by Pamela Coleman, PhD • Glyphosate is the active ingredient in one of the most heavily used herbicides in the world: Monsanto’s Roundup®. The industry claims that Roundup® is quite safe, but authors of a recent article in the scientific journal Entropy reach a very different conclusion: “Contrary to the current widely-held misconception...

April 2014

Mental health drugs based on biased sources DRUG BUST by Alan Cassels • The people’s briefing note on prescription drugs A November 2012 press release from the BC Ministry of Health presented us with a bold and hopeful headline: “New program helps BC family doctors treat mental health challenges in children and youth.” This announcement was...

April 2014

by Danielle Nierenberg and Sarah Small • A new study has claimed that children with strict parents are more likely to be overweight. This warning comes weeks after British parents were criticized for being too lenient, an indulgence that, according to Sarah Beeny, a UK television presenter and mother of four, was fuelling Britain’s obesity crisis. And...

April 2014

 • Download the file here. This article appeared in the APRIL 2014 print edition © Common Ground magazine. View blog version of this issue | View full print layout of this...

April 2014

Aint’t she sweet by Geoff Olson • I loved her from the moment she first touched my lips. She’s really sweet. But I’ve had a long and difficult relationship with C12H22O11, otherwise known as sucrose. She is also known as table sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar – but most of us just call her ‘sugar.’ The liaisons began early with breakfast cereals...

by Lucy Sharratt, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network • GM apple doomed McDonald’s and Gerber have said they have no plans to buy the GM “non-browning” apple that could be approved this year in Canada and the US. Now, the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network and the Society for a GE Free BC are asking Canadians to write to the head office of their...

April 2014

Take back our Internet from NSA & Prism • TED conference attendees in Vancouver were surprised by a live video interview with Edward Snowden, March 18, 2014. Linked in from Russia to Canada with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Snowden talked in Canada, in his own voice, unfiltered by American corporate media. He tells what he did and why it...

April 2014

UPDATES AND OUTCOMES by Bruce Mason • Despite a rapidly declining customer base, the ongoing strategy of hiking prices is an ongoing business “death spiral,” rippling through and dragging down the economy across the province. Ridership on the Gabriola ferry has plummeted. In February, vehicles were down 17% with 13% fewer passengers compared to 2013....

April 2014

Part 1: The sword of light by Geoff Olson • Sunset was nearing as my partner and I relaxed against a log on Ambleside Beach on an unseasonably warm afternoon in late winter. The oblique rays from the sun cast the Lions Gate Bridge in sharp relief against the Smurf-blue skies, making the structure look both more substantial and dreamlike at the same time. Our...

April 2014

Political thriller and psychological study READ IT by Bruce Mason • For many months, I tried in vain to avoid the mere mention of Rob Ford, the world’s most famous/infamous mayor. But as movie magnate Samuel Goldwyn said, “In two words, im possible.” A friend of mine recently returned from New Delhi and recalled having tea with folks from Peru and...

April 2014

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • Canada’s federal government recently announced $14 billion in new funding to help municipalities repair and replace aging infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, sewer lines, energy production/distribution systems, subways and other public transit. About $1 billion is dedicated to smaller communities, but most of the...

April 2014

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead • The truth will out. The surprise in romantic drama The Face of Love (due out on the 18th) is that it takes so long to arrive. Annette Bening plays Nikki, a designer still grieving the loss of her husband Garrett (Ed Harris) five years earlier. One day, she spots a dead ringer for Garrett and tracks the stranger down...

April 2014

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young • Conflict cannot survive without your participation. – Wayne Dyer There is a dynamic that can happen in couples’ relationships that is often unconscious and destructive. I observe it frequently in my practice. It happens when one or both individuals are reacting from a place of unhealed wounds or unfulfilled needs of...