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Bio Related Events |
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More than half of your body is
not human, say scientists.
Human cells make up only 43% of the body's total cell count. The rest
are microscopic colonists.
(BBC)
Toxic chemicals in baby products
Two-thirds of 137 items tested contained
PFOA
or
PFOS, both banned in Canada and internationally.
(Toronto Star)
FASD is part of a problem everyone knows Canada's corrections system faces - but no one is sure just how big the problem is thanks to under-diagnosis. FASD is a brain injury that is caused when an unborn baby is exposed to alcohol. It is the leading known cause of preventable developmental disability in Canada, impacting at least 1% of people across the country, according to Health Canada. (CBC)
SEATTLE - More than 50 soccer players at the same university have been diagnosed with cancer - allegedly linked to chemicals in their artificial turf field. (Daily Mail) Artificial turf
MULBERRY - Mosaic, the company that kept secret a massive sinkhole that drained a 215M gallon radioactive pond into a Florida underground aquifer said it didn't go public with the crisis for 3 weeks because it found 'no risk to the public.' (ABC) MORE: Sinkhole drains contaminated water into Floridan aquifer
Research shows newborn babies in some Arctic regions have the highest rates of serious lung infections ever recorded in medical literature. (Globe & Mail)
OTTAWA - The federal government has officially listed microbeads as a toxic substance, giving it the ability to ban the plastic beads used in cleansers. An online notice published says the tiny plastic beads commonly found in facial and body scrubs is now listed as a toxic substance under the Environmental Protection Act, which gives the government the option to control their use or institute an outright ban. (CP)
Disaster you've never heard about LOS ANGELES - The US government deliberately hid 'the worst nuclear disaster in US history,' according to experts and an in-depth investigation by NBC4 Southern California. (zerohedge) MORE: North American Aviation Sodium Reactor Experiment
Researchers have found heavy metals leaking from unlined coal ash
ponds near 21 power plants in 5 US states: Tennessee, Kentucky,
Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
High levels of heavy metals, including arsenic and selenium,
were found in surface waters or groundwater at all of the sites
tested. (Duke University)
Environment watchdog spring report
OTTAWA - A new report by the federal environmental watchdog says
Health Canada isn't doing enough to protect Canadians from hazardous
chemicals in household and cosmetic products.
(CBC) REPORT:
2016 Spring Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and
Sustainable Development
ANTANANARIVO
- An outbreak of the
Plague
has killed 40 people out of 119 confirmed cases in Madagascar since
late August and there is a risk of the disease spreading rapidly in
the capital.
(Reuters)
SILIGURI - The death toll from Encephalitis outbreak in north Bengal has climbed to 102 while the disease has spread its tentacles to Assam as well taking 43 lives there. (Indian Express) MORE: Outbreak
The World Health Organization has declared polio a 'public health emergency of international concern,' marking only the second time the UN agency has given such a designation after the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009. (Toronto Star) |
CHALK RIVER -
Indigenous groups say a plan to store nuclear waste near the Ottawa
River in eastern Ontario is 'insanity' and want the federal government
to intervene. Canadian
Nuclear Laboratories, a private company,
wants a 10-year licence to keep running the
Chalk
River Laboratories in eastern Ontario.
CNL has plans for a permanent nuclear waste disposal site at
Chalk River. (CBC) MORE:
Safety stand down
OXBOW
- As the number of shale oil wells has soared in SK, the risk of
hydrogen
sulfide leaks has multiplied. A year-long investigation reveals
what the government and industry knew - and kept from the public.
(Toronto Star)
VANCOUVER - Researchers from the UBC are retracting their scientific
paper linking
aluminum in vaccines to autism in mice, because one of the
co-authors claims figures published in the study were deliberately
altered before publication.
