Canada Adds 8 Chemicals to Toxic List

Government adds 8 chemicals to list of harmful substances

Ottawa has designated eight chemicals as being of concern to human health or the environment following its latest assessment of potentially dangerous substances.

The designated chemicals include silicon-based D4 and D5, which are used in a wide range of cosmetic products.

The joint assessment by Health Canada and Environment Canada means the chemicals can now be regulated. The latest assessment is part of a process of reviewing 200 chemicals in batches of up to 30 to determine whether they pose a risk to human health or the environment and should be more closely regulated.

It's the same process under which the federal government announced it would ban the import and sale of baby bottles made with bisphenol A.

Interested parties now have 60 days to comment on any risk management that may be required in the case of the eight newly named chemicals.

Of the eight chemicals placed on Ottawa's list, D4 and D5, along with TTBP, a fuel and oil additive, are not considered a threat to human health but are listed as of concern to the environment, including wildlife.

The ministers of health and environment issued a joint news release Tuesday stating "regulations will be developed to set a concentration limit for siloxanes D4 and D5 in products and for wastewater generated during the manufacturing process.

"The third substance [TTBP] will be managed so that releases to the environment will be reduced below levels that can be measured."

Harm to environment, carcinogenic effects among dangers

D5 is used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and cleaners as well as inks, textiles, rubbers and fuel additives. It is considered bioaccumulative and can harm aquatic organisms at low concentrations.

D4 is another silicone fluid used in types of rubbers, plastics, soap, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics — including creams, lotions, hair care products and antiperspirants — as well as pesticides, paints, lacquers, varnishes, inks, textiles, leather goods and fuel additives.

Ottawa has said experimental data shows that D4 is persistent in the environment and can harm aquatic organisms at low concentrations.

Tuesday's release also lists five other chemicals as of concern to human health. They are thiourea, Pigment Yellow 34, Pigment Red 104, isoprene and epichlorohydrin.

Thiourea is used to extract silver and gold from ore and occurs naturally in some plants and fungi. Europe and the U.S. have classified it as a compound that should be examined as a possible carcinogen.

Pigment Yellow 34 and Pigment Red 104 contain chromium and lead and are used to colour plastics, inks, paints, coatings, adhesives, textiles and sealants. In addition, the European Commission classified Pigment Yellow 34 based on concerns that it may be carcinogenic and toxic to the reproductive system.

Isoprene is used to make medical equipment, toys, tires and paints, inner tubes, and some rubber adhesives and glues. The federal government decided to take a closer look at this chemical after other jurisdictions classified it as a possible human carcinogen.

Epichlorohydrin is a synthetic chemical used to make other chemicals and is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the European Commission and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Source: CBC.ca

Biphensol - Additional Concerns Part 2 - Canned Food

Source: Men's Living Jan 2009

Vicks VapoRub Harmful to Kids

Cold ointments may spell serious breathing problems for children

As far as home remedies go, it's right up there with chicken noodle soup. But parents who use Vicks VapoRub to help their children get over a cold may, in some instances, do more harm than good.

A new study published today in the journal Chest warns that putting the mentholated ointment under or in a child's nostrils can prompt mucus production and cause serious breathing problems.

"I think it will surprise some folks because it is used this way," said Bruce Rubin, professor and vice-chairman for research in the pediatrics department at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

Although health professionals and product manufacturers have long known that using Vicks VapoRub and similar generic products on children can present risks, many parents may not be getting that message, Dr. Rubin said.

"I think most people aren't aware of [the risks] and I think most people don't read the warning label," he said.

The label on Vicks VapoRub, for instance, advises parents to consult a physician before using the product on children under age 2. A warning also states that the product shouldn't be rubbed in the nostril.

But the study said many parents or caregivers may miss, or even ignore, this warning, not realizing the harmful effects the product can have on very young children.

Dr. Rubin and his colleagues embarked on the study after taking care of an 18-month-old girl who was brought to the hospital with severe breathing problems. Doctors couldn't figure out what had caused the girl, who was suffering from a cold and hadn't been given any medication, to suddenly experience "severe respiratory distress."

After asking the child's grandparents to think of anything they may have done before she began to have trouble breathing, her grandmother said she had put Vicks under her nostrils less than an hour before.

After the child recovered, doctors at the hospital began to routinely ask about the use of mentholated ointments and found several cases were similar.

