Link between mercury and autism suggested

There is so much talk recently about the avian flu, flu vaccins and how to protect ourselves against the flu and cold.

Scary idea is also being in the news that mercury can have negative impact and even damage the central nervous system. It makes people think twice before getting the flu shot because mercury is being used in flu vaccins.

You can learn more about that by going to the website maintained by The Coalition for SafeMinds (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders), which is a private nonprofit organization founded to investigate and raise awareness of the risks to infants and children of exposure to mercury from medical products, including thimerosal in vaccines. Safe Minds supports research on the potential harmful effects of mercury and thimerosal.

Helen

What happens when power gets off...

Power went off this morning in our area. I was going home from the night shift and got stuck in the traffic jam for a while. It got me thinking once again about whether we shouldn't be switching from the posts and wires above the ground to the system with the underground cables?

I know we have a lot of trees, especially here in BC, but we can use them in better way... What we have now is prone to damage whenever stronger winds blow and when that happens we have to set the time on all clocks in the house again (see my post about DST...).

Moreover, do you like those posts? They are not aesthetically pleasing - not at all... Just go to Sidney-by-the-sea. Beautiful sea view distracted by terrible posts and wires. Would it be so expensive to bury the cable underground?

Helen

Student loans forgiven - for BC nurses

New nurses in BC are getting their student loans forgiven - another good initiative by the BC government.

Who is eligible? Students graduating from accredited schools as nurse practitioners if they agree to work in a publicly funded facility in an area of the province that is currently underserved. They are now eligible to have their B.C. student loans forgiven over three years. But they have to choose to practise in rural and remote areas of the province.

And who are "nurse practitioners"?

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with the education and skills to provide a broad range of health-care services, such as diagnosing, prescribing, ordering diagnostic tests and managing common acute conditions and chronic illnesses.

Similar student loan forgiveness program is already available to nurses and now nurse practitioners also will have student loan forgiveness program.

The loan forgiveness program for nurses was announced in August 2000 - for graduates from accredited schools in nursing (including licensed practical nursing), but also for students of medical, midwifery and pharmacy schools, who began their programs on or after Aug. 1, 2000. Their B.C. student loan debts will be reduced by 33 per cent for each of the three years they work in an underserved community. In December 2004, the program was expanded to include graduates from speech language pathology, occupational therapy, audiology and physiotherapy, who, if working with children in underserved communities, would be eligible.


More information on the loan forgiveness program for nurses in British Columbia.

Helen

Firefighters' cancer risk recognized by BC government

It doesn't happen too often that any government gets praised for what they are doing, but today I want to notice a good initiative by the British Columbia government with regards to compensation for firefighters for certain kinds of cancer they got at work.

BC's Labour Ministry introduced legislation that recognizes a number of cancers as occupational disease associated with long-term employment as a firefighter. Here are those cancers:

• primary site brain cancer,
• primary site bladder cancer,
• primary site kidney cancer,
• primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
• primary site ureter cancer,
• primary site colorectal cancer and
• primary leukemia.
  

It is nice to see that one of the most respected by the public professions gets adequate treatment by the government. Well, maybe the government wants to show the teachers who is their favourite. On the other hand, the Professional Fire Fighters’ Association is not as powerful as the teachers' union and it's a big public relations gain for them...

Firefighters are very important in the province of BC where they have to protect not only the communities, but also - especially in summer - have often fight forest fires.

This initaitive has important implications for the professional firefighters because it means that the risk of cancer was recognized as one of the hazards of their job and from now on, the onus will be on WorkSafeBC (the Workers’ Compensation Board) or the employer to bring forward proof to establish why an injured worker should not be eligible for compensation rather than placing the burden of proof on a sick firefighter. This is much better solution for the firefighters going through cancer they acquired as the result of fighting the fires.

It can be expected that the provincial government will introduce similar legislation to protect other sectors of the work force - for those got seriously sick at work, who got not only cancer, but many other serious professional diseases. For example, health sector workers need similar protection as firefighters...

Helen

Have you been harassed or bullied at your work place?

I bet that more than 50% of people would say yes. Unfortunately, that is very often caused by the managers, bosses, etc. The worst kind of bulling by a manager is to me to be refused a day off for important family reasons (even without pay).

I know of a case when the manager didn’t allow an employee to take a day off so he could see his dying mother. Desperate, he called in sick the next day and went to hospital to see his mother, but when he came, she had already passed away.

A friend of mine asked for a day off to be with her daughter who was undergoing a difficult surgery. She was told that she has to come to work because her daughter is old enough to be on her own. My friend suffered a stroke because of such cruel treatment by the manager. She can’t work now and is on a long-term leave from her work.

There are many cases like those described above, but most often those harassed in this way don’t want or don’t even have enough strength to talk about it.

Why such cruelty is happening, why do we treat each other in such terrible way?

If you’ve heard about similar cases or experienced that kind of bullying and harassment by your manager, please share it here.

Helen

Daylight Saving Time - what savings?

