Page 2 Over the Edge, March 24 - April 7 2010 Volume 16, Issue 13 March 24 - April 7 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andrew Bailey MANAGING EDITOR Stephanie McCullough (Vacant) PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Tyler Clarke (Vacant) GENERAL OFFICE ASSISTANT Kali Flick COPY EDITOR Helen Hogeterp NEWS EDITOR Shelby Peterson ARTS EDITOR Vacant SPORTS EDITOR Andrew Bailey (Vacant) PHOTO EDITOR Aria Hannolyn Cheng AD MANAGER Vacant CLUBS EDITOR Vacant CONTRIBUTORS Ecaterina Ciugureanu Haakon Sullivan Thomas Cheney Anastasia Kirk Deadline for submissions for the next issue is... Wednesday March 17 2010 Memo from the boss Hey All and welcome to another outstanding edition of Over the Edge. | hope you find your- self in a comfortable academic place during these last few weeks of school. Final papers are becoming due and the inevitable crunch time of final exam cramming is looming. Best of luck to all of you. | find myself nearly caught up with the rest of the class however have somehow managed to keep myself just busy enough to be able to procrastinate my studies to the max and am therefore probably farther behind than | think, | hope you are in a better place. Much love to those of you who attended our AGM and helped us reach quorum which is always a daunting task. | took my one banked vacation day to miss work on Thursday and was therefore terrified of having to reschedule the AGM festivities. Thanks to the great turnout, Over the Edge was able to have our AGM and make all the changes to our constitution which we deemed necessary to provide the best possible paper for y’all to enjoy. | hope your March Madness brackets are going well, mine has been crushed thanks to Kansas’ uncanny ability to forget how to play the game. On a more local note, a hugely tremen- dous shout out goes out to our UNBC Timberwolves Men’s basketball team who proved them- selves the best in the country over the weekend. Stay tuned to the next issue of Over the Edge for a breakdown of the awesome basketball action that took place over the past week- end. Other than that, | hope you enjoy this paper. Thank-you very much for picking it up and reading through the fine content we have provided for you. Peace, love, basketball. Over the Edge is the official inde- pendent publishing media of students at the University of Northern British Columbia. As such, it is our mandate to report on issues of interest to students in the Northern Region. We encourage all students, both on the main and re- gional campuses to submit to Over the Edge. Over the Edge is part of the Canadian University Press network of newspa- pers, otherwise known as CUP. CUP is an organization that is en- tirely owned by member papers, and provides such services as a news wire and advertising to Over the Edge. Over the Edge is published every second week during the fall and win- ter semesters. OFFICE LOCATION 6-350 MAILING ADDRESS - 3333 University Way Prince George, BC, V2N 429 Phone (250) 960-5633 FAX (250) 960-5407 E-mail over-the-edge@unbc.ca i PACHA president Dave Fuller helps explain the formaldehyde issue to the public in the Sacred Heart School auditorium, March 10. Toxic levels of formaldehyde in PG’s air? Tyler Clarke Production coordinator There might be toxic levels of formaldehyde in Prince George’s air, at levels estimated to be 20 times over the BC action level, but no one knows for sure. Despite having collected air samples in the Millar Addi- tion area with high levels of formaldehyde about 10 months ago, retest- ing to determine whether or not these samples were a fluke have yet to take place. President of PG Air George Stedeford offered local residents an apol- ogy for this inaction during a public meeting organized by PACHA on Wednesday March 10 at the Sacred Heart School auditorium in the Mil- lar Addition, telling residents that although he doesn’t know why retest- ing didn’t take place, they should have. “PG Air apologizes for the fact that in 09 we didn’t jump out and get more samples,” he conceded. During the public meeting, this issue of high levels of formaldehyde in Prince George air that the CBC broke recently, was fleshed out for the audience in mainly easily understood terms. About 10 months ago, two samples were taken of Prince George’s air within the Millar Addition area of town. Both tests revealed levels of formaldehyde around 20 times over the BC action level. That said, not much should be made of these levels, as Stedeford dismissed these lev- els for a few reasons. The samples were investigated 48 hours after they were taken, 18 hours after the 30 hour suggested time frame, and one of the samples even burst before being investigated, possibly affecting its results. Taking only two tests, Stedeford added, is not enough to draw any conclusions. Now, 10 months later, after the CBC broke the story to the public, re- testing has finally been planned for some time in the near future, a lag in time Stedeford and various organizations were chastised for several times throughout the meeting, resulting in loud approving applause from the residents attending the meeting. Northern Health’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. William Osei was an instrumental figure in the public meeting, putting the high formalde- hyde levels into context. Although PACHA president Dave Fuller provided hearsay evidence about the medical effects of formaldehyde levels in the air, Osei was able to provide harder medial fact. “Formaldehyde surrounds us already,” Osei told the audience. Formaldehyde, he went on, is the end result of incomplete combustion, and is created as a result of forest fires, industrial activities, exhaust from vehicles, among other things. Glue and other chemicals in wood products and carpets also spit out formaldehyde. Carpets, Osei made sure to make clear, are a major factor in combating formaldehyde levels. When putting in new carpet, Osei told the audience, “we should open our win- dows, because the air outside is better.” The audience’s scoffing at this comment of Osei’s could be justified if the now dismissed two samples of Prince George’s air are accurate, and levels of formaldehyde in the air are in fact as high as they imply they are. Osei said that if the two tests are accurate, the levels of formaldehyde in the air outside are roughly the same as in a room with a new carpet. “Formaldehyde is a carcinogen,” Osei concluded. “There’s no doubt about it, it causes cancer.” Other effects, Osei went on, include eye, nose, and skin irritation, and cancer in the long term. “We should use facts,” Osei said, in combating such air quality is- sues. “We should not use innuendo... We need facts.” This comment seemed like a call to action for PG Air to pick up the re-testing they admit that should have taken place months ago. Citizens in the hardest-hit by poor air quality, the Millar Addition area, will also be provided the materials required to take air quality tests themselves. The official re-testing, Stedeford said, will consist of more than two samples taken, with the exact number to be determined by an analyst. The materials for testing should arrive within the next three weeks, with testing to be taken at a time deemed effective, by the analysts. During his conclusion remarks, mayor Dan Rogers chastised PG Air, saying that communication with the public must improve “significantly.” Al- though PG Air revealed the results of the high formaldehyde levels on their website and in a press release they gave to the media, the public at large remained ignorant of this issue until the CBC broke the story re- cently. “It’s not good enough if it’s just posted online in terms most people won't understand,” Rogers concluded.