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This government's 10-year plan to provide 700 seniors with nursing home beds is totally unacceptable. They need beds now. This is not a long-term care plan. It is long-term waiting.

The seniors and advocates are all in a state of shock that this government is not taking immediate action to provide nursing home beds to 500 individuals who require long-term care.

Apparently there are 52 seniors in the Bathurst hospital who should be in a nursing home. They are occupying one half of our medical beds which should be available for acute medical problems.

The chronically ill seniors need a permanent home/residence, not a hospital bed.

I am surprised the Minister of Health is willing to accept the Department of Social Development's 10-year plan because it reduces the number of medical beds in all the hospitals and it is extremely costly to keep a long-term patient in a hospital. Apparently for every senior who should be in a nursing home, it costs the government approximately $800 per day in a hospital compared with $155 per day in a nursing home.

In Bathurst we have a beautiful hotel that is boarded up. This building could easily be converted to a nursing home. I'm certain that other cities have buildings that could easily become nursing homes.

Our seniors should not be at the bottom of the government's list. They have built this province and they deserve better. We will not wait 10 years for nursing home beds for our elderly.

VERONICA RATCHFORD

Chair, Family Voices for Veterans and Seniors

Province moving toward mediocrity

The "Second Language Report" emphatically demonstrates the ineptitude of the current leadership of New Brunswick.

When Mr. Lamrock announced this commission it was clear that his bias was in favour of eliminating Early French Immersion. Following the release of the report, Mr. Lamrock stated he would make a decision regarding early French Immersion after consulting with second language and linguistics experts.

Let me save him the trouble. Before the report was released, I contacted experts at Mt.A and UNB both of whom independently stated that 40 years of research conclusively shows that early immersion is the best delivery system available for teaching a second language.

This is what I find so galling. It only took me 10 minutes to find phone numbers and get in contact with experts, and now Mr. Lamrock wants to consult experts only after this self-serving report was written. What a waste of money!

The second issue I have with the release of this report is with the media. It is disappointing and outright frightening that many journalists took this report and the minister's biases at face value.

If the Premier's goal of self-sufficiency for this province is ever realized, he must first lay down an immovable foundation of the best possibly educated children of which early French Immersion can play an integral role. If abolishing early immersion is pursued, the only legacy that Mr. Graham and Mr. Lamrock will have procured for themselves and this province is one of mediocrity instead of excellence.

WERNER J. DEBERTIN

Tracey Mills

Radon a leading lung cancer cause

Stuart Mills is correct to point out that radon gas is eight times heavier than air, but is wrong to say it is not poisonous - it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in North America.

He is also wrong to suggest that unplugged boreholes (drilled to explore for uranium deposits) pose no threat to the surface environment. The World Health Organization reports that "Water from deep drilled wells normally has much higher concentrations of radon than surface water.

"Radon released from underground waters easily permeates through the rock to the surface and into buildings. Radon gas enters houses through openings such as cracks at concrete floor-wall junctions, gaps in the floor, small pores in hollow-block walls, and through sumps and drains"¦."

In the South of England, private water sources have been contaminated with radon due to boreholes.

As for routine radioactive emissions from CANDU reactors, the Lepreau reactor releases more than 40 trillion becquerels of tritium (radioactive hydrogen) into the air every year, and a comparable amount into the water.

Mr. Mills mentions that a fresh uranium fuel element can be held safely in the hands. True. But the Lepreau reactor discharges irradiated fuel elements, which are so radioactive that just one discharged fuel bundle will give any unprotected human being a lethal dose of radiation in 20 seconds at a distance of one metre. Citizens have a right to know about the dangers that the nuclear industry exposes them to - and keeps them ignorant of.

GORDON EDWARDS

Hampstead, Que.

Little mention of cluster munitions

There is little or no mention in the Canadian news of the recent Conference on Cluster Munitions that took place in Wellington, New Zealand (Feb. 18-22). Only CBC's "Overnight" show mentioned the conference as part of its Dutch Public Radio summary. In total, 82 nations including Canada signed a draft treaty to ban cluster munitions, as reported by Human Rights Watch. As the nation that led the charge to ban landmines around the world we should be proud of this recent accomplishment.

Still, we should note that Canada tried to weaken the draft treaty because of interoperability issues with the United States whose military uses cluster munitions in places like Afghanistan. The United States, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and Russia were not party to the draft treaty.

I hope that when the treaty is signed in Dublin in May, the Canadian delegation can sign the document with confidence that defines a new-found Canadian independence in foreign relations. I also hope that there is more news coverage of the signing.

ROB MOIR

NDP candidate for Fundy Royal

Seniors lose music of their youth

The recent departure of four volunteers from UNBSJ's Campus Radio Station CFMH has left a tremendous void with their senior listening audience in the Saint John region.

For several years these individuals hosted three hour segments on weekdays from 9 a.m. until noon presenting music and conversation appealing to the older citizens of our area. The music that many of us grew up with will now become a thing of the past.

No other radio station in Saint John plays music from the 1930s and 1940s except on rare occasions. Ironically, the Campus Radio Station recently received approval to increase its power, enabling it to reach a larger audience. Dave Duncan, Peter Hefferman, Don Scott and Leanna (aka Christie Wheaton) were constant promoters of the radio station and spent endless hours in preparation for their morning broadcasts.

We who benefited from their efforts don't truly realize how much dedication was involved. I am one of many who will miss the music that brings back so many great memories of my past.

For seniors it is another example where we take a back seat to the younger crowd. Thank you, Dave, Peter, Don and Leanna.

BOB McKINNEY

Quispamsis

The ugly side of foie gras

Fred Decker's glowing description in Saturday's (March 1) "Magazine" article on foie gras needs a hard second look.

The way Decker tells it, the production of foie gras seems quite benign. Saying only that the geese are "deliberately" overfed leaves the impression of an indulgent dog-owner feeding his pooch a little too much cheese. In fact, Decker neglected to mention that the ducks are actually force-fed, two or three times a day, via a metal pipe which is shoved about six inches down the neck of each bird. Progressively larger and larger amounts of food are poured down their throats, resulting in sick birds whose diseased livers have swollen to 10 to 12 times the normal size. Those are the facts and they are ugly.

If Decker truly believes that foie gras is "prized worldwide," he is mistaken. Numerous countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Turkey, Italy, UK, Switzerland and Germany, have laws against force-feeding for foie gras production. Chicago and California have also enacted specific bans. Humane societies have voiced opposition to this barbaric practice for years.

Many farmers are now moving away from abusive farming practices and their efforts are to be applauded.

To say that foie gras production dates back to the ancient Egyptians is no justification for continuing the practice.

Many Canadians want and deserve to live in a country with enlightened and humane farming practices. "Feeding" them with misinformation is not acceptable. Foie gras production should be banned.

KATE VIHVELIN

Saint John