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Home Newspaper of Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited 45 Guelph Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager Animal rights under scrutiny MIKE TURNER Editor Phone DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Second Rtghirrrd Page 6 THE HERALD Wednesday February 8 1989 Editorial Try talking It appears the Halton Board of Education and area municipalities may have to resort to an ageold method of mediation seldom used anymore to resolve the issue of Haltons indoor pools Its called communicating So far weve heard little more than sabrerattling from either side and no one seems interested in sitting down to try and hammer out an agreement that will best serve the taxpayers interests It can safely be said that no one really wants the indoor pools closed But on one hand we have the board of education grasp ing for any possible means of reducing the school tax burden it can find On the other hand we have the municipalities wanting nothing to do with anything that will require them to raise taxes unnecessarily Now matters have evolved into little more than a staring contest For the taxpayers its a lot like being the owner of two horses in a race where all the other entries have been scratched Suspense is minimal And while you know youre going to win you also know youre going to lose Not safe yet Animal wars A former cabinet minister here once told me that nothing not even abortion or capital punishment can stir the average Canadian as much as cruelty to animals He was talking about the phenomenal negative reaction the then Conservative government received when it suggested using pound animals in research laboratories People saw it as causing pain to pets Naturally what came to be call ed the Dog and Cat bill was quickl withdrawn Now thanks to New Democrat Bud the song of amma rights is sounding again albeit to a different tune Wildman has a private members bill before the legislature that proposes major restrictions on the use of two of the most commonly used experiments involving animals It would apply to all non medical and to unnecessary medical experimentation In a remarkably close free vote that crossed party lines it passed the legislature 3330 and is now before committee has quite legitimate hopes that it will be one of those rare private members bills that become law If it does it will be the most controversial ever to do so The tests in question are the Draize EyeIrritancy Test and the classical acute toxicity test The former is used to determine how irritating a substance can be if applied to the skin or around the Editors Notebook Mike Turner Editor If you nave any relatives living in the southern United States it might not be a bad idea to drop them a line and let them know what kind of winter were hav ing up here I mean when the people of the sunny south give their countrymen in Buffalo so much static about how cold and snowy it gets there what do you think their impression of Canada must be Its phenomenal Usually this time of year were trying to con tend with at least three feet of snow and bitter cold weather Do you suppose this has anything to do with last summers drought The worst thing about this whole weather situation is trying to make any plans Sure its dry now but who knows what tomorrow will br log or the day after that People planning to go skiing have to be very selective I swore this was going to be the year that I got back into cross country skiing The invigorating tracking through the snow in the great outdoors was beckoning and I was actually pretty thrilled about the idea But that of course is on hold now It s the same everywhere Events that rely on the snow are being cancelled en masse even events like those staged by the area conservation authorities which have become annual tradi tions I suppose I could cope with all this if it werent for thefact that I know one thing As Yogi so appropriately put it It aint over til its over I know deep down that were Queens Park Derek Nelson Thomson Ntwt Service eyes the latter discovers how much of a substance is required to kill half the animals exposed to it The purpose is to ensure that commercial are safe for human use before going on the market When explained that way it sounds very clinical and DRIPPED INTO EYE But Wildman puts it differently In the Draize test a chemical substance such as bleach shaving cream or deodorant is dripped into one of the animals eyes the other serving as a control The damage to the animal eye is measured according to the size of the area damaged The animals scream claw at their eyes and frantically try to dislodge the painful product but are restrained from doing so Needless to say the animal eye suffers ulceration bleeding gross destruction and ultimately blindness In the test Wildman said the procedure can involve force- feeding a given substance such as lipstick shampoo or oven cleaner to an animal and then wat chmg it for two weeks of diar rhea gasping loss of appetite salivation Vomiting excess defecation bleeding from the eyes nose and mouth wheezing convul sions paralysis and for some death But beyond being painful the tests are unnecessary