Prime Time Crime

Bio Related Events

Google
 
Web www.primetimecrime.com

Canadian food industry

War on Legal Drugs

Port Hope radiation tests 'alarming'

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:  Self-funded study says residents contaminated

 

Trip to outer space makes nasty bacteria nastier

Space flight can increase the virulence of disease-causing microbes such as Salmonella typhimurium, the main bacterial culprit in food poisoning, say U.S. researchers.    (CBC)  

 

Hundreds exposed to radiation

Almost 900 Canadian military personnel were exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War as well as two serious reactor accidents in Chalk River during the 1950s, according to a report produced for Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor.  (Ottawa Citizen) 

 

Alberta embarks on toxin testing

EDMONTON - Alberta is testing the blood of more than 30,000 people, looking for toxins from industrial pollution and other sources.    (CBC)   RELATED:  'Horror stories' at meeting on health privacy

 

Birth ratio of 2 girls to 1 boy

AAMJIWNAAG FIRST NATION, Ont. - The people of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are painfully aware they make up a startling statistic that has raised eyebrows around the world, but the bigger concern for residents are the chemicals they fear are overwhelming their community and killing off their legacy.  (CP)

 

Cat parasite affects everything we feel and do

The parasite, toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet, and it has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways.  (ABC)

 

Dangerous waste bound for China is intercepted

VANCOUVER - A joint investigation by federal agencies has exposed Canada's dirty role as a major illegal exporter of hazardous waste to developing countries.    (Vancouver Sun)

WHO reports Tamiflu-resistant flu

GENEVA - The main flu virus circulating in the United States and Canada has shown "elevated resistance" to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, in line with findings in parts of Europe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.  (Reuters)   PREVIOUS:  Bird flu cull hit by 'corruption'  

 

Nuclear thefts

OTTAWA - A record number of low-level radioactive materials, the kind terrorists could fashion into dirty bombs, have gone missing in Canada this year, raising concerns about the effectiveness of federal controls over nuclear materials.  (Ottawa Citizen)

 

Cheap air travel 'is spreading deadly diseases'

UN - People are at greater risk of contracting potentially lethal infectious diseases because of the boom in international air travel, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.    (Telegraph UK)  MORE:  WHO predicts more global epidemics 

 

Radioactivity leaked unchecked for three days

KASHIWAZAKI - The nuclear power station at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant pumped radioactive particles into the air for nearly three days after Monday’s massive Niigata earthquake.   (Times online)  PREVIOUS:  Leak bigger than thought   Japanese nuclear 'quake' plant sits on faultline previously denied by officials   Radiation leak at Russian plant

 

First genome transplant turns one species into another

ROCKVILLE, Maryland - Scientists have converted an organism into an entirely different species by performing the world's first genome transplant, a breakthrough that paves the way for the creation of synthetic forms of life.  The team, led by Craig Venter, the man who raced to sequence the human genome, wants to build new microbes to produce environmentally friendly fuels.  The group's study, details of which were revealed in the US journal Science, proves it is possible to transplant a complete set of genetic instructions into an organism, in effect turning it into the same species the DNA was taken from.  (Guardian Unlimited)

 

The secretive fight against bioterror

WASHINGTON - On the grounds of a military base an hour's drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago. (Washington Post)  PREVIOUS:  Can billions of dollars build biodefenses?  

Herbicide test pose disease threat

CFB GAGETOWN - Only individuals who had direct contact with herbicides at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick are at risk of contracting a number of diseases associated with exposure, including various cancers, Parkinson's disease and Type 2 diabetes, according to a study.  (CanWest)  PREVIOUS:  Report on say health risk minimal

Radiation alert at Chechen plant

GROZNY - Prosecutors in Chechnya have opened a criminal investigation after finding "catastrophic" levels of radioactivity at a chemical factory.   Investigators say the radiation - in one place reportedly 58,000 times the usual level - poses a danger to people in the region's capital, Grozny.   (BBC)

Lead restrictions under scrutiny

OTTAWA - High levels of lead detected in children's jewelry sold across the country last year prompted Health Canada to announce a product recall Wednesday and is sparking fears about the effectiveness of the country's lead restrictions.  (CanWest)  PREVIOUS:    US far ahead of Canada on lead contaminants

     

Pollution causes thousands of deaths

VANCOUVER -The disturbing tabulation finally complete, results were published in an online journal last week and show that as many as 25,000 deaths, 24,000 new cases of cancer and the birth of 2,500 low-birth-weight babies can be linked to environmental hazards each year.  (Vancouver Province)

Study links bad air to Quebecers' early deaths

The environmental burden of disease in Canada

Pollution 'kills thousands of Canadians'

10M people at risk from pollution

The world's most polluted places

Cancer-causing agents found

11th report on Carcinogens

Guide to less toxic products

Dirty air in arenas could pose health risk

 
     

