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Category: Toxicology

Afternoon Edition – H1N1 Special
Rob Snow and Dr Barry Dworkin host a four hour special on H1N1 answering your questions about the virus and the vaccine to protect against it.

References:

Public Health Agency of Canada – National Advisory Committee On Immunization: Influenza Vaccine
Thimerosal in Vaccines
Thimerosal and Vaccine Safety
Squalene information from FDA site
Information on opposing voices and the methodology employed
An Epidemic of fear
The Cochrane Influenza Resources
Cochrane review of vaccines and autism claim

Original broadcast date: August 9, 2009 The statistics are compelling and disturbing. An article written by Val Jones on the website Science Based Medicine notes the following: -    Pfizer Global Security raids resulted in seizure of 11.1 million counterfeit tablets, capsules and vials in 42 countries in 2008. Pfizer seizure of counterfeit drugs in 2008 [...]

Original broadcast date: March 29, 2009 If there is one quote that epitomizes the plethora of ideas expressed in physician and Guardian columnist Dr. Ben Goldacre’s book bad science, it is this from paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science, Steven Jay Gould: “ When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their [...]

Original broadcast date: February 1, 2009 Have you had a Monster or a Red Bull or one of the myriad of “energy” drinks recently? Have you had a chance to read the ingredients label? If you have not, you may want to reconsider. A study published in the September 2008 edition of the journal Drug [...]

A partnership among The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) and Canada’s Research Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) has produced a program to raise awareness and educate patients through the publication of Knowledge is the best medicine. The aim is to promote safe and appropriate medication use among Canadians. Mr. Ronnie Miller, [...]

In the elderly, the response to stressful procedures like surgery can lead to some post-operative effects on mood and perception. These effects can hamper the recovery process. A new study published in the September 2008 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal from Ontario’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) found the use of stains [...]

An ICES study recently reported that older adults with dementia who receive short-term courses of antipsychotic medications are more likely to experience a serious adverse event requiring hospitalization than those who do not take the drugs. Dr. Paula Rochon, MD, MPH, FRCPC Senior Scientist and Assistant Director at the Kunin Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit – [...]

Although the focus for many people is to prevent illness and stay as healthy and independent as possible, as we age, the more likely we will be diagnosed with various diseases states or conditions. As a result, the elderly are prescribed more medications that have the potential to cause harm through drug interactions and not [...]

Food science is a major topic for discussion on Sunday House Call. To me, there was one seminal interview that beautifully encapsulated the exciting science and discovery of the biochemistry of foods and the role they play in fighting cancer.


The interview in June 2006 featured Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer through Diet. To date, 200,000 copies of the book have sold in Canada, an incredible number given that 5,000 is considered a best-seller.


As we discussed in our last interview of June 25, 2006, phytochemicals in the foods we eat can play a significant role in cancer prevention and overall health; literally a non-toxic version of chemotherapy. Our current Western diets seem to have weakened our body’s ability to fend off certain types of cancer among other diseases. In short, our society’s food choices have become divorced from reality and from our biology and physiology.


It seems the next logical step was to expand on the science and, at the same time, produce a book on how to incorporate these foods into our diet. With that in mind sprung his next book, Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer.


  • Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet and Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer, Biochemistry professor and Chair in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer at the University of Quebec at Montreal and director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Sainte Justine Hospital. He is also professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal.

Many people have difficulty sleeping in hospitals. Noisy wards to visits to the loss of a person’s lack daily routine are some of the contributing factors to insomnia. A new ICES study, Initiation of benzodiazepines in the elderly after hospitalization, in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine looked at prescribing [...]

If you are a resident in a nursing home, what is the likelihood you will be prescribed an antipsychotic medication based on a clear indication that it is a required therapy? This question was addressed in an ICES study that looked at the prescribing rates in different Ontario nursing residences. The results published this month [...]

It is estimated that 80 to 160 million adults take antioxidants in the form of Vitamin A, E and beta-carotene. The premise is that antioxidants will prevent cellular damage from environmental sources maintain their health and thus lead to a longer life. A new study published in the February 28, 2007 issue of the Journal [...]

What do we know about the safety and efficacy of medications when they are used during pregnancy and breastfeeding? What measures do we have in place today and are improvements needed? A new Alliance of health professionals, academia, patients, health care policy experts and industry individuals has been formed to address these issues The Canadian [...]

The AFC Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has evaluated the new long-term study on the carcinogenicity of aspartame conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, Italy. In its opinion published today, the Panel concluded, on the basis of all the evidence currently available, that there is no need to further review [...]

Original broadcast date: August 28, 2005 In a June Rolling Stone article, and in subsequent appearances on Imus in the Morning, ABC News, and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Bobby Kennedy Jr accuses US government vaccine scientists and their academic advisers of covering up what for him is an uncontestable fact: the causal link [...]