Wildman claims Everything from computer models to tissue cultures can be us ed to achieve the same aim Arid he adds he is carefully allowing exemptions for tests deemed by the government veterinary branch to be necessary for medical research It is a pitch hard to resist aimed as it is at the heartstrings of anyone moved by the ball of fluff that is a young rabbit or by memories of household pets Whether it is a fair pitch is an open question Liberal Jim for ex ample objected to claims such as that bleach is being tested in animal eyes Veterinarians con this notion ridiculous he said Moreover animals are used tests about 2 animals annual he suggested many of them rats because there is no alter native method of determining for instance the hazards to human eyesight which are posed by com monly used materials at home or in the workplace In short Wildman and McGuigan dont even agree on the basic facts that underlie the issue Perhaps getting agreement at that level should be everyones first priority still going to get it It may be a week or two It may even wait un til March when were at the point where we think were out of the woods But its definitely going to tutus Most likely it will be one of those surprise storms that manifests itself in very short order and cat ches us when our defences are down It may even be one of those storms that well be talking about for years to come For now we can enjoy what weve got But bear in mind even tuaily well pay Its just Mother Natures way of telling us not to take anything for granted a message thatll never get through OLUSOFA I Illegal gun trade is big business here By RENNIE MacKENZIE Ottawa Bureau Thomson News Service A variety of destructive weapons manufactured for armies or faraway battlefields have been trickling into Canada The weapons ranging from com pact submachineguns to large- calibre antiaircraft guns are be ing imported by dealers who smell big profits on fast moving inven tories Its a lucrative trade that is still In its infancy and police alarmed by the presence of the weapons want It choked off as soon as possi ble At the request of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police the federal justice department is con sidering changes to the Criminal Code to block imports of military weapons The association was first alerted a year ago by police in Alberta who reported that gun dealers it several cities bad arranged a ship of Israeli machineguns including antiaircraft type for retail sale throughout the West They were purchased for about and were being offered for sale for about It is evident that the profit in this venture is extremely high the association commented in its annual report on organized crime The Alberta shipment and others smuggled or imported into Manitoba Ontario and New foundland were seized by police and federal revenue officials under regulations that prevent the sale of fullyautomatic weapons The im porters have made basic conver sions to the weapons so they cannot fire in the automatic mode but police argue they can be reconverted simply and quickly in many cases At the justice department Richard Mosley senior genenu counsel in the criminal and family law policy directorate consider ing the associations request for tighter controls on the military weapons He explained that tht current definition of a prohibited weapon has stirred disagreements in the courts NOT DIFFICULT The gun dealers argue the steps they have taken to render the weapons incapable of automatic fire are adequate but there are cases where armorers have demonstrated in court how quickly they can be restored to full work ing order Mosley said The task is not difficult for anyone with a basic knowledge of he add ed Mosley has been discussing the problem with provincial officials and he wont say what alternatives or proposals his office may offer to the government But any solution will require an amendment to the Criminal Code he said That means the measure will require the approval of Parliament and that could take time The association of chiefs has warned that weapons seizures have increased that gun running has become one of the most distur- forms of commercial smuggl ing and that more import cer tificates are being issued for weapons of war than for legitimate sporting weapons Calgary police Supt Bob McKay said his department is still holding the shipment of Israeli machineguns and a variety of other military style weapons There have been no reports of any military weapons being used in the commission of any crimes in the province he said but there is still a concern that the guns may be in circulation Gun dealers tell police the weapons are intended for collec tors But at the Ottawa head quarters of the Canadian Associa tion of Chiefs of Police executive- director Donald wonders He remembers a massive police raid directed at smugglers on an Ontario Indian reservation near Cornwall last year Among the discoveries was a cache of am munition he said Any proposals to close the border to military weapons will likely be met by stiff opposition from the gun dealers and collectors said collectors feel very strongly about the issue Some people believe it is their inalienable right to own an