Welcome to this edition of the LiNK Online, with hosts Wojtek Gwiazda, Marc Montgomery, and Lynn Desjardins. This week, a bitter pill for retired public service employees, a connection between common chemicals we use and autism, and the importance of sleep
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Former public service employees are having to swallow a bitter pill as of this week, After negotiations with their bargaining unit and the federal government, their costs for health care benefits will go up by 100%.
The federal government in its ongoing austerity drive and desire to balance the budget said it was going to reduce its contributions to retirees health care benefits from their 75% contribution down to 50%, which means the retirees will have to make up the shortfall
The former employees bargaining units reluctantly signed off on the deal with reasury Board after negotiating some concessions on deductibles and health care payments.
They said it was the best deal they could get given that the government could have simply legislated the change with none of the concessions. Wojtek has a report.
April 2 is World Autism Day, and the researchers note there has been a dramatic rise in the incidence of autistic behaviour in children, with as high as one in 88 children diagnosed in the US, and of that one in 50 boys.
There have been many studies into genetic connections, but the researchers felt that could not explain the sudden rise and they began looking at environmental factors. More specifically they began comparing the amounts of various common chemicals, someof which are hormone disrupters, in pregnant women.
Then, a few years after birth they asked the mothers to rate their child’s behaviour in terms of social interaction and play. They found that there seemed to be a connection with the amount of chemicals, two in particular, with higher levels of autistic behaviour.
Dr Bruce Lanphear of Simon Fraser University and the BC Women and Childrens Hospital is a co-author of the report.
We have another scientific study..something that perhaps teenagers will love to hear, but we should all be aware of; the need for sleep.
An American study found damage in the brains of mice when denied sleed for extended periods.
“The impact of even a small amount of sleep loss can be quite remarkable and have severe consequences,” says Prof. Stuart Fogel, a research scientist at Western University in London, Ontario. “These consequences could even lead downstream, if left unchecked, to perhaps diseased processes and more severe neuro-degeneration and increasing sort of snowball effects into increasing sleep loss and further downstream consequences. So, left unchecked, it could be a real problem.”
Lynn speaks with Professor Fogel about the importance of sleep.
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