Writings by Colman Jones

A selection of published articles, columns, radio transcripts and scientific papers, listed by subject category:

(Note - July 2010: Since NOW Magazine has since deleted all the relevant archive pages, most of the links below no longer work - however, they will be eventually replaced with local, archived versions as time permits)

Politics

• "Spiritual Split" (NOW, January 22, 1998), an exposé of the bitter rift engulfing Tibetan Buddhism, centering on the Dalai Lama's ban on the worship of a "protector" deity known as Dorje Shugden

• "Buddhist duel hits Internet" (NOW, January 22, 1998), sidebar article charting this obscure theological battle in cyberspace

• "Left-Wingers Do Workfare Too" (NOW, April 30, 1998), looking at the different schemes to force welfare recipients to work in exchange for public assistance, both in Canada, the U.S., and England

• "Still teetering on nuke war" (NOW, May 14, 1998), a news brief about the increasing risk of accidental nuclear war, as documented in a landmark paper in the April 30, 1998 New England Journal of Medicine

• "The sweet smell of millennium meltdown" (NOW, January 28, 1999), about how the Y2K computer bug is being exploited by a variety of different interests to suit their own political - and in some cases financial - ends

• "Debt Deliverance" (NOW, June 17, 1999), focusing on the international campaign underway aimed at pressing the G-8 to wipe off the books the unprecedented amount of debt currently facing the developing world

• "Services with a smile" (This Magazine, January-February 2000), about how activists are opposing the privatization of health care and education, widely seen as an inevitable consequence of world economic integration

• "Serbia media critique sinks Marxist mag" (NOW, March 30, 2000), a brief item on the successful libel suit Britain's Independent Television News (ITN) filed against Britain's LM Magazine, which had alleged that a 1992 ITN report misrepresented the Bosnian situation by using misleading camera angles and editing 

• "Post hacks schmooze at libertarian fest" (NOW, July 27, 2000), noting the appearance by leading journalists from the Financial Post and the Toronto Sun at a meeting of an obscure libertarian group that has played host to U.S. Christian patriot leaders and Holocaust deniers

• "Claws of power" (NOW, September 7, 2000), delving into the acrimonious dispute taking place between native and non-native lobster fishers in Miramichi Bay off the coast of New Brunswick

• "U of T lab creatures get political attention" (NOW, September 14, 2000), a brief report on the latest action by animal rights activists protesting medical experiments at the University of Toronto

• "What's up with Paul Martin?" (NOW, September 28, 2000), analyzing the bold call by Canada's then-Finance and now Prime Minister (pictured on the left, shaking hands with U2 singer Bono) for an immediate moratorium on debt repayments for the world's heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) at the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Prague - the target of mass demonstrations by grassroots activists, as previewed in the earlier news brief "Anti-capitalist hijinks timed for Prague meet" (NOW, September 14, 2000)

• "Blue Rodeo performs while Oils protest" (NOW, October 5, 2000), following up on a series of letters by readers taking politically-conscious Canadian rock group Blue Rodeo to task for not boycotting the Sydney 2000 Olympic games in light of Australia's forced segregation of its aboriginal peoples - which the band's Aussie counterparts Midnight Oil protested at the closing ceremonies (right) by donning black suits emblazened with the word "sorry" in big white letters, highlighting the government's refusal to issue an official apology

• "Jewish peace movement missing in action" (NOW, October 19, 2000), assessing the reaction to an agreement by Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat, and anti-war sentiment in general within Israel, where demonstrations against the war are ignored by the normally outspoken Israeli media, which peace activists say have become little more than the propaganda arm of the government

Technology - Media - Internet

• "New Search Law Targets Internet" (NOW, March 28, 1996), a critical exploration of new Canadian federal legislation pertaining to computer search and seizure

• "Judges nix Clinton's cyber censorship bill" (NOW, June 20, 1996), covering the June 1996 court ruling on the American Civil Liberties Union and Citizen Internet Empowerment Coalition's suit against the U.S. Department of Justice to overturn the "indecent" and "patently offensive" sections of the Communications Decency Act (CDA)

• "Freedom Flames Out on the 'Net" (NOW, July 4, 1996), an investigation into the May 1996 spam attack on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology

• "Careful, you're being followed on the 'Net" (NOW, July 11, 1996), spelling out key concerns about privacy in cyberspace

• "The Internet not the key to a successful party" (NOW, July 25, 1996), an assessment of the official 1996 Olympic multimedia web site

• "Phone giants outwitted by free dialing on Net" (NOW, August 8, 1996), an update over the battle brewing over Internet telephony

• "Bomb info OK in books but G-7 wants it off Net" (NOW, August 15, 1996), an analysis of an agreement by G7 ministers to target terrorists using the internet (also posted on EFC's media archives)

• "No back talk allowed on U.S. party sites" (NOW, August 22, 1996), a look at some U.S. 1996 election campaign spots in cyberspace

