The Synchrotron and our children:Trading life for science |
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By Mario deSantis, February 2, 2000 |
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Our politicians, researchers and academicians had no clue on what to do with the Synchrotron | |
when it landed in Saskatoon(1). They were just happy that taxpayer money in the order of $175 | |
million dollars found its way in the Saskatoon economy. Now, an intensive campaign is being | |
developed by the University of Saskatchewan to have scientific luminaries come to Saskatoon | |
and talk about the commercial potentials for the use of the Synchrotron. The latest guest has | |
been Gordon Brown, chair of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in California(2). | |
Brown explained how the Synchrotron can be used to identify industrial contaminants such | |
as arsenic so that our mining companies can set up better antipollution processes and live up | |
eventually with more stringent environmental regulations. In addition, Brown stated that the | |
use of the Synchrotron will revolutionize industries like agronomy, pharmaceuticals, | |
metallurgy, bio-genetics and atmospheric chemistry. So, as we praise the $175 million | |
Synchrotron for its potential to reduce the pollution created by our businesses, we don't | |
make any effort, today, to clean up our own polluted environment. | |
This morning, I watched the news on TV and I came to know of the release of a report on | |
the status of our children. This report includes information that in Saskatchewan one out | |
of four children live in poverty and that some of our school systems still use the strap as | |
a means of discipline. It is becoming clearer that our political, academic and business leaders | |
are taking us to a bleak future, a future on behalf of the few and privileged(3) where the | |
lives of our children are traded for science. | |
----------------Endnotes: | |
The U of S Synchrotron: A Mausoleum for a Museum Mentality, by Mario deSantis, November 16, 1999 | |
Synchrotron will revolutionize many sectors of business, by Gerry Klein, The StarPhoenix, January 31, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
A Museum Mentality Is Cheating Our Economy: Healthcare, SHIN and the Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, November 8, 199 | |