we AG ‘The News Ly Medical | -. “= Editor Peter Harvey Plant Foreman Mark Davis Advertising Manager, Warren Chernoff Accountant Heather Hadley Circulation Manager ‘Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Our WiEWS Adrian RAESIDE mayhem The Canadian legal system is in for a rough ride. And strapped not-so-securely beside it is Canada’s medical practitioners. With one court ruling, the face of Canada has changed forever. Wednesday, a Victoria’ jury ushered in a new Canada when it decided that Vancouver doctor Gerald Kron was negligent when he preformed and artificial insemination procedure which infected Kobe ter Neuzen with the AIDS virus. The Saanich women, who contracted the AIDS virus on Jan. 21, 1985, received a total of $883,800 in damages. While ter Neuzen’s case is a tragedy unparalleled, it is far from over. Expect the medical world to take swift action. Canada has long been a safe haven for medical practitioners. Wednesday's ruli has forever changed that. Have we reached an age when malpractice suits — legitimate, as in the case of ter Neuzen, or not — will clog our already crowded courtrooms? One can only hope not. ter Neuzen’s case was an extreme, one we should all hope will never be repeated. And as ter Neuzen struggles with the death sentence one man’s tainted sperm gave her, medical professionals across the land are prepared to wage a lengthy legal battle. The medical world has little choice but to appeal the decision. ‘And not because of rN Audit is not so independent Independent audit, eh? Let me tell you who’s on the committee-to review the province’s finances, and then you tell me how independ t and reliabl the outcome will be. First I'd like to say that an audit, a truly independent one, is absolutely necessary to find out, once and for all, what Report from the money ded or b was wrong, but because of what this decision says to Canadians. Medical professionals will interpret the ruling to say it’s open season on doctors. And fearing malpractice suits with every suture or stitch, doctors will band together up to and including a Supreme Court Canadian doctors aren’t about to stand idly by. Instead, with a collective bank balance the size of Canada’s national debt, doctors will work feverishly in an effort to have the ruling overturned. And through it all, ter Neuzen will be forgotten. Another sad statistic to a disease that knows no bounds. Trail’s dirty laundry hung out to dry tite Columbia’ * ‘ Bettiah bia’s deficit Victoria John Jansen, the former Socred finance minister stubbornly stuck to his $395 million figure, revised it to $1.2 billion. Along came Glen Clark, the new finance minister, and told us that an initial look at the books showed the deficit for the current fiscal year to be closer to $1.7 billion, perhaps even higher. Considering the disparity of those figures, an independent audit is clearly called for. [ should also mention that it’s not a new idea to call in independent auditors to sort The hottest topic on the street this week isn’t the Vancouver Canucks (finally a team we can cheer for) or wage ezar Ed Lien’s severance package (I wonder if it falls within government guidelines?). It’s the Vancouver Sun’s three- part series on lead poisoning in Trail. The series, which started last Saturday and continued in the Monday and Tuesday editions was written by Terry Glavin, the Sun’s provincial reporter and highly-regarded for his stint as the Vancouver daily’s isease native affairs reporter. If you haven't seen the articles, you'll want to take a look (try the library. It has some family whose child tested four times above the Centre for Control's “safe” limit for lead poisoning in children, and which has moved out of their home in west Trail and resi a family into a “shack’ He also details the work of the Trail Lead Program, which was established earlier this year to initiate a broad range of preventative measures. It is for the most part an even-handed, thoughtful piece that shows a commitment by the Vancounver Sun (as does assigning Glavin to the provincial desk) to get outside the Lower Mainland and into the smaller and live up to its front-page claim to be “British Columbia’s newspaper.” But the series has stirred up a hornet’s nest in Trail. In a front-page story in the Trail Times this week, the city's mayor, cgrnny On Santori, to the articles by them “pure lism.” Santori goes ” in Beaver calling 3,314: back issues). Glavin speaks with, among others, a Tadanac their two tested twice the “safe” limit. both on to say the articles “serves no the mess, alleged or otherwise, left by a previous administration. Bill Bennett did just that when he came to power in 1975. The key word is, of course, independent. The outcome must stand up not only to professional scrutiny, but also to the suspicions of a cynical po} - So, let’s take a look at the committee Clark appointed to tell him and all of us, just where the financial skeletons even when his leader, Rita Johnston, are buried. aS First, there’s George Morfitt, our own auditor general. No problem there. Morfitt has shown his ind d on occasions, sometimes to the chagrin of the previous government. Next, there’s Maureen Maloney, dean of the University of Victoria’s law faculty. No problem there either, although I don't think our deficit is necessarily a legal problem. please see BEYER page A7 for all B.C. purpose whatsoever.” I can understand his outrage, but it’s misdirected. If anything, Glavin is kind to Trail. This is his description of Kootenay Street in Tadanac: “It looks like such a pretty, quiet street, lined with maple trees and elegant houses .. . On a clear day there is a lovely view of the mountains . . .” Mind you, he also says this about Cominco: “It’s hard to see anything pretty in the giant smelter that looms