away, before Natasha had the chance to “hire thugs to break his legs.” Now Natasha may be well connected in Russia, but generally these leg-breaking punishments come back to haunt you. When he healed up he’d just have her legs broken! Not a great system I’d say. Have a bit of faith in the system here, it is far better than what any Russian can imagine exists. That’s not an excuse for the rude treatment by the police, but it sounds like justice will prevail, which is very rare in her homeland. I live in Russia most of the time so I understand firsthand how it works there.

—M. Holzer