Researchers then began a study using ferrets, which have a similar airway to humans, to determine what could be causing the problem among young children. They found that Vicks VapoRub causes an increase in mucus, which can lead to serious problems among children. A child's airway is tightened and narrowed by a virus, and thus a significant increase in mucus can lead to serious breathing difficulties like those noted by Dr. Rubin and his colleagues.

That's not to say mentholated ointments don't provide relief. In adults, they deliver a cool sensation that tricks the brain into thinking airflow is increasing. In reality, the preparations don't act as a decongestant or help a person to breathe better. But they do make a person feel like they can breathe better, helping them feel more comfortable as they fight a cold.

The warning about the menthol-based ointment is particularly timely, considering health officials are moving to restrict the use of over-the-counter medications in children.

Last month, Health Canada warned that cough and cold medications shouldn't be given to children under 6 because there isn't enough information to prove they're effective. These medications were linked to some health problems among children in Canada in recent years, including five deaths.

It's possible the new restrictions on cold medications may prompt some parents to look more closely at alternative or home remedies to help their children. If that's the case, parents must understand that over-the-counter remedies that are used safely in adults could cause serious problems in kids.

"You need to be aware that unless these are studied in children, there might be unrecognized risks," Dr. Rubin said.

A Canadian pediatrician agreed that parents should be wary of giving children over-the-counter cold remedies, even if they're considered to be natural.

"A lot of the natural products on the market have not been tested," said Danielle Grenier, medical affairs director at the Canadian Paediatric Society. "Even if it's a natural product, it still has ingredients. We know that it can have side effects."

The best advice she has for parents is to rely on the simplest solutions to help your child through a cold: plenty of warm liquids and a lot of rest.

"They're still the best," Dr. Grenier said.

Source: TheGlobeandMail.ca

Frozen Fish Recall

CFIA Recalls Frozen Fish Due To Toxin Concern

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has pulled a product off the shelves and issued a warning after two people fell ill after eating possibly contaminated frozen fish.

The brand is called School of Fish and the product is frozen Leatherjacket. It shouldn't be eaten because it may contain a toxin known as ciguatera.

Ciguatera is a marine biotoxin that accumulates in fish and causes an illness in humans called ciguatera poisoning.

Even worse, contaminated fish may not look or smell spoiled, and the toxin is not destroyed by cooking.

'Frozen Leatherjacket' was produced in China and imported by Frobisher International Enterprise Ltd. The company has started a voluntary recall which CFIA is monitoring.

The product was distributed in British Columbia and Ontario. It was sold in packages of various weights bearing Production Code HI04 and one of the following size and UPC combinations:

a) Size 100/200 and UPC 8 74718 00074 0

b) Size 200/400 and UPC 8 74718 00073 3

There have been two reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.

Symptoms of ciguatera poisoning include

• gastroenteritis (vomiting, cramps, diarrhea)
• itching of the skin
• central nervous system dysfunction, which often includes hot and cold inversion

If you have any questions, call Frobisher 604-523-8108 or CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8am to 8pm Eastern time, Monday to Friday).

Find out more about ciguatera - click here.

Source: CityNews.ca

Beware FDA Changes to Guidelines

Change in FDA's ethical guidelines for clinical trials troubling: Lancet

The Lancet medical journal is reporting that the United States Food and Drug Administration is abandoning the Declaration of Helsinki as an ethical foundation for international clinical trials.

The declaration was drafted in 1964 by the World Medical Association to provide binding ethical standards for medical research involving humans.

Many basic patients' rights are enshrined in the declaration. Sections of it also govern business and environmental practices of the researchers.

The FDA is instead adopting the International Conference on Harmonization's Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP), which allows less stringent ethical standards for overseas research.

In a commentary published in the Jan. 3 issue of the Lancet, medical research experts Jonathan Kimmelman of McGill University, Charles Weijer of the University of Western Ontario and Eric Meslin of the University of Indiana call the move "troubling."

The authors urge the incoming U.S. administration of president-elect Barack Obama to stick to the original declaration pending a review of the implications for American research overseas should the new guidelines be adopted.

"The FDA regulates the largest drug market in the world, and we worry that its replacement of the Declaration of Helsinki with a less morally authoritative document may cause others to follow suit, thereby undermining international ethical standards for research," they write.