I must admit that I don't like that I had to change all the clocks at my home again today. And I don't like doing it twice a year as the part of British Columbia I live in observes the Daylight Saving Time (DST). With the electronics taking control over us, whether we want it or not, every home appliance comes now with a clock and almost none of them updates automatically (only those in the computers do).

Twice a year - in April and October - I have to change 2-3 clocks in every room - in some rooms even more.

I've heard many senior citizens complaining about this time changing process as a huge nuisance. Every time they have to ask somebody to do that for them.

I also have two issues with these alleged - in my opinion - savings.

1/ has anybody done any research to find out if there are any real savings in hydro use - both by public and the industry? Any other savings?
2/ if there are any savings, has there been any negative impact of that time change measured and researched, taking for example the objections mentioned above?

But I have one more important concern about the DST. It has to do with our children. Because of the DST they are losing one full hour of daylight time - time during which they could stay outside, enjoy fresh air and sun, play games, etc. Instead of that they have to stay inside and do what - lay on the couch, watch TV, etc.

For me, that whole DST is totally unnecessary and the kids are losing most.

If it were up to me, I would never vote for DST - too annoying and I don't see any real savings.

Interesting article on history and use of the DST was published by Infoplease. Its author, John Gettings writes that some important parts of the world don't participate in the DST idea - e.g., Hawaii and Arizona in USA, Saskatchewan in Canada, whole Japan, China and most of Australia.

Do we really have to? What do you think? Is DST used in your area? How do you like it?

Helen

Social worker, not parents decides if 13-year old will have abortion

If you are a parent of a teenage girl, did you know that the girls - starting from ages 12-13 are being told that if they ever happen to become pregnant, all they have to do is to come to the school's social worker for help.

What kind of help is being offered? Well, girls are being told that if they want it, arrangement for abortion will be made by the social worker and nobody will know about it... Nobody means you - the parents of a girl who became pregnant - will not be notified and will not be involved in such fundamental family affair.

Social worker will never inform you that your child is pregnant as the school wants to maintain confidentility - but only between them and your child. If your child doesn't tell you, she simply may one day go to the abortion clinic instead of going to school. She will lose her first child and you will lose your grandchild. And you may not even know about it... Is your girl ready to make such important decision alone - without your input and understanding of your child's needs (especially emotional, but not only)? I don't think so.

Ask you girl, especially when she starts the high school if she was told that she and other girls don't have to tell their parents if they become pregnant. I bet that the majority of parents don't have any idea that our "wonderful" law system alows girls decide alone about abortion despite being so underage...

Obviously our young teenage girls need parents for everything else - to provide them with food, clothes, etc. But when it comes to such important decision in their lives (because they may not have children anymore because of abortion) - they are pressured to be left alone by the system of unscrupulous school-level administrators and social workers.

I don't think they are old enough to fully understand the repercussions of going through abortion. Such decision - to kill own baby - is traumatic even for much mature woman, but here we're talking about very young girls. Will they ever be able to laugh and have any happiness after that? How can be deprived of opportunity to share with their parents their mistakes, or more importantly - pain and confusion? I know enough social workers to doubt that they can be more helpful than parents. And hiding everything from the parents is to me just below any low and law.

I know that in communist countries the government was trying to get full control over the citizens by distroying the family and family values. Is Canada heading in the same direction?

We don't let our children drive a car when they are under 16 and they can drive alone when they are 19. How can we let a girl to have an abortion and decide about it by herself only - when she is 13 and doesn't understand what she's going through?

We have to do something about it. Remember, our children will have to one day start taking care about us - when we become old enough not to be able to care for ourselves. If we teach them that it is so easy - like simply talko to a social worker and have an abortion without even telling the parents - what can we expect in the future?

Please talk to your young girl what are they being told about that at her school, although in many cases they were simply advised not to be open with the parents. Let me know in the comments if you are as disappointed by the school system as I am with regards to this important issue.

Helen

Best place to live or a third-world country?

Recent developments at one of the Indian reserves in Northern Ontario have once again shown how hypocrytical our federal government is.

With big brass and broo-haha the government is trying to pretend that we are a modern and generous state helping other countries by sending them our troops to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Rwanda and other places. We spend on that millions of dollars while here in our country there is a significant part of the population - namely the native people - who live in extreme poverty, stricken by diseases, alcoholism, drug problems and very high unemployment.

For two years the problems of the Cree of Kashechewan reserve were practicaly ignored - the government did nothing - other than proclaiming boiling water advisory - to improve their living conditions and stop contamination of water and to make it drinkable. It was a terrible, terrible shame that so many people had suffer so much while the government boasts budget surplus. But even more annoying thing is to hear about the lavish life style enjoyed by politicians like Dingwall or - unforgettable former Governor General (she enjoyed caviar and wine at taxpayers' expense while people of Kashechewan didn't have water to drink!).

Not so long ago - before Chretien came to power - Canada was considered to be the best place to live. Now we don't even make it to the first 10, mainly because of the living conditions at the reserves and the quality of health care.

But that's a different story. Do you think we can be again the leader of the world? We should have elections soon. Will we use our democratic system to make a change for better? Or will we vote in again the same corrupted pack of Liberals... Shouldn't we give the other party a chance to make again Canada the best country to live in?

Stan