• "Net scoops world with life-on-Mars story", (NOW, August 29, 1996), an exploration of web pages prompted by the August 1996 announcement of the discovery of possible life on Mars

• "Largest Remailer Unhooks Itself" (NOW, September 5, 1996), a brief news item on the decision by Helsinki Net provider Johan Helsingius to shut down the world's largest anonymous remailer

• "Even Serb dictator can't censor Internet" (NOW, December 19, 1996), spotlighting how Serbian citizen groups are using the net in their campaign against President Slobodan Milosevic

• "Riding the Web into Peru hostage drama" (NOW, February 6, 1997), cataloguing sites dealing with the 1997 hostage crisis in Lima, Peru

• "Oddball archivist aims to save the Net" (NOW, February 13, 1997), documenting the ambitious plan to save the entire content of the Internet (also on EFC's media archives)

• "Exploring a black planet in cyberspace" (NOW, February 20, 1997), a tour of net spots dealing with Black History Month

• "CRTC Puts Lid on Local Cable" (NOW, March 22, 1997), an editorial bemoaning the lifting of the requirement for Canadian cable companies to carry local, community access channels

• "Radio Shack takes aim at Bianca's Smut" (NOW, May 1, 1997), examining the trademark battle between online chat room Bianca's Smut Shack and Radio Shack

• "Netizens out secret investment treaty" (NOW, June 5, 1997), a sampling of net resources concerning the omenous Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), the now-defunct agreement proposed by the 29 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

• "Elections Canada vows an Internet crackdown" (NOW, May 22, 1997), a report on how Elections Canada is censoring anonymous political expression on the web

• "Net has UFO news the papers won't run" (NOW, July 3, 1997), a diverse listing of UFO-related info on the net

• "How Cuba games play out on the Net" (NOW, July 24, 1997), revealing how Cuban dissidents, both on and off the island, are waging a war of information against Fidel Castro

• "Cyber-bombs censor Basque separatists" (NOW, August 14, 1997), an account of how unknown "cyberterrorists" mail-bombed the Institute for Global Communications, successfully shutting down he web pages it provided to the Euskal Herria Journal, a New York-based group supporting Basque independence

• "Conspiracy buffs ask, did someone murder Di?" (NOW, October 2, 1997), a profile of web sites suggesting Princess Di met her end through foul play

• "Trekkies orbit around copyright turbulence" (NOW, November 20, 1997), examining Viacom's moves to stamp out homebrew Star Trek web sites

• "Peter Gabriel's virtual journey through life" (NOW, November 27, 1997), a review of the multi-talented artist's latest CD-ROM, EVE

• "Is Pamela Wallin for sale?" (NOW, December 4, 1997), scrutinizing the popular Canadian talk show host's corporate ties

• "Net has Clinton dirt that's unfit to print" (NOW, January 29, 1998), a surf through the online circus swirling around the U.S. president and the now infamous White House intern Monica Lewinsky

• "NOW has a sister in the nation's capital" (NOW, April 23, 1998), examining the politics and economics of launching a new alternative newsweekly in the country's seat of power, Ottawa

• "Star hides truth on editorial page" (NOW, May 14, 1998), picking apart the Toronto Star's uneven coverage of the May 1998 Ontario budget

• "Software you shouldn't lie to" (NOW, August 6, 1998), a hands-on test of Truster, a software program that claims to detect deception by analyzing tiny micro-tremors in a human voice (on-screen display, right)

• "Is Post health writer in a conflict of interest?" (NOW, November 12, 1998), a look into the editorial policy on health care being espoused by Canada's new national newspaper, the and the role of private companies like the Free Trade Medical Network

• "Meet media lizard "Conzilla" Black (NOW, November 19, 1998, black sidebar on right), profiling Black Envy, a website satirizing Canadian newspaper mogul Conrad Black and his wife Barbara Amiel, a product of Vancouver-based direct action media critics Guerrilla Media

• "Video games make censorship look good" (NOW, December 10, 1998), a review of the rather violent Myth II: Soulblighter video game, and reflections on the regulation (or lack thereof) of this form of electronic entertainment

Health/medicine

• "Are we getting burned by sunblock?" (NOW, August 15, 1996), a look at the controversy over whether sunscreens prevent skin cancer, or just sunburn

• "Paying for Penicillin Addiction" (NOW, October 3, 1996), a report from the 36th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in New Orleans, describing the latest efforts to combat antibiotic resistant infections (also reprinted in Charlotte, North Carolina's Creative Loafing). Some of the research and interviews later formed part of "Antibiotics vs. the Superbugs, or Whose Planet is This Anyway?", a 5-part 1998 IDEAS series on antibiotic resistance.

