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2 - Orono Weekly Times Subscriptions $38.09 + $1.91 GST = $40.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs." Wednesday, March 31, 2010 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Roxanne Johnston Classified Advertising - Sue Weigand The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. The pandemic that wasn't As we head into spring 2010, not only are we turning our backs on the winter that wasn't, we are also leaving behind the pandemic that wasn't. Many of us are left wondering if we were duped by governing agencies into thinking the H1N1 flu was going to be worse than it ended up being, or were the lessons learned from the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003 applied so well that the H1N1 flu was arrested before it became a pandemic? We first heard of a new strain of pandemic influenza which was different than the seasonal flu we were familiar with last spring. Surveillance of the H1N1 flu virus emerging in April 2009 showed that it was affecting more young and healthy people than the regular seasonal flu, which normally affects seniors and young children. There was also added risk to pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions. It was reported that because this was a new strain of influenza, which humans had little or no natural immunity to, it could cause serious and widespread illness. Then came the winter of vigorous hand-washing and the wide-spread use of hand sanitizers. By the time we were well into the second wave of the outbreak, the vaccine was ready, and pregnant women along with those who had underlying health conditions, and those who were over 65 years of age, were lining up outside the clinics, in mid November in good weather and bad, waiting to be inoculated. On October 27, the day before the vaccination clinics opened for those considered to be at a high risk for contracting the virus, news of a seemingly healthy teenaged minor league hockey player from Etobicoke who collapsed and died from the H1N1 virus went, well um, viral. The death of this seemingly healthy young person created anxiety around the availability of vaccine and whether it would be available in time. We were outraged to hear that some professional athletes and members of hospital boards were able to jump the queue and receive their vaccines before all those in the high risk category were vaccinated. This all became more of an issue because we were told the manufacturer was unable to keep up with the demand, and clinics could possibly run out of vaccine. However, the government assured us that there would be enough vaccine available, and every Canadian who wanted the H1N1 vaccine would have it by Christmas. At the peak of the second wave of the H1N1 Flu, at the end of November, demand for the vaccine waned, the special H1N1 vaccination clinics were closed, and anyone who wanted the vaccine could get it from their family doctor. In the end, only 45-percent of Canadians bothered to get the H1N1 vaccine. As a result, Canada was over-stocked with H1N1 vaccine. Canada, like most European countries, purchased enough vaccine from the drug manufacturer, GlazoSmithKline, to give everyone a double vaccine, as was first thought necessary. As it turned out, one shot was all we needed, and Canada used less than half of the 50.4-million doses of vaccine ordered. The third wave of the flu, anticipated for this spring, never materialized. There have been 14,000 deaths related to H1N1 reported world-wide thus far, and the North American count is 3,600. The chairman of the Health Committee for the Council of Europe, Dr. Wodarg, recently described the H1N1 pandemic as "one of the greatest medical scandals of the century," perpetrated by big pharma and the World Health Organization (WHO). Apparently we have all been confused by the meaning of the word "pandemic." The WHO's definition of a pandemic is "a world-wide spread of a new disease." Several governments urged WHO last year not to declare the H1N1 flu a pandemic, saying it would cause unnecessary alarm if the virus turned out to be relatively harmless. The WHO went ahead anyway, arguing that "pandemic" signifies only that a new strain is circulating worldwide, but says nothing about how dangerous it is. The use of the word "pandemic" had an effect on how we perceived the H1N1 outbreak, associating it with previous pandemics of the last century, namely the Spanish Flu of 1918/19 where 20- to 40-million deaths occurred world-wide. There should be an inquiry into how the WHO handled this "pandemic," before the next one comes along. If some of these questions are not answered, the next time a pandemic comes around, our complacency could result in a death count of epidemic proportions. Letters to the Editor Why no integrity commissioner? To The Editor: Last week's paper showed council voted down the recommendation by the Mayor that Durham Region hire an integrity commissioner. This comes as little surprise - who wants someone looking over your shoulder and slapping your wrist when you're bad? But the need for an integrity commissioner is supported by Adrian Foster right within the article, in his statement "If, as in the past, we have had no complaints....". Perhaps Mr. Foster forgets our complaints when we were trying to get council to finish the John Mutton audit for three years. Perhaps he forgets our many letters and submissions to council complaining about their lack of action and delays. Finally we had to pay for a newspaper article and a lawyer to bring some pressure on council - it sure would have been easier and a lot cheaper to have an integrity commissioner force council to do their job. Perhaps Mr. Foster forgets the complaints of the incinerator delegations when council has ignored an issue or letter, or failed to follow proper procedures. Perhaps Mr. Foster forgets Doug Cronk's submission to council and complaint about whether Mary Novak was in a conflict position on her Hydro vote. That was sent to the municipal lawyer to investigate, but the resulting response was never made public. These are all fairly recent. If we go back over the last term or two of council there are many, many more examples of integrity challenges. What about the complaints against the last council when our previous Mayor took to shouting down delegations? For a person who wants to be Clarington's top elected official, Mr. Foster sure has a very bad or very selective memory. What makes these politicians think because they make ridiculous statements INTEGRITY see page 3 Editorial approval To The Editor: What a great editorial Margaret; lots of food for thought. It made me think about the " reduce, re-use and recycle" slogan. While we seem to be recycling more, it is the "re-use" part that, as you point out, seems to be a challenge for us in our our consumer driven life-style. We have become a society of disposables. This would seem to spill over into our relationships as well, as demonstrated by the alarming number of break-ups I have seen lately both in younger people and in my own generation. It seems as if the idea of fixing things like appliances, cars, clothes, and even relationships is out of style. Much easier and infinitely more fashionable to get the newer, up-dated, contemporary model. Hmmm. Frances Tufts, Orono ON.