The Electronic Cigarette
The headline reads “A Chinese ban on Canadian canola shocks industry” ... and I can't help but think the electronic cigarette border ban here in Canada, must have shocked China in much the same way.
http://www.cbc.ca/
The recent article stated “Their abrupt cancellation of Canadian canola imports is confusing authorities who say they don't understand the rationale behind the move.” I have no doubt at all, that the sudden ban on the electronic cigarette products here in Canada recently and around the world, must have caused the same confusion in China since this was a product that had been gaining a foothold around the world for approximately five years. In those five years, popularity had been increasing and contrary to what the FDA and Health authorities would have you believe, there had been no adverse reactions or reported problems concerning the product in all that time, but yet, the authorities vilified the product and have effectively cut access off to the consumers that have been utilizing the product all that time. In doing so, many of these people have now returned to the dangerous tobacco products they had distanced themselves from.
According to reports, the Chinese have expressed concerns about a fungus called blackleg. The Canola Council of Canada says blackleg disease poses no risk to human health. Nevertheless, the Chinese insist they will not accept any Canadian canola seed shipments unless the product is certified as free of the disease. By now, we are all aware of the fact that there were seriously inflated concerns made by the FDA and other entities regarding the safety of the electronic cigarette, which in turn led to the boycott and ban of those products, even though both the manufacturers and the FDA reports showed without a doubt that the product was indeed a much safer alternative to the regular tobacco products. You can access that report at the link below.
http://www.fda.gov/
The move regarding the Canadian produced canola, will be effective November 15th, while the electronic cigarette products have already been banned in Canada for months now, costing both the manufacturers and the distributors a huge loss of income.
At this time, officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are investigating the concerns related to the canola. Last year, Canada shipped almost three million tonnes of canola to China and in Saskatchewan alone, the crop is valued at $5 billion, with the bulk of sales headed to China. I hate to say it, but if the Canadian Food Inspection Agency moves as quickly as Health Canada and the FDA have been with regards to the electronic cigarette products ... it could be a very, very, long, long wait to get the canola moving again. I guess we'll see exactly what will happen and just how quickly things can actually move along, since the proverbial shoe is on the other foot now.
Some in the industry suspect the move against the canola may be strategic ... perhaps ... "It might just be a tactic to drop prices down or to slow up some shipments that are heading their way," Kevin Plummer, a farmer with 100 hectares of canola south of Saskatoon, told CBC News. "But if they're serious about this, it's going to have long-term implications here." Myself ... I can state with absolute certainty that those of us watching the electronic cigarette boycott and ban have also been pondering the exact same thing since the Canadian ban regarding the electronic cigarette manufactured in China may well have very serious long-term effects also.
From what has been reported so far, the blackleg fungus can only affect a canola seed if it germinates and it has no effect on canola seed pressed for oil. "China has blackleg within their own country," Weber added. "So it's a red herring." Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was not available for comment. Observers say the move is also suspicious because of the timing. "[The Chinese] are going to be harvesting their canola very soon," Larry Weber, a commodities expert in Saskatoon, told CBC News. "When this was announced yesterday, their futures market went up two per cent." That contrasts with falling prices on some spot markets in Canada.
One could easily look at the facts as they present themselves and accept the fact that canola is a safe product, exactly what it has always been in the past ... and in the same vein one need only look through the safety reports produced on the electronic cigarette products, to see that they are also exactly the same as they have been for the last five years ... as advertised ... they are a safer alternative to the tobacco products. For more information, please feel free to visit my website at the link below, which is dedicated to providing easy access to the facts, fiction and pertinent information regarding the electronic cigarette.
http://smoke-
The canola related article states "If you know anything about the Asian psychology, trying to negotiate with China from Ottawa to somewhere in Hong Kong or somewhere in Beijing is not going to work," Weber said. "They prefer face-to-face meetings." His office issued a statement saying government officials were heading to China and would work on the issues. Weber said that is a smart move.
In the absence of sensibility ... one would then wonder what the reasoning for these decisions stems from. To take that one step further ... you are then left to ponder exactly who's agenda these decisions are designed to fit within. My own personal suggestion would be for the officials involved in the electronic cigarette border ban to revisit their own decisions, since their decisions and the reasons behind the boycott and ban of the electronic cigarettes are just as baseless and ridiculous as the recent developments with our “so called” Canadian “blackleg fungus” tainted canola.