In October 2008, the FDA formally stopped requiring that foreign clinical studies supporting applications for drug licensing comply with the declaration.

The authors point out several important requirements that the declaration contains but the GCP lacks, including:

* Investigators must disclose funding, sponsors and other potential conflicts of interest to both research ethics committees and study participants.
* Study design must be disclosed publicly (e.g., in clinical trial registries).
* Research, notably that in developing countries, must benefit and be responsive to health needs of populations in which it is done.

Source:CBC.ca

Diet Tips that Work

The Top Four Diets That Really Work

Friday January 2, 2009

CityNews.ca Staff

If your plan for the New Year involves a new you from head to toe, losing weight may be at the top of your "to do" list.

Many people choose the first day of 2009 as the day they cut out salty snacks, scale back on soft drinks and vow to eat more vegetables.

But slow changes are preferable to a radical diet overhaul - for one, note experts, it's easier to stick to small goals.

Registered dietician Julie Daniluk even has a helpful pun to keep her clients on target.

"You need to decide within yourself that you're going to do a live-it and not a die-it."

Swapping your regular Coke for diet, for example, is simpler to achieve than going to the gym every morning, drinking only a smoothie for breakfast and completely cutting out after-dinner chips.

Marco Coffa, a successful dieter who lost 90lbs in nine months, found that an approach filled with small steps led to a dramatic change.

"I just woke up one morning and I said, you know what? I'm tired of being fat."

That tiny thought led to a major shift in what he eats.

"Now I eat a lot of protein, a lot of fibre, and just stay away from the junk."

If you're really committed, Health Specialist Laura DiBatttista found the top four diets that really work:

Volumetrics:

Simply put, eat soup first.

"High amounts of veggies and fruit are going to fill you up," explains Daniluk.

"That's really what it's all about.

Energy-density is another name for figuring out how many calories are in a given weight (serving size) of food. The lower the energy-density, the more you can have. The basic rule of thumb of Volumetrics: eat a low-cal soup or salad before you start eating. Starting with a low-density food helps you stay satisfied long after you finished eating your main course.

10,000 Step:

Make exercise an integral part of your life, not just something you do at the gym.

"If we can combine diet with exercise, we're going to have a permanent win," she outlines.

Walking 10,000 paces every day is easier than it sounds: Grab a pedometer and start counting how many steps you're taking when you park farther from the door, get off the subway a stop early, or take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Eat Dinner For Breakfast:

Get the bulk of you calories in the morning so you can burn them off all day. It prevents you from loading up at noon or right before you go to bed.

"You'll be left with this incredibly happy, fulfilled sensation instead of feeling flat from a bowl of cereal."

Weight Watchers:

It's lasted this long for a reason: Devotees swear it works. The plan involves weekly meetings and weigh-ins for motivation and behavioral support for diet and exercise changes. Weight Watchers relies on its users using a book of recipes provided by the company. In an investigation, Consumer Reports found the recipes appetizing and easy to prepare.

---

Six Strategies For Success

1. Make a commitment
Permanent weight loss takes time and effort. It requires focus and a lifelong commitment. Make sure that you're ready to make permanent changes and that you do so for the right reasons.

2. Get emotional support
Only you can help yourself lose weight by taking responsibility for your own behavior. But that doesn't mean that you have to do everything alone. Seek support when needed from your partner, family and friends.

3. Set a realistic goal
When you're considering what to expect from your new eating and exercise plan, be realistic. Healthy weight loss occurs slowly and steadily. Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week.

4. Enjoy healthier foods
Adopting a new eating style that promotes weight loss must include lowering your total calorie intake. But decreasing calories need not mean giving up taste, satisfaction or even ease of meal preparation.

5. Get active, stay active.
Dieting alone can help you lose weight. Cutting 500 calories from your daily diet can help you lose about a pound a week: 3,500 calories equals 1 pound (0.5 kilogram) of fat. But add a 45- to 60-minute brisk walk four days a week, and you can double your rate of weight loss.

6. Change your lifestyle.
It's not enough to eat healthy foods and exercise for only a few weeks or even several months. You have to include these behaviors in your lifestyle. To do that, you have to change the behaviors that helped make you overweight in the first place. Lifestyle changes start with taking an honest look at your eating habits and daily routine.

Information courtesy the Mayo Clinic.