(CBC)
WINNIPEG - More than a dozen employees may have been exposed to potentially dangerous pathogens in incidents at Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory over a 22-month period. There were 14 cases involving possible exposures in 45 incident reports between Jan 2015 and Oct 2016. (CBC)
TrialsTracker maintains a list of all the trials registered on the world's leading clinical trials database and tracks how many of them are updated with results. Amid pharmaceutical companies and research bodies from around the world on ClinicalTrials.gov 9 Canadian universities and institutions rank in the top 100 organizations with the greatest proportion of registered trials without results. (CBC)
MONTREAL - Myriam Ducre-Lemay, 20, had recently met the boy when she went to his house to spend the night after a party in 2012, her mother said. After the boyfriend ate a peanut butter sandwich for a late-night snack, he returned to the bedroom and gave Myriam the fatal kiss, the mother, Micheline Ducre, told the Journal De Quebec. (Daily Mail) MORE: Coroner's report prompts allergies concerns
WASHINGTON - Everyday items like non-stick cookware, children's toys, cosmetics, pizza boxes, and cellphones release toxic chemicals into the air that settle into the dust inside your home, a revelation that new research is linking to a host of serious health problems. (CTV) REPORT: Potentially harmful chemicals widespread in household dust
MISSISSIPPI MILLS - A group of Mississippi Mills residents is
suing the National Research Council for more than $40M after
residential wells were contaminated by chemicals originating from an
NRC fire lab in their neighbourhood.
(CBC)
More than half the world's population is infected with the form of the herpes virus that causes cold sores, according to new numbers from the WHO. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, reports that 3.7B people under age 50 carry herpes simplex virus Type 1 (HSV-1). (CTV)
CHANGZHOU - The opening of the new 153-acre campus of the Changzhou Foreign Languages School last fall was supposed to mark a bright new era for the institution's 2,500 seventh-through-12th-graders. An expose aired on state-run China Central Television found nearly 500 students had developed illnesses - including cancer - and quoted experts saying their ailments were likely linked to toxins in the soil and water, including chloroform and benzene. (LA Times)
VANCOUVER - Federal officials say avian influenza has been detected in a 9th poultry barn in BC's Fraser Valley. (Globe & Mail) PREVIOUS: 5th farm Countries ban Canadian poultry |
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More than 95% of the world's population is breathing polluted,
unsafe air and the hardest hit areas are in Africa and Asia, a major
study of global air pollution has found.
(Fox) |
India declares air pollution emergency |
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Satellite finds unreported toxic air pollution WHO global urban ambient air pollution Common chemicals when combined Pollution in area with cancer spikes Air pollution leading cause of cancer deaths .pdf |
7M deaths linked to air pollution Residents not told about bad air 10M people at risk from pollution Canadian health measures 2007-09 BPA present in 91% of Canadians |
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Almost 1 in every 2 Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 4 Canadians will die from the disease, a new report by the Canadian Cancer Society predicts. (CBC) |
Canadian cancer statistics 2017 |
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GENEVA - Declaring that the Zika virus is 'spreading explosively,' the chief of the WHO announced that it will hold an emergency meeting of independent experts to decide if the virus outbreak should be declared an international health emergency. (CBC) |
Few cases brought back to Canada What makes a public health emergency Case of sexually transmitted Zika virus Virus to spread across Americas |
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MBANDAKA - 3 patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus slipped out of an isolation ward at a hospital in the Congolese city of Mbandaka. Two patients left the hospital on Monday, one was found dead and another was sent back to hospital and died shortly afterwards. Another patient left on Saturday, but was found alive the same day and is under observation. Health officials are particularly concerned by the disease's presence in Mbandaka, a crowded trading hub upstream from Kinshasa, a city of 10M people. (Reuters) |
2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak Canadian vaccine seems to work Vaccine trial proves successful Canadian vaccine to begin trials |
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Ebola 'could
lead to failed states'
2nd care worker tests positive
Screening 'mostly a waste of time' |
2014 Time 'Person of the Year' Sierra Leone banning Christmas Liberia's chief medical officer
Liberia finds
'missing patients' |
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Ebola victim dies in Saudi Arabia Ethics of using experimental drugs |
8 bodies found in village latrine Crowd attacks treatment centre |
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VANCOUVER - The BC Building Code separates the
province into two areas based on their potential for radon exposure.
Radon Area 1 is east of the Coast Mountains and covers the Interior of
the province. Radon Area 2 covers everything west of the mountains.
According to
Health Canada, radon kills 3,200 Canadians a year and is the
second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.
