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14 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, April 20, 1977 Section Two COMEX 8 Enroute with Warren Lowes On the Indian Frontier Crossing the border from Pakistan to India was like passing from a cauldron of unrest into the great unknown. The Pakistan elections had been declared a fraud by opposition leaders. There was talk of a general protest strike so these leaders were quickly tucked away in jail. In India, the electorage rejected the ruling Congress Party and efforts were being made to find forces who could agree long enough to form a govern- ment. Indian newspapers, with perfect hindsight, were busy finding (or inventing) explan- ations for the great Endira eclipse. The Times of India, the voice of moderation, found comfort in U.S. papers who congratulated Endira for withdrawing so graciously and thus helping to shore up a teetering democracy. The more sensation seeking "Blitz" faulted her son, San- jay, for pushing the steriliza- tion period too briskly, plus the fact that he had cultivated some rather unsavory friénds known as the Maruti Complex, who featured in some business malpractice deals. This was the political scene as the seven, big Comex 8 buses pulled into the custom entry point at Altari Waglia on our expedition of goodwill. Whether or not the custom people follow sleezy practices as a general practice, or whether they sensed a general unrest is difficult to say, but the galling hours we spent making entry were both petty and extractive. In one bus eight fountain pens were "borrowed" and two returned. Cosmetics were asked for as gifts or a few bottles of wine for our evening meal. Money changed hands for special favours from other nationals. Looking skyward, as we left one building, you could count ten vultures perched in the upper branches of a banyan tree. It occurred to me that they might be taking lessons. But, dear reader, please don't jump to conclusions too soon. There was friendship and courtesy shown in large measure at New Delhi and here in Jabsepur where we are the guests of a very fine Indian lady who is the headmistress of an educational complex in this city. Her daughter had been with us from London and has been a fountain of information for us all. Because agriculture is basic and critical to the future of India, possibly some remarks in this connection would be appropriate in this, my first report. In the north, where rivers are fed by the Himalayan snows, the possibilities of irrigation are being extended and results of the "green revolution" are readily ap- parent. In the Punjab and parts of Ultar Pradesh, agri- culture is intense-or should it be described as, field hus- bandry? Individual fields, mostly 2 to 3 acre plots, feature a variety of crops well interspersed like a patchwork quilt. Every plot is carefully groomed. Field workers are in the fields at daybreak to take advantage of the cooler hours. .It's harvest time and the weather is hot. Row after row is deftly cut with hand sickles and centuries of hand-tool operation makes the Indian worker quite at home at the squat position. Domestic animals, of course, bear the great burden of work and the plodding water buffalo does more than its share. They haul tremend- ous weights at a lurching gait, supply milk for the gallons of yogurt that is consumed and even donate their dung to augment the limited supply of fuel in the country. Fresh dung is molded into uniform 8 inch patties slapped against a wall to dry in the sun, then arranged in concentric piles with esthetic care. The great- est thanks they garner for such service is a periodic loll in a mud wallow-very refresh- ing on a hot day. In contrast, an equal number of Brahma cattle wander about with the aloof- ness of special social status. If I were to corne to live in India in some future reincarnation, my choice would be to live the life of a sacred cow. You see them looking out the doorway of a peasant dwelling, walking through the traffic of a marketplace, or just watching bullocks lug loads of wood. Monkeys, too, enjoy a similar status in some areas. I was walking down a side street in Delhi when a baboon bounced across the sidewalk in front of me, climbed a ASure Sign of Spring' crumbling brick wall and made nasty remarks in my direction. But, then, you can expect anything in India. Just two hours before I had approached a crowd gathered about someone on the side- walk, boiling some small skeletons in a pot and talking .fast. He had seven live iguanas lying belly-up on the sidewalk (they can't turn over in that position) and three small garter snakes in a jar. The decoction from the iguana carcasses, spiced with herbs was being bottled and sold as a sure cure for aching joints, twitching eyelids and other painful ailments. Business was brisk. And I thought that the day of the Medicine Show had passed into the limbo of history. Evidently not. Well, this discourse started with agriculture and ended with snake-oil. But, I guess, in India that's normal. Tomorrow we start on a 500 mile drive. That will take 24 hours. Why? Moving over bumpy narrow roads when passing is difficult consumes time, but the many villages choked with inquisitive but friendly people is something again. Twenty-five miles to the hour is considered normal. DurhamLung Association There was a report of an outbreak of respiratory illness in a town where the court- house tower was scraped. The workmen who did the job scraped the bird droppings off the roof with great care. But they drop ed the stuff over the ed e o the roof. As it fell past t he building's win- dows and air condition- ers some of the dust was sucked into the offices. That did it. Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by breathing in the spores of a fungas that thrives in bird droppings. Especially old ones like those on the courthouse roof. So 44 of the 84 Clean Roof, Dirty Lungs employees inside the court- house on the day of the scraping developed symptoms of histoplasmosis. Those working closest-behind the wall where the droppings fell-were hit hardest, with two out of three getting the disease. The two workmen who did the job also showed signs of histoplasmosis. So did several construction workers and ten other townspeople, who hap- pened to have visited the courthouse on that day. Outbreaks like this can be prevented if construction and other workmen wet down dusty materials that contain bird droppings before handling them. Histoplasmosis is only rarely a critically serious disease. Most of the time it shows a few respiratory symptoms-like a touch of the flu-which then disappear. Or no symptoms at all. But it also can be the beginning of a lifelong bout with respiratory difficulties. To