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SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 71, No. 22 | $1.75 May 30, 2013 manitobacooperator.ca

Liquid nitrogen splash puts KAP president in hospital Doug Chorney was burning up with a runaway fever that doctors initially didn’t know how to treat By Allan Dawson co-operator staff

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KAP president Doug Chorney was briefly hospitalized for dehydration he believes was caused by exposure to liquid nitrogen. His advice if exposed is to shower and change clothes immediately.   photo: val ominski, KAP

eystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney got a crash course in farm safety this spring after a seemingly benign splash of liquid nitrogen landed him in hospital with severe dehydration. The Selkirk-area farmer was decoupling a pressurized hose May 15 when he was sprayed with liquid nitrogen. Sunglasses protected his eyes and he washed it off his hands and face, but he didn’t bother to change his clothes or shower. Chorney was well aware of the dangers of anhydrous ammonia, which burns skin on contact. But while liquid nitrogen doesn’t irritate the skin, it draws moisture from the body, which can result in serious illness. By noon the next day Chorney said he was almost delirious and “sweating buckets.” After changing a flat fire on his air seeder he returned to his tractor cab and cranked up the air conditioning. Chorney said he quit seeding at 7 p.m. but had no appetite, and had to be helped to bed by his wife Michelle, who is a nurse. “Then she took my temperature and

said ‘holy... this is not good, we better take you to the hospital,’” he said. When he arrived at Selkirk General, Chorney had a fever of 39.3 C, a heart rate of 135 beats per second, very low blood pressure and severe diarrhea. Repeated blood tests, a urine test and X-ray revealed no signs of infection. “These two doctors were just dumbfounded as to why I had this runaway fever and no way to treat it,” Chorney said. “They were running IVs in me wide open as fast as it would flow for two full litres and then they slowed it down.” Chorney was also prescribed powerful antibiotics. Instead of worrying about delayed seeding, he worried he might never seed again. Chorney left the hospital the morning of May 17, but was in bed at home until Saturday night, having still eaten almost no solid food. But by May 19, he was feeling better and returned to seeding. By May 20 he felt normal again. After leaving the hospital, Chorney said his fertilizer suppliers told him his sudden illness was caused by exposure to liquid nitrogen, which like other forms of See CHORNEY on page 6 »

Ottawa again turns to the WTO in battle over U.S. labelling law Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says he’s considering ‘all options’ By Alex Binkley co-operator contributor / ottawa

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anada will go back to the World Trade Organization — rather than impose sanctions — to try and get Washington to change or scrap its country-of-origin labelling law rules that discriminate against Canadian beef and pork. “There is a W TO process we intend to follow that takes time,” said Agriculture M i n i s t e r G e r r y R i t z . “ We will comply with the proc-

ess regardless of how long it takes.” Ritz has previously suggested Ottawa was ready to slap retaliatory tariffs on American products coming into Canada, and he didn’t rule out doing that in future. “We’re not backing down, this is not a game of chicken,” Ritz said from Kazakhstan, where he is on a trade mission. “We will do everything in our power to make the U.S. understand that its policy violates trade rules. Canada will consider all options at its disposal, includ-

ing, if necessary, the use of retaliatory measures.” The WTO ruled last year that the country-of-origin labelling (or COOL) law is discriminatory and ordered the U.S. to change it, but those changes have actually made the rules more onerous, say industry officials. The USDA will now require meat labels’ origin designations to include even more specific information about each stage of the production process and won’t allow commingling of muscle cuts.

“U S D A’s s t a t e m e n t t h a t their amendment complies with the WTO is absurd,” said Martin Unrau, president of t h e Ca n a d i a n Ca t t l e m e n’s Association. “It will require additional segregation by eliminating the ability to commingle cattle of different origins.” While supporting the government’s move to go back to the WTO, Unrau said Ottawa should state what retaliatory measures See LABELLING on page 6 »


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