Canadian Cancer Society applauds provincial moves on pesticides
The Canadian Cancer Society B.C. and Yukon today congratulated Premier Christy Clark and Opposition Leader Adrian Dix for agreeing to put forward legislation that would protect the health of children and families by banning the sale and use of cosmetic pesticides in British Columbia. “This is a big step forward for cancer prevention in our […]
Financial ties bind medical societies to drug and device makers
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber SAN FRANCISCO — From the time they arrived to the moment they laid their heads on hotel pillows, the thousands of cardiologists attending this week’s Heart Rhythm Society conference have been bombarded with pitches for drugs and medical devices. St. Jude Medical adorns every hotel key card. Medtronic ads […]
Worst drinks for weight loss
Sometimes the biggest culprits for adding unwanted calories to our diet when we’re trying to lose weight are the drinks we’re consuming! Not being very substantial, and often “refreshing”, many high calorie drinks sneak past our health radar, undetected. And before you know it, you just can’t seem to drop that last 5, or 10 […]
Planting the seeds for a West Kootenay regional food organization
With the West Kootenay having become fertile soil for many innovative food system initiatives, another project is now underway which hopes to build the capacity within the West Kootenay to form a regional food system organization. Often referred to as ‘food councils,’ ’roundtables,’ ‘networks’ or ‘coalitions,’ hundreds of these types of regional organizations do already […]
Pesticides tied to lower IQ in children
By Janet Raloff, Science News Children exposed in the womb to substantial levels of neurotoxic pesticides have somewhat lower IQs by the time they enter school than do kids with virtually no exposure. A trio of studies screened women for compounds in blood or urine that mark exposure to organophosphate pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, diazinon […]
Hospital taxes set to increase for this year to pay for "future" projects
Like baby birds straining in the nest to get more worms than their siblings, another tax requisition besets beleaguered Nelson taxpayers, the West Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital District board announced recently. Property owners in the city will be paying around $24 more — on a house assessed at $300,000 — on their “hospital” tax bill […]
Program to target West Nile Virus in Kootenays
The Province will provide $2 million to the Union of BC Municipalities for West Nile Virus (WNV) monitoring and larvaciding —insecticide that affects only developing stages of mosquitoes — for targeted areas of the Kootenays, the Okanagan and the Fraser Valley. WNV is transmitted to people and animals, such as horses, through a bite from an […]
Temporary, abbreviated echocardiography and ultrasound service set up in Nelson, Castlegar
Major gaps in the echocardiography departments in Nelson and Castlegar have temporarily and partially been closed as Interior Health Authority announced Tuesday they have arranged contract services for those facilities. Interior Health will provide echocardiography service at Kootenay Lake Hospital on a monthly basis from April through September — around five days per month. “Nelson […]
Are your dinner choices putting the brakes on your weight loss?
Eating a big dinner might be sabotaging your weight loss efforts in more ways than you think! Here are just somepossible ways: You’re not active enough in the evening to justify making dinner your largest meal (most people aren’t!). Why do we eat food? No, it’s not just because it tastes good. We eat for energy! […]
Recent scandals show ongoing battle for Chinese food security
A slew of food scandals have occurred in China in recent weeks, highlighting the country's ongoing challenge with maintaining levels of food safety.Most recently, a report on broadcaster CCTV2 revealed that a Shanghai producer of steamed buns (mantou) used contained dye and excessive amounts of artificial sweetener in the ...