over this town. Cominco Ltd.'s iter is app a showcase for everything that was grotesque about the industrial revolution.” please see Norman page A7 lead-zinc 23, 1991 _ — Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castiegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4 or deliver them to Letters toWHE EDITOR Pulp industry must clean up © In a report from Environment billions on p control to nee provincial regulations. Until those billions are spent, some as} to be spendi F 1 meet Canada, “Effluent from Pulp Mills Using Bleaching,” par the conclusion that a from pulp paper mills employing bleaching are considered “toxic” the Canadian Envi intal Protection Act. Also, 70 per cent of Canadian bleached pulp mills discharge effluents that are acutely lethal, and even after dilution by the receiving waters, 70 per cent of the freshwater bleached pulp mill effluents are still with the range of chronic toxicity. The chronic effects. downstream of Canadian pulp mills include significant irreversible factors which jeopardize the continuance of the species and integrity of the ecosystem. The B.C. pulp and paper industry claims n p (toxic effluent) will continued to be released. Many mills impr to reduce the of organochlorines entering the receiving waters. Organochlorines, which are regulated to be adequate? We crop yer vic to demand that both the reduced. Even with substantial reductions the levels of dioxins and furans will remain a concern. Gradual disi 2.5 kilograms per tonne of production by 1994 if no ne ge are given, wi i d to envir Environment Minister Jean Charest has been quoted as saying he is not considering controls on chemicals known as ines. Is this action by the pulp and paper industry moving to secondary treatment and other process changes of dioxins, furans and a host of many other chlorinated compounds may take several decades. Cal Him Environmental Chairman Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada Local #1 Norman: Trail gets exposure continued from A&6 Who can argue with that description? In the days before the west Trail approach, when not enough. It doesn’t takes a Rhodes scholar to figure out thee lead polebaes is a v r ‘ problem an ou have the the highway to Trail went right largest lead srnalter in the under the nose of Cominco, my world in your backyard, the two wife iit es cost same. could be linked — especially - 1vi pega sare Fe aoiadi ioe given that the smelter doesn’t they see beauty in the Cominco smelter I would advise to,sit further back front thé‘ TV + ‘the radiation and all that. But the problem isn’t the media; the problem is lead poisoning in children. That’s where Santori’s outrage should be directed. So what are Trail officials doing about the poisoning? Telling kids to take off their shoes when they go into the house, not to play in the’ dirt, not to let pets sleep on their beds. requirements. T> make things worse, Cominco has asked for a four- year extension to its already- relaxed pollution control requir The i ministry is expected to hand down a decision on the request by the end of the year. Now is the time for Santori and others to do more than just tell Trail kids not to stick their fingers in their mouth. But that could open up a whole can of worms. It’s easier to blame the big-city media. That’s fine as a start, but it’s evep meet. provincial: pollution, Trail's high lead counts must be examined today for tomorrow News file photo to sift through the financial mess? How ‘independent can his judgement be, consideting that he was very much part of the diministration that left the mess behind? University professor and vice- presid of the Institute of parecer ee Accountants of British . good choice. jut now its gets interesting. Also on the committee is David Emerson, former deputy minister to former premier Bill Vander Zalm. For a while, during the Bill Finally, there are two well- known consulting firms on the committee — Peat . Marwick Stevenson and Kellogg; and Deloitte and Touche. The only problem I've got with those choices is that the latter does work for was also deputy finance minister. B.C. Hydro, a Crown corp they could bring some pretty detailed knowledge about the previous administration’s fiscal practices to the i but hoodwink the public. _There was a time when a discreet phone call to a reporter or they could have done that without being on the committe. Both Emerson and Horswill played prominent roles in the big coverup of the real deficit, whatever that may eventually turn tou to be. They both knew that the deficit was certainly higher thanb the finance minister During the hearings into the Clark says the review will a Highway viet provide the government with an Emerson accurate of the dit was, but they bering a hell of a lot car sessment details that led to the $500 million ant eae nation, co wel as the infor y to afraid it’s not good enough to let the politi tak Id still like to know though what on earth Emerson and ill are doing Horswill on the committee. Maybe Clark thought P e all the blame. The old excuse of ljust following orders doesn't hold water. There was a time when deputy ministers wouldn't have stood by, allowing their _ political to would have brought such plitical shenanigans to light very quickly. Those times, it seems are gone. Now the people who knew damned well the politicians were lying through their teeth get appointed to committees to find out just how big the lie was. Fortunately, there are enough people on the committee who weren't associated with the previous nment to make the results e review credible. But to call the review completely independent ;is a bit of a joke. It’s about the same as appointing Hubert Beyer to a committee to determine how well newspapers are being served by litical col ists out of Victoria.