The past three years have been a time of considerable heartache. Both of my parents were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They had none of the typical factors associated with it: They didn’t drink or smoke; they were healthy, active and had an excellent diet. They were in their 70s and lived as if they were a decade younger. But none of that mattered.
Since treatment options for this cancer are essentially non-existent, I was encouraged when the B.C. Cancer Agency, one of the leading cancer-research centres in Canada, became the first such centre to establish an initiative to uncover the causes and cures of pancreatic cancer. The agency is attempting to raise $10 million to fund this research.
So you can imagine my frustration when the B.C. Cancer Foundation, the fundraising arm of the cancer agency, ended its funding relationship with Enbridge, the oil company that for three years has been the main sponsor of the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
The annual bike ride occurs in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and Enbridge will continue to sponsor the event — except in B.C., where the cancer foundation has made a decision that kowtows to a few noisy British Columbians who are more concerned that Enbridge wants to build an oil pipeline than about treating cancer.
The proposed pipeline would carry crude oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast, for shipment to Asia.
There is no indication that large numbers of cyclists have shunned the event because of Enbridge, but several riders who made that choice have been featured in the media.
The typical complaint is that it’s hypocritical to ride in an Enbridge-sponsored event to cure cancer because, according to one rider, Enbridge “causes a ridiculous amount of cancer.” But this comment only reveals hypocrisy and a lack of knowledge. (Google “oil causes cancer” and you get a nutrition debate about the health impact of fish oil.)
Yes, oil can be made into benzene, and long-term exposure to this chemical can cause cancer, but the biggest benzene threat to most is breathing in vapours while fuelling your car. You should also hold your breath around other generators of benzene like forest fires, volcanoes and cigarettes.
But benzene is also necessary for making the plastic tubing, bags, vials and bandages that are germane to medical treatments, as well as the plastics that form the housing for medical equipment and thousands of monitors that guide patient care.
Crude oil is used to generate aspirin, antiseptics (such as sterilizing alcohol) and sulfa drugs. It is used to make clothing — unless you are wearing pure wool, silk or cotton, chances are you are wearing a petroleum product. If you are wearing Lycra workout gear, then you are essentially clad in polyurethane, which, of course, is a petroleum product.
Those snazzy bike shorts might keep you cool and dry, but they carry a heavy ecological footprint, and I can guess that those vocal cyclists who decry Enbridge wear Spandex.
And oil runs the vast majority of cars, ambulances and planes.
The bottom line is that oil is a necessary commodity for medicine and many of our modern conveniences. Countries such as China need it to generate electricity that runs hospitals and medical equipment. If other countries don’t buy it from us, they will buy it from nations in the Middle East or Russia, thereby providing financial support to mostly corrupt regimes that have no respect for human life, let alone human rights.
It would be great to live in a utopian world where humans have no need to consume the natural resources that surround us. But while we work toward developing cleaner forms of energy, we can’t be so naïve as to deny our current, critical need for oil products to sustain medical care and life in general.
B.C.’s cancer patients should share no pride in the cancer foundation’s decision to put politics ahead of funding medical care.
Susan Martinuk is a columnist for the Calgary Herald.