(CBC) |
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Measles, all but wiped out by 2002, has begun resurfacing in Canada this year. The BC outbreak involves a church group in Chilliwack that doesn't believe in vaccinations. (SunMedia) |
Confirmed in Edmonton |
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Canada's dying asbestos industry was dealt another blow with Minister Christian Paradis announcing that the federal government will no longer oppose global rules that restrict use and shipment of the substance. (CBC) |
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VANCOUVER - Unsafe levels of lead were found in drinking water in 25% of the BC schools that reported test results this year, including eight schools that found levels more than 100 times higher than the allowable limit. (Toronto Star) |
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OTTAWA - Dr. Klaus Nielsen was arrested in
Oct 2012 with 17 vials of potentially lethal brucella bacteria
placed on ice in a kid's lunch bag and stowed in his suitcase as he
prepared to leave Ottawa.
(SunMedia) |
Pathogens to China |
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WASHINGTON - The FDA says there is no evidence that antibacterial chemicals used in liquid soaps and washes help prevent the spread of germs. (AP) Ruling |
E-waste - all those discarded electrical or electronic devices, from cell phones and TVs to tablets and computers. (Toronto Star) MORE: Toxic 'e-waste' dumped in poor nations StEP |
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A list of 10 filthy sites, from Russia to Indonesia to Ghana, has been amassed by the global environmental group The Blacksmith Institute - which says 200M people are endangered daily in the top 10 places alone. (Daily Mail) REPORT: Top toxic sites 2013 .pdf 10 most toxic places |
The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer said cancer was growing "at an alarming pace" worldwide and new strategies were needed to curb the sometimes fatal and often costly disease. (Reuters) REPORT: WHO: World cancer report 2014 World Cancer Day 2014 Focus on global spread of cancer Cancer 'tidal wave' on horizon |
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The WHO says it is confident that the bird
flu virus will not spread in Canada after an Alberta nurse who had
recently travelled to China died of the virus. (CTV)
PREVIOUS:
H5N1 death
H5N1
H1N1 in lungs of child who died
NB woman dies, H1N1 strain |
Get phthalates out OTTAWA - Conceding a decade-old voluntary ban on hormone-disrupting chemicals in children's toys hasn't worked, Health Canada announced new regulations requiring toy companies to get phthalates out of soft vinyl toys. MORE: Children win claim EU's discarded computers are poisoning Africa's kids |
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Teck treated the Columbia River as a free waste disposal system for decades, said a Washington state judge who has ruled the Canadian company is liable for the cost of cleaning up the contamination of the river south of the border. (CBC) |
MONTREAL - The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has sounded the alarm, ordering that a shipping container be removed from the Port of Montreal after its contents tested positive for radioactivity. (CBC) MORE: Hanjin Cobalt-60 |
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OTTAWA - The federal government has
underestimated the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites under its
jurisdiction by at least $2B, according to an estimate by the
parliamentary budget officer.
