Hosting this edition : Wojtek Gwiazda, Marc Montgomery
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It was an horrific event. A seniors home in the municipality of L’Isle-Verte in the mainly French speaking province of Quebec caught fire and quickly burned out of control.
Some 32 elderly residents trapped in their rooms where they died while family and friends looked on helplessly as firefighters attempted to put out the raging fire.
To the surprise of almost everyone, the home had no automatic fire sprinkler system in the section of the residence which would have helped to suppress the fire.
Wojtek spoke to Susan Eng, Vice-President for Advocacy at CARP- a non-profit agency promoting seniors rights.
They recently made an urgent appeal to provincial and federal governments for legislation requiring all seniors residences to be equipped with sprinkler systems, not just newly built structures.
A new study by the the University of Alberta has revealed some disturbing new information about very common chemicals we come in contact with every day.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical used to harden plastics. It’s found in a huge number of products, from the lining in tin cans, to credit cards and even as a powder coating on the very widely used thermal cash reciepts of the majority of stores.
Studies showed it had a negative effect on children’s brain development, and has been banned from products like baby bottles. In light of this, industry proposed an alternative BPS.
The new study found that BPS has virtually the same negative effect on brain development, but also that even extremely minute amounts of these “endocrine disrupters” could result in changes in brain development resulting in potential for behavioural problems later in a child’s life.
Marc spoke to neuro-scientist and professor Deborah Kurrasch, who pointed out that bisphenols can leach out of plastic containers into the food and drink they carry, and that the coating on reciepts can pass through the skin on your fingers very easily to get into your body. She recommends expectant mothers avoid handling the receipts, and suggests glass food and drink containers are a much better option than plastic.
Butting out!
About 100 Canadians die of smoking related illness every day. Most people are aware of the health risks associated with smoking and try to quit. But many are unable to.
A new study shows the ability to quit and the best strategy and products to use may depend on an individuals particular body and how well they metabolize nicotine.
The study was recently published in the Lancet, Lynn spoke with Rachel Tyndale, professor at the University of Toronto, senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and a lead author of the study.
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