• "Strong Medicine" (NOW, May 8, 1997), an investigation into the Canadian federal drug regulators' crackdown of natural remedies like herbs and tinctures

• "The Doctor is Out" (NOW, May 1, 1997), a look at how - and how much - doctors are paid here in Ontario

• "Menopause Monopoly" (NOW, August 21, 1997), a glimpse into how women are tapping into a variety of sources outside the pharmaceutical industry for more holistic solutions to the problems menopause can pose

• "Feds screwed up on pot" (NOW, March 18, 1999), an analysis of the pledge by Canada's federal health minister to establish guidelines for clinical trials of medical marijuana to treat people suffering from cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis - in light of the decision by a judge in the province of Ontario that denying citizens medical access to the substance is unconstitutional (reprinted in Victoria, B.C.'s Monday Magazine)

• "Bacterial bombshell" (NOW, June 3, 1999), about how medical researchers, using new technologies, are uncovering hitherto undiscovered germs that may be responsible for a host of conditions not previously thought to be due to infections

• "The Bacteria Revolution" (IDEAS on CBC Radio, May 28 & June 4, 1999), winner of the Canadian Science Writers' Association (CSWA) 1999 Science in Society Journalism Award for Radio Items over 25 Minutes, further exploring the notion that infections are at the root of many chronic diseases

• "Note to alternative doctors: Get thee to a laboratory" (NOW, July 1, 1999), a critical perspective on the battle between orthodox and alternative medicine, focusing on two doctors - Jozef Krop and Jerry Green - both the subject of disciplinary proceedings of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

• "Give us your sick dammit! (NOW, October 7, 1999), a survey of the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on services, and the possible threat giant American health care companies pose to theanadian public heath care system

• "Pill fever" (NOW, January 13, 2000), an investigation of how two new drugs to treat the flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, got approved by regulatory authorities in both Canada and the U.S., despite meager evidence of efficacy and safety concerns, as well as an examination of Health Canada's controversial policy of conditional drug approval

• "Brain child" (NOW, February 17, 2000), about challenges to the notion that a kid's brain evolves most definitively, and some say irrevocably, between the ages of zero to three, and the potential political fallout of this critique here in Ontario

• "Reefer-mad in newsroom" (NOW, April 6, 2000), analyzing how recent media coverage of medical research on marijuana is influenced more by prevailing ideologies - as well as powerful government incentives - than by science

• "Tofu's dark side" (NOW, May 11, 2000), on disquieting data that devouring lots of the protein-rich soy product can actually damage your brain as you grow older

• Painkiller politics" (NOW, July 13, 2000), dissecting a disciplinary action by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario against a Kington, Ontario doctor for his alleged over-prescription of opiates in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain, an issue which is the subject of considerable controversy in medical circles

• "Writer called to heal his readers" (NOW, June 8, 2000), a brief musing about how investigating new theories about the causes of disease leads to lots of inquiries from desperate patients

• "Happy talker" (NOW, August 24, 2000), profiling Arizona new age guru Dr. Gabriel Cousens (right), who was in town to promote his new book "Depression-Free For Life: An All-Natural Five-Step Plan To Reclaim Your Zest For Living", which purports to offer a nutritional solution to depression in the form of various natural mood-boosting substances, with a reported 90% success rate - but without any actual published data proving its efficacy

• "Medical meetings – from the inside out" (The Medical Post, October 10, 2000), a look at how a big conference like the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) - which Toronto played host to in September - is put together

• "Unhealthy radio on Talk 640" (NOW, November 2, 2000), chronicling the demise of The Touch of Health, a show on alternative medicine which Toronto radio station Talk 640 pulled off the air in August 2000, following over a year of complaints by Waterloo doctor and medical watchdog Terry Polevoy

• "Econo class crunch: Airline cheap seats cost more than you know" (NOW, November 16, 2000), detailing a range of views on the risk of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) on long-haul flights

• "Flu fighters" (Medical Post, December 5, 2000, no longer online), detailing the threat that flu shot shortages pose, and the challenges in designing and distributing a vaccine directed at the constantly changing influenza virus

• "Is Industry Interfering with Cancer Science?" (Science Link, May 2003, no longer online), investigating the connection between industry sponsorship of cancer research and the rulings of IARC, the leading international authority on identifying and evaluating cancer-causing substances

Environment

• "Poison petals" (NOW, December 9, 1999), detailing concerns about the possible hazards of chemical residues on imported plants

• "Toxic Shock" (NOW, May 18, 2000), an indepth investigative report on the possible connection between exposure to dioxin and diabetes, especially as it concerns Canada's aboriginal peoples, who are in the grips of a diabetes epidemic

• "Watery death of credibility" (NOW, June 1, 2000), a look back at the Ontario government's record of environmental cutbacks in the wake of the E. coli outbreak in the small town of Walkerton, Ontario (left)

• "Correlating Cancer With Chemicals: Easier Said Than Done!" (Science Link, January 2003, no longer online), exploring whether the recent increase in a variety of illnesses is the result of exposure to chemicals in the environment (pages 7-11 in PDF document)