by Inlander Readers & r & & r & Milfoiled Again & r & As a (soon-to-be-licensed) naturopathic physician, I am appalled at the prospect of having my own family -- as well as anybody else swimming in Lake Pend Oreille -- be exposed to (amongst other chemicals) 2,4-D, in an attempt to control the milfoil problem ("Weed Be-Gone," 6/29/06).
It has been pointed out that in the amounts applied, none of the proposed chemicals would cause any direct poisoning or damage. However, what is being neglected here is the idea of total body burden of toxins. Our bodies are wonderfully designed to compensate for all kinds of insults, but eventually the threshold is crossed to decompensation. The results of decompensation are first seen on a functional level in form of hormonal disorders such as thyroid problems or immune disorders such as allergies. Eventually, this decompensation leads to chronic degenerative diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, cancer, etc.
The threshold to decompensation is crossed when the elimination organs cannot keep up with getting rid of absorbed or internally generated toxins anymore. The more environmental toxins we are exposed to, the harder the liver and the other elimination organs have to work so that regular internal housecleaning doesn't take place as efficiently anymore and elimination organs eventually wear out on a functional level. Toxins have to be stored somewhere and cause cellular damage during transport as well as at deposition sites. Eventually organ function, as well as structure, will be affected.
So, besides having documented direct DNA mutating, general cell and specific nerve cell damaging, immune and thyroid suppressing effects, 2,4-D contributes to the total body burden of toxins, which is particularly detrimental to our children, as they are still developing their organ systems.
Unfortunately, we do live in a polluted environment, but there is no need to add toxins when there are proven alternatives that do not harm the environment or our bodies. We need not only to look at different milfoil elimination and/or suppression methods, but we also need to consider the causes of the milfoil overgrowth in the first place.
I challenge our local government officials to use the available funds in a more sustainable manner.
Gabrielle Duebendorfer & r & Sandpoint, Idaho
Team Up for Transit & r & Discussion about traffic from the Kendall Yards development ("Bridges Lit Up," 6/15/06) needs to jump from traffic lights and car counts to far more effective and forward-thinking transportation solutions. Building on Spokane's Expo '74 environmental and can-do legacy, Spokane Transit could buy hybrid shuttles and expand their Plaza/Arena run throughout downtown -- from the parking under the freeway north to the Arena area and Courthouse district, from Riverpoint and G.U. to the west end of Browne's Addition (making big grocery stores convenient via mass transit) -- such that a shuttle comes by each stop every 10 minutes or less to handle the influx of residents expected in the greater downtown area. Hybrid shuttles should also be available on a similar schedule extended into evening and night hours from parking under the freeway, at the Arena and at city park-and-rides to the show venues downtown such as the Met, the Big Easy, the Opera House and the Fox (when it reopens) to ease downtown traffic and parking congestion.
With fewer cars, downtown could have more space for trees, sidewalk caf & eacute;s in the spring, summer and fall, and outdoor activities throughout the year. Better mass transit would improve customer and client access to downtown businesses. In the process, we could feel proud that our efforts would decrease not only traffic congestion but local air pollution (especially those nasty inversions we get) and global warming. (If you haven't yet seen the film An Inconvenient Truth, please treat yourself to a viewing as soon as possible.)
Help bring forward-thinking solutions to reality by asking for them. Contact Spokane Transit, local government officials and business owners and managers to let them know you support environmentally friendly solutions to the traffic challenges our growing community faces.
Kathy Hill & r & Spokane, Wash.
Is This News? & r & I usually love community journalism. I think The Inlander does a great job of giving folks a local independent perspective. That's provided people actually want to hear a second voice in town, or even care where they live. Sometimes somebody has to turn on the lights. Somebody has to tell folks when the water they drink glows in the dark. Hopefully it'll be you.
I don't usually whine about your coverage or your style, but I have to complain about Kevin Taylor's piece on "Phiring Phil?" (6/23/06). Actually, I'm not complaining about his writing, or his perspective. I liked the guy's work and it will probably help me make my decision when I vote. I'm whining about where you put it.
I'm one of those folks who is too lazy to actually pick up a paper-and-ink edition of the paper. I read it online. It was in the "News" section. Maybe I'd had a seizure that day and was still numb from the drugs they gave me, but it seemed like you tried to pass that off as news. It was full of opinions and included a political endorsement [from a source].
There really are some folks out there who might actually confuse your opinion with the news you cover. Please don't tell me they shouldn't be walking upright if they can't tell the difference.
Or reading your newspaper. That's not fair. We need somebody to just care about us. We need you to tell us about our local races; the AP and UPI won't do it. Lord knows they don't care who spends our county bucks. And we only have one daily in town.
So help us out. Keep the news on the news pages. If we actually care about anything someone else thinks, we'll make the mistake of doing something stupid like read your editorial pages.
Or the Letters to the Editor.
E.D. Easley & r & Spokane, Wash.
Looking, Doing Nothing & r & "There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgment. When we lose our individual independence to the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom -- freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse." - Eric Hoffer
Such a mass movement is this creeping genocide euphemistically assigned the slogan "War on Terror." The Bush/Cheney cabal and its supporters and apologists enthusiastically exercise all these barbaric "freedoms" with impunity -- exempt, by their declarations alone, from any treaty or legal authority.
Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
We're looking on... doing nothing.
In They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer wrote: "Each act worse than the last... You wait for one great shocking occasion... thinking others will join you... But the one great shocking occasion, when tens, hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes."
Will some shocking occasion unite us? Or will ours also never come?
Dave Vent & r & Spokane Valley, Wash.
Tofu, Too & r & Regarding your recent review of Linnie's Thai Cuisine ("Pad Thai-Casting," 6/29/06), Linnie's has always happily substituted tofu for meat in any dish I have asked for (and their tofu is the best I have had in any Asian restaurant, period). They also serve vegetarian spring rolls, which are not on the menu. So in actuality they have around 30 vegetarian dishes!
Jeremiah Dung & r & Spokane, Wash.