(CBC) REPORT:
Federal contaminated sites cost
.pdf |
A probe conducted by Marketplace tested the effectiveness of chemical retardants in upholstered furniture and also examined their potential health risks. Environmental and health researchers are also concerned that some of the chemicals are linked to a wide range of health problems. (CBC) |
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The substance is coal tar sealant, a waste product of steel manufacturing that is used to protect pavement and asphalt against cracking and water damage, and to impart a nice dark sheen. It is applied most heavily east of the Rockies but is used in all 50 states. (Investigate West) |
As part of a three-part series, Exposed: On the Job, CBC News looked at what carcinogens are present in Canadian workplaces and how Canadian regulations stand up. (CBC) MORE: North's limits weakest in Canada Fewer Canadians dying from cancer |
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The study, led by University of Toronto professor Dr. Andrew Lim and published in the November edition of Annals of Neurology, emerged from research into seniors’ sleep-wake cycles. (Toronto Star) |
SEPT-ILES - Twenty doctors have quit their practice in a remote Quebec town because of plans to build a uranium mine. (CP) |
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SEATTLE - A federal jury cquitted WR Grace & Co. and three of its former officials of charges that they knowingly exposed residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos poisoning associated with a mining operation and conspired to hide it. In Libby, where an estimated 1,200 residents have died or developed cancer or lung disease, the judgment dashed hopes that someone would be held accountable for decades of suffering. (LA Times) |
Just passing through MONTREAL - About 50 trucks will be required to move the uranium, thought to be the last stocks of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program, to a processing facility operated by Cameco Corp. in Blind River, Ont. The 550 tonnes of concentrated natural uranium, also known as yellowcake, was purchased in a US brokered deal reported to be worth tens of millions of dollars. PREVIOUS: 2004 report: No WMD stockpiles in Iraq |
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Radioactivity leaked unchecked KASHIWAZAKI - The nuclear power station at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant pumped radioactive particles into the air for nearly 3 days after Monday’s massive Niigata earthquake. |
Radiation leak at Russian plant |
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GRASSY NARROWS - More than four decades after mercury was dumped upstream from Grassy Narrows First Nation, the physical and mental health of the people there is by many key measures 'considerably worse' than that of other First Nations in Canada, according to a landmark new government-funded survey. (Toronto Star) |
Children of the poisoned river |
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OTTAWA - The SCC says a bankrupt company doesn't have to pay to clean up the environmental mess it left in Newfoundland and Labrador. (CBC) PREVIOUS: AbitibiBowater Resolute Forest Products |
TORONTO - A Health Canada study has found no
evidence to support a link between exposure to wind-turbine noise and
health effects reported by people living near the towering structures.
(CP) |
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PORT HOPE - New tests that show radiation contamination in a few Port Hope residents should compel the federal government to put the town under a health microscope, local advocates say. (Toronto Star) MORE: 85,000 radioactive baby teeth |
TORONTO - Nurses, people who contracted SARS and their families cannot sue the Ontario government over the deadly 2003 outbreak that claimed 44 lives, Ontario's top court ruled. (CP) |
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Cities not getting true air quality TORONTO - The federal and provincial governments are lulling Ontario residents into a false sense of security about the level of pollution they're breathing in on city streets. |
OTTAWA - Tailings ponds from oilsands production are leaking and contaminating AB groundwater. (PostMedia) PREVIOUS: Canadian oil sands |
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Saudi Arabia says 282 people are now confirmed to have been killed by the Mers virus, almost 100 more than initially thought. (BBC) |
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More than 205B litres of raw sewage and untreated waste water spewed
into Canada's rivers and oceans last year, despite federal
regulations introduced in 2012 to try to solve the problem.
(CBC) |
Illness followed sludge on the fields Family files suit over sewage lagoon Vancouver moves to ban bottled water |
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FLINT - The warning letters arrived in Flint mailboxes in early March. Rick Snyder's government, which was largely responsible for the water disaster, announced in Feb that it would stop giving Flint residents subsidies for their water. Mayor Karen Weaver then decided to resume the practice of shutting off the water for people with unpaid bills. (Toronto Star) |
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KERALA -
A rare, brain-damaging virus that experts consider a
possible epidemic threat has broken out in the state of
Kerala, India, for the first time, infecting at least 18
people and killing 17 of them, according to the WHO.
(NY Times) |
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1st case in North America confirmed VANCOUVER - North America's first human case of the H7N9 virus has been confirmed in BC. A couple in their 50s from BC's lower mainland recently returned from a trip to China and began developing symptoms of a flu-like illness within a day or two of each other. (CTV)
Husband
confirmed as 2nd bird flu case |
Bird flu spreads to far western China Fox Series: Bird Flu: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 China in national bird flu alert Bird Flu drug rendered useless
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HANFORD SITE - When workers at the Hanford Site suddenly found a hole in the ground, there was cause for concern. The concern was that if the roof of the tunnel collapsed it could release long-trapped contaminated material into the air. (CBC)
Refrain from eating or drinking |
Hanford Site in Washington State GAO report .pdf Underground nuclear tanks leaking Study: No radiation level safe Sick DOE workers' claims languish Hanford water cleanup not working |
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The World Health Organization is investigating an outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in northwestern Angola. (CNN) |
Congo's Ebola town is sealed off Marburg fever death toll tops 300 |
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