Feds announce plan to manage use of chemicals

OTTAWA - The environment and health of Canadians will be better protected thanks to a “groundbreaking” plan to manage chemicals, the federal government said Friday. (CanWest) 

Canada's approach on chemical substances

North Americans 'contaminated' with cancer causing poisons

10 most common environmental toxins

Cooking may cause cancer

Cancer cases 'to hit 300,000 annually

 
     

17 ill blame 'toxic' landfill

ELKFORD, BC - Seventeen people with cancer and other serious health problems on one residential street in Elkford are heading to court in the hope of getting some answers and compensation.  (Province)

Campground closed after bubonic plague strikes rodents

SALT LAKE CITY - A campground at Natural Bridges National Monument has been closed because of bubonic plague detected among field mice and chipmunks.  (AP)

 
     

Sample of killer flu virus found

GENEVA - All samples of the killer influenza virus sent outside the United States have been destroyed except for one in Lebanon, the U.N. health agency said Wednesday.  (AP)

US labs mishandling deadly germs

Labs told to destroy mislabelled flu strain

UN WHO: Response    

College of American Pathologists (CAP)

 
     

Avian influenza

REGINA - The strain of avian influenza detected at a Regina Beach-area commercial operation is deadly to domestic poultry but generally isn't a risk to humans, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.   (Regina Leader-Post)

Bush unveils $7.1-billion flu pandemic plan

Wild birds with H5 flu virus found in Canada

Deadly silence

Second avian flu discovery 'no risk to food safety'

Japan bans Canada poultry

Supermarkets braced for turkey recall

Experts puzzled over halt of bird flu

Pandemic spending and fears overblown

Pathogenic politics

Timeline: Bird flu in the UK

Mystery swirls around Chinese bird flu timeline

China grapples with fresh bird flu, foot & mouth

Foot and mouth disease in Columbia caused by a laboratory virus strain

Bird flu mutated in family cluster: WHO

China had bird flu case two years earlier

Bird flu killed 300 in China, says unofficial report

Bird flu spreads to far western China

Fox Series:  Bird Flu: Part 1   Part 2   Part 3    Part 4    Part 5

 

China warns against unsafe, maverick research into bird flu

BEIJING - China has warned maverick scientists against conducting "unsafe" research into bird flu, ordering them to seek explicit approval from the authorities first, state media said Thursday.  (China News)

The War is approaching us

RAND: Bioterrorism

Category: Biological weapons

Q&A: Avian influenza

China says it will stop misuse of antiviral drug

China in national bird flu alert

A nightmare scenario

Bird Flu drug rendered useless

WHO says bird flu pandemic could kill millions

Pandemic vaccine in hands of global depopulation advocates

Cooling tower source of legionnaires' outbreak

TORONTO - The source of the legionnaires disease outbreak that killed 20 residents of a Toronto nursing home has been traced to a cooling tower that was on the roof of the home.   (CTV)

Legionnaires' class action suit seeks $600M

Expert warned legionnaires' test flawed

TO nursing home illness ID'd as Legionnaire's

Six more seniors dead from T.O. outbreak

Memo instructs officials on dealing with media

Toronto Public Health

Study finds pollutants in Canadian blood samples

OTTAWA - Canadians are walking around with a cocktail of harmful toxic chemicals in their bodies, says a new report from an environmental watchdog group.  (CTV)   REPORT:   Toxic Nation

Chemicals pollute Ontario's political leaders

Guardian Special Report: SARS

CBS Indepth: SARS

Dying fish had twice the sea lice

Pollution blamed as China confronts surge in deformed babies

India's tea bosses warned on polluted water deaths

Hanford cleanup cost soars

HANFORD - It's costing Americans $1.4 million a day to build a facility to safely treat millions of gallons of radioactive and toxic waste stored in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's leak-prone underground tanks.  (Post-Intelligencer) 

Downwinders

Radiation and heart disease link

Tank troubles at Hanford a setback for Bechtel

Study: No radiation level safe

Downwinders' court win seen as 'great victory'   Sick DOE workers' claims languish

Hanford water cleanup not working, report says

Hanford site: Past horror, future hope

Hanford watch

Russian investigators probe bio weapons link

MOSCOW - An investigation is checking whether the mass outbreak of hepatitis A in the Tver region near Moscow could be linked to the biological weapons sector.  At the moment 363 people are in hospital, NewsRu.Com reported Thursday.  (Mosnews)    

Soviet Germ factories pose new threat

ODESSA, Ukraine -- For 50 years under Soviet rule, nearly everything about the Odessa Antiplague Station was a state secret, down to the names of the deadly microbes its white-coated workers collected and stored in a pair of ordinary freezers.  (Washington Post)  

Marburg virus death toll hits 180 of 205 reported cases 

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 in Angola     WHO to warn on changing avian flu

The Knowledge

Dead Scientists

 

Prime Time Crime current headlines

Recent Headlines