find out how to protect your lungs against assaults in the air, contact your local lung association-the "Christmas Seal" people. They Care About Every Breath You Take. Darlington Provincial Park was full of hikers, kite-flyers, cyclists, pienickers and people just soaking up the spring sunlight last weekend. Here, 11-year-old Guy Martin and 14-year-old Uwe Kempter try their luck at fishing near the western end of the park. Guy and Uwe are from Oshawa. Canada Manpower The Canada Manpower Centres in Oshawa, Whitby and Ajax experienced a tradi- tional level of employment activity for this time of year. A total of 315 placements were made through the three offices during the month. This was higher than the 264 place- ments made in February of this year. A total of 10,429 people without employment were registered in the three Cen- tres, consisting of 5,211 male and 5,218 female registrants. This is an increase over March 1977 figures when 9,385 unemployed people were reg- istered. The increase may be explained by the influx of registrations from students seeking summer employment. At the end of March there were 1,013 male and 1,010 female students registered with the Canada Manpower Centres for Students in Oshawa, Whitby and Ajax. The student program for the summer of 1977 is now moving into full swing. Area employ- ers and private citizens need- ing temporary or full-time summer help are invited to list their job vacancies with their nearest Canada Manpower Centre for Students. For the Oshawa, Port Perry and Bowmanville areas, the Student Office telephone number is 723-2211; for Whitby and Brooklin the Student Office telephone number is 683-7691. With the many students seeking employment this summer, local employers and concerned citizens are encouraged to list their summer vacancies with their Canada Manpower Centre for Students. Only a combined effort of all those involved in this summer activity will provice the greatest number of employment opportunities for the many students in our area. In March there were 63 Canada signed agreements approved under the Canada Manpower Industrial Training Program. As a result of these agreements, 86 people will benefit from both training and employment with the various employers in our area. During the fiscal year from April 1976 to the end of March 1977, a total of 282 agreements were signed under this program involving 382 trainees. Local employers are encouraged to take part in this program that provides financial incentives to companies willing to hire and train new employees or upgrade current workers. At the end of March 1977, there were 70 people receiving academic upgrading at Durham College in prepara- tion to enter various skill training courses. At present there are 134 students in the skill courses sponsored through the Canada Man- power Training Program. In a continuing trend, the greatest number of employ- ment opportunities remain in the skilled trade occupations. There currently are vacancies listed for motor vehicle mechanics with Class "A" licences, a transmission mechanic, machinists, tool and die makers, a welder fitter and electricians. Professional opportunities are available for an electrical engineer, a civil draftsperson, a qualified planner, a finan- cial services analyst and an accounting supervisor. As the summer season approaches, employment approaches, employment activity should begin to increase. The many local seasonal employers will be hiring their summer staff 4.Uranium:Good to the last drop It seems to be the fate of uranium to be misunderstood. It's neither new nor very complicated. The Bohemians used it to colour glass. Others still use it to glaze ceramics. The same stuff now powers CANDU reactors that produce electricity. At Eldorado Nuclear Limited we're very good at producing uranium. We start with mine concentrates called "yellowcake" and dissolve them as part of a "solvent extraction" system not unlike that used to get oil out of soybeans or corn. Naturally, we want the last drop of uranium. The stuff now sells for about $40 a pound. But we have to confess that we're not 100 per cent efficient at the Port Hope refinery, though we're getting there. Some of the uranium - small traces - ends up in the refinery residues that are trucked to the Port Granby site and buried. And at Port Granby the uranium is termed a con- taminant. Especially when water seeps into the residues and carries some of the uranium into the lake. Three previous ads in this series dealt with the level of pollution caused by other things in the refinery residues, notably nitrogen, arsenic, and radium. This ad deals with uranium. It's even less of a problem than the others. The permissible level of uranium in the Ontario drinking water criteria is 5 parts uranium to a million parts of water. Most samplings of the two tiny run-off streams from the Port Granby waste-management area show that the level of uranium in that water is well within the Ontario criteria. One recent reading indicated 6.75 parts per million, however. But keep in mind that the Onta.rio drinking-water criteria are set with one important fact in mind: that the water in question is the sole lifetiime source of drinking-water for the persons concerned. No one in his or her right mind would think of using the Port Granby run-off for that (even if they could get access to it) any more than they would rely on ditch-water or . barnyard run-off. What really counts, then, is what effect the Port Granby site's run-off has on the quality of water in Lake Ontario. Independent analysts retained by Eldorado Nuclear have thoroughly examined the water in the vicinity of Port Granby, and nowhere does the uranium content exceed 0.05 parts per million - that is, a hundred times lower than the permissible level. The same is true for the sediments on the lake bottom. Enough said. On second thought, perhaps we've said too much. Perhaps we have abused the public's patience. Perhaps we have bored some readers with too much data. Yet there it is in the press: suggestions that we have heavily polluted Lake Ontario, and scare headlines about the huge quantities of noxious chemicals running off the Port Granby site. We at Eldorado Nuclear Limited believe in responsible criticism. But we question whether the dissemination of misinformation can be called responsible. So we've placed these four ads to set the record straight. We've said we pollute. We have published the numbers, and some comparisons for the sake of perspective. We feel that our present and planned operations at Port Granby are as environmentally "clean" as any reasonable person could ask- and a deuce of a lot cleaner than many others. We're content to rest our case there. ELDORADO ELDORADO NUCLEAR LIMITED