Shorter Effective Workout Routines Bring Gains

A shorter workout – but it will hurt

The question

Can I get fit by exercising just a few minutes a week?

The answer

Breathless claims about exercise regimens that produce near-instant results with minimal effort are generally the domain of late-night infomercials and their ilk.

So it may seem surprising that one of the hot topics at last month's American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Indianapolis was research on "high-intensity interval training" (HIT), suggesting that many of the benefits of traditional endurance training can be achieved with a few short bouts of intense exercise totalling as little as seven minutes a week.

The latest research on the topic, from a group at Hamilton's McMaster University, was just published in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. It shows that that HIT improves the structure and function of key arteries that deliver blood to the muscles and heart, just like typical cardio training.

The McMaster group has produced a series of remarkable studies on HIT over the past few years, led by exercise physiologist Martin Gibala.

Their subjects cycled as hard as they could for 30 seconds, then rested for four minutes, and repeated four to six times. They did this short workout three times a week.

"The gains are quite substantial," Dr. Gibala says. When compared with control subjects who cycled continuously for up to an hour a day, five times a week, the HIT subjects showed similar gains in exercise capacity, muscle metabolism and cardiovascular fitness.

Similar studies by University of Guelph researcher Jason Talanian have found that interval training also increases the body's ability to burn fat, an effect that persists even during lower-intensity activities following the interval training.

The results are no surprise to elite cyclists, runners and swimmers, who have relied on interval training for decades to achieve peak performance. To break the four-minute mile in 1954, Roger Bannister famously relied on interval sessions of 10 60-second sprints separated by two minutes of rest, because his duties as a medical student on clinical rotation limited his training time to half an hour a day at lunch.

Such time constraints are the main reason Dr. Gibala advocates HIT, since studies consistently find that lack of time is the top reason that people don't manage to get the 30 to 60 minutes of daily exercise recommended by public health guidelines.

"We're not saying that it's a panacea that has all the benefits of [traditional] endurance training," he says. "But it's a way that people can get away with less."

High-intensity exercise is generally thought to carry some risks, so sedentary or older people should check with a doctor before trying HIT. Interestingly, though, University of British Columbia researcher Darren Warburton presented results in Indianapolis showing his work with cancer and heart disease patients, demonstrating that these higher-risk populations can also benefit safely from HIT.

There is a catch - the disclaimer at the end of the infomercial, if you will. To cram the benefits of an hour-long workout into a few short minutes, you also have to compress the effort you would have spent.

"That's the trade-off," Dr. Gibala says. "Going all out is uncomfortable. It hurts." But at least with this approach it's over quickly.

How to take a HIT

The guiding principle of HIT is that the shorter the workout, the higher the intensity you need to reap the benefits. "Basically," McMaster University's Martin Gibala says, "you need to get out of your comfort zone." Start by trying a HIT workout once or twice a week.

The Street-lighter: For a sedentary person who gets winded walking around the block, HIT can be as simple as walking more quickly than usual between two light poles. Then back off, and repeat after you have recovered.

The Bannister: Go hard for one minute, then recover (either

by slowing down or stopping completely) for one to two minutes. Repeat 10 times. This is a staple workout for a wide range of abilities, suitable for any

cardio activity.

The Timesaver: Dr. Gibala's protocol of 30 seconds of all-out cycling four to six times with four minutes rest is the shortest workout shown to be effective. But achieving the necessary intensity outside the lab is extremely challenging, so it's best suited to experts and those capable of extreme self-punishment.

All these workouts should be preceded by a gentle warm-up of at least five to 10 minutes.

Alex Hutchinson

Source: GlobeandMail.ca

Beans Lower Cholesterol

Source: Women's Health March 2008

Ban Demand: 8 Dyes Linked Problematic Child Behaviour

Consumer group calls on FDA to outlaw food dyes

A consumer advocacy group called on the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday to ban the use of eight artificial colourings in food because the additives may cause hyperactivity and behaviour problems in some children.

Controlled studies conducted over three decades have shown that children's behaviour can be worsened by some artificial dyes, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group noted the British government is successfully pressuring food manufacturers to switch to safer colourings.

Over the years, the FDA has consistently disputed the centre's assertion. The agency's website contains a 2004 brochure that asks the question: "Do additives cause childhood hyperactivity?"

