January 1, 2008

Contents:

1. EDITORIAL: Join us on Jan 24th for the inspiring "Peace Begins with Me" talk
2. Looking for Subjects for TV Health Show
3. UPDATE: Send Your Comments to Health Canada about Health Claims for Food
4. UPDATE: Water is a Human Right. Take Action Now!
5. UPDATE: Action Needed for Lake Simcoe

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EDITORIAL: Join us on Jan 24th for the inspiring "Peace Begins with Me" talk

Hello HANS Members & Friends;

Happy New Year! I hope your New Year Eve's festivities were conducted with fun and healthy moderation.

First of all, I want to say a sincere THANK YOU to all of you out there for making 2007 such a great year for us at HANS. We couldn't be here - monitoring health and environmental issues, making news, handling queries, networking with people searching for and providing information - without your generous support.

For 2008, we've got a great slate of events shaping up, starting on January 24th, with "Peace Begins with Me: Motivation to Change Your Life" with Ted Kuntz, M.Ed. I've had the pleasure of experiencing Ted's motivational speaking style once before, and let me tell you, there wasn't one face in the crowd without a smile by the time the evening had finished.

Do you want to make 2008 the best year it can be? Then I challenge you to join us on the 24th, to experience and learn how we can make our lives more meaningful. More peaceful.

Purchasing a ticket is just a few simple clicks away. Oh, and if you're a HANS member, as usual you get a discounted ticket price.

We're also currently hammering out details for a March 2008 event on natural medicine for cancer. Stay tuned for information in the near future.

There are more great events and initiatives in the works for 2008, which we want to make our most productive and active year of the decade. We invite you to participate in any way you feel inclined, with a membership, a tax-deductible donation, as a volunteer, or as a contributor of ideas. Drop us an email at hans@hans.org.

All the best,

Lorna Hancock
Founding Member, HANS Executive Director

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Looking for Subjects for TV Health Show

A Series of Disagreeable Ailments, an exciting new documentary health series, is searching for people between the ages of 25-50 who have chronic: snoring problems, body odour, bad breath, PMS, skin ailments, a lack of libido, problematic gas, hemorrhoids, or restless leg syndrome.

If you have any of these and are ready/interested to try holistic treatments such as acupuncture, naturopathy, osteopathy, traditional Chinese medicine or others, from expert Vancouver practitioners in the world of complementary and alternative medicine, please call 604-872-5072 or e-mail siggins.disagreeableailments@gmail.com for more information. PS: We'll pick up the bill for the treatment.

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UPDATE: Send Your Comments to Health Canada about Health Claims for Food

Health Canada is beginning consultations on Canada's framework for the management of health claims for food. The objective is to increase government efficiency and flexibility in the approval of health claims, while retaining high standards of oversight to ensure their credibility. To this end, they are seeking input on the management of health claims from a wide variety of stakeholders, including health professionals, consumers, health/disease organizations, academia, industry, and other federal, provincial, territorial or municipal government representatives.

Participate in the web-based consultation now posted at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/consultation/init/man-g... by reading the discussion document, Managing Health Claims for Foods in Canada: Towards a Modernized Framework and by answering the accompanying questions by February 29, 2008.

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UPDATE: Water is a Human Right. Take Action Now!

by Council of Canadians

The Council of Canadians is launching an online campaign to pressure Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stand up for the right to water at the United Nations.

There is no denying that a global water crisis is underway. Around the world, over 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and this number is rising, and another 4 billion lack adequate sanitation services. In some parts of the global south, a child dies every 15 seconds due to easily preventable water-related diseases.

Everyone deserves the right to clean, safe, publicly-accessible water. But at the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2002 and again in 2003, Canada was the only country to vote against the resolutions on the human right to water. The Canadian government has declared that water is an important issue, and that countries are responsible for ensuring that their own populations have access to water, but Canada has clearly stated that it does not believe that international law should recognize the existence of a right to water. To add to our shame, this year the Harper government voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Canadians agree that our government's continued opposition to the right to water is an international embarrassment and a disgrace. In 2004, an Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 97 per cent of Canadians support the right to water.

Meanwhile, Canada's opposition to the right to water has been rebuked by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Miloon Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing.

"Simply put: life requires access to clean water; to deny the right to water is to deny the right to life," writes Maude Barlow, in her new book Blue Covenant. "The fight for the right to water is an idea whose time has come. It has become the rallying cry of the water justice movement."

Stand up for the right to water today. More at http://www.righttowater.ca/RTW

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UPDATE: Action Needed for Lake Simcoe

Environmental Defence and partners in the Campaign Lake Simcoe coalition are calling on the new Ontario government to make protection of Lake Simcoe a key priority.

To encourage quick passage of a new law to specifically protect Lake Simcoe, a commitment made by Premier Dalton McGuinty last July, Campaign Lake Simcoe recently published a list of key principles the law should include:
- restoring water quality and quantity to levels compatible with cold water fish reproduction and control of algae and weeds;
- creating a natural heritage and agricultural system to protect green space and restricting new development to existing and approved settlement areas;
- consulting with First Nations to identify and protect First Nations heritage sites; and,
- ensuring that large-scale resort developments such as Big Bay Point are consistent with the proposed Lake Simcoe Protection Act.

More at http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/campaignlakesimco...

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