Purple Grove W. I. report

The February meeting of the Purple Grove Women’s Institute was held via Zoom.  It was so good to see our members’ faces and hear them.  President Cheryl Bridge opened the meeting  and we were encouraged and challenged again with the opening ode and Mary Stewart Collect.  Our Secretary Fran Farrell gave us the minutes of the last meeting and told us about recent correspondence.  The members answered the roll call by telling about a book they had read or  movie they had seen.  It was really interesting to hear about the books and motivated us to want to read them too.

The program consisted of a report by Fran about harmful side effects of chemicals.  Fran and Jim have been farming organically for over 20 years. Fran began her presentation on the status of the propozal PMRL2021-10 (Pest Management Regulatory Agency)  to Health Canada which is proposing increasing the MRLs (maximum residue level) of glyphosates in food.  This propozal would allow the levels of glyphosates to double, triple and quadruple the MRLs in oats, bran lentils, peas and 25 types of beans as well as nuts.   The people most affected by this propozal will be children, vegetarians, vegans, anyone who relies on proteins from nuts, people with health conditions.  Unfortunately, residues of glyphsates and other harmful chemicals are also found in our water, soils and affect our pollinators. The propozal received enough opposition to delay the decision until spring 2022.  She encouraged us to research and oppose this propozal.  The rest of the presentation focused on reducing our everyday exposure, contact and consumpution of harmful chemicals and some non-toxic solutions for cleaning and health care products.  

Our next meeting will be on March 2nd at 1:30 pm again via Zoom when we will talk about Climate Change with Brad McKay of McKay Consulting.  Contact Fran Farrell by email if you would like to join us. Read More