Blame free trade

Dear editor:
In the March 15 edition of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, Anita Fraser of Thunder Bay expresses her concern for those who are dying or have died from cancer. Her frustration and fears are clearly defined by the questions:
1. Why are we so complacent about cancer?
2. Why do we look at cancer like it is one of the natural causes of death?
3. Where is the political will to find a cure for cancer?
4. Why have we come to see cancer as something we can’t really do anything about?
5. And finally, “What is going on?”
Let me list just one of the “what is going on” causes of cancer. The Mulroney and Chrétien governments jointly and collectively conspired to implement the Free Trade Agreement.
We (Canada and the United States) had lead in our gasoline. It proved to be a carcinogen and was removed. M.M.T. replaced lead in gasoline, but it, too, proved to be a carcinogen. As such, every state in the U.S. passed laws prohibiting M.M.T. in their gasoline.
The Canadian government also prohibited the importation and use of M.M.T. But Ethyl Corp., manufacturer of M.M.T., invoked the Free Trade Agreement. Canada, according to the Free Trade Agreement, had to lift its ban on importation and use of M.M.T.
Additionally, Canada had to pay Ethyl Corp. $19 million for loss of business and blackening their good name.
Every litre of gasoline we use today is laced with cancer-causing M.M.T. And under the Free Trade Agreement, M.M.T. always will be present in Canadian gasoline, but not in U.S. gasoline.
The Free Trade Agreements are not principally about “free trade.” They are better described as “privileged investment” agreements, whose base purpose is to clear the path for transnational corporations to seek the highest profits possible—and to hell with people’s health and well-being!
Signed,
Owen F. Lindsay
Atikokan, Ont.