"No. Although this hypothesis was popularized in the 1970s, well-controlled studies conducted since then have produced no evidence that food additives cause hyperactivity or learning disabilities in children," the agency said.

Julie Zawisza, an FDA spokeswoman, said Tuesday that color additives undergo safety reviews before approval for marketing and that samples of each artificial colouring are tested. She said the agency reviewed one of the studies the centre cites in calling for a ban.

"[We] didn't find a reason to change our conclusions that the ingredients are safe for the general population," Zawisza said. "Also note that the European Food Safety Agency has a similar view as FDA's."

Dyes are used in countless foods and sometimes used to simulate the colour of fruits or vegetables. The additives are particularly prevalent in the cereals, candies, sodas and snack foods pitched to kids.

"The purpose of these chemicals is often to mask the absence of real food, to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children, or both," said Michael F. Jacobson, the centre's executive director.

"Who can tell the parents of kids with behavioural problems that this is truly worth the risk?"

The centre's petition asks the FDA to require a warning label on foods with artificial dyes while it mulls the group's request to ban the dyes outright.

The colourings the centre seeks to ban are:

• Yellow 5
• Red 40
• Blue 1
• Blue 2
• Green 3
• Orange B
• Red 3
• Yellow 6
  

Source: CBC.ca

Compliments Burgers Recall - Possible E. Coli

Compliments frozen beef burgers recalled over E. coli fears

Canada's food watchdog has issued a health hazard alert warning consumers that some packages of Compliments frozen beef burgers may be contaminated with the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday said Mississauga-based Cardinal Meat Specialists Ltd. is recalling the following products:

• Compliments Super 8 Beef Burgers, 1.36 kilograms, UPC 55742 37055, best before date May 7, 2008.
• Compliments Beef Burgers with Omega 3, 1.13 kilograms, UPC 55742 35724, best before date May 7, 2008.
• Compliments Balance Lean Beef burgers, 907 grams, UPC 55742 36814, best before date May 7, 2008.

The products were distributed across the country. One associated illness has been reported.

The agency said food contaminated with E. coli may not look or smell spoiled. It warned that consumption of food contaminated with the bacteria may cause death or serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as permanent kidney damage.

Symptoms include severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. Some people may have seizures or strokes and some may need blood transfusions and kidney dialysis.

Consumers with questions can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342.

Source: CBC.ca

Mandatory High School Phys Ed -All Grades

Manitoba to make phys-ed mandatory for Grade 11 and 12 in 2008

As part of a push to encourage healthy lifestyles for young people, the Manitoba government is making physical education part of the curriculum for Grade 11 and 12.

Education Minister Peter Bjornson says the new requirement will take effect in September 2008.

He says students will be able to earn the required phys-ed or health credits either in class or through outside activities such as intramural and inter-school sports or community-based sports.

They will be encouraged to find activities suited to their interests and abilities.

The addition to the curriculum is one of the government's responses to an all-party committee's report on healthy kids released in 2005.

Bjornson made the announcement Tuesday at a Winnipeg high school, where he joined Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross and students in a game of basketball.

Source: CBC.ca

Soft Drinks and Pancreatic Cancer Link

Source: Men's Health March 2007

Added Sugar Consumption

Source: Men's Health March 2007

5 minutes to Butt Out

5 minutes of exercise seems to curb smoking desire, at least in the short run

As little as five minutes of exercise seems to help smokers curb their craving for a cigarette, a review of a dozen studies found.

The research showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

"If we found the same effects in a drug, it would immediately be sold as an aid to help people quit smoking," said Dr. Adrian Taylor, the study's lead author and professor of exercise and health psychology at the University of Exeter.

Taylor and colleagues reviewed 12 papers looking at the connection between exercise and nicotine deprivation. They focused on exercises that could be done outside a gym, such as walking and isometrics, or the flexing and tensing of muscles. According to their analysis, just five minutes of exercise was often enough to help smokers overcome their immediate need for a nicotine fix.

After various types of moderate physical exertion, researchers asked people to rate their need for a cigarette. Those who had exercised reported a reduced desire to smoke.

"What's surprising is the strength of the effect," said Dr. Robert West, professor of health psychology at University College London, who was not involved in the study. "They found that the acute effects of exercise were as effective as a nicotine patch."

West cautioned that it was unknown how long the effects of exercise would last. "You could in theory use exercise to deal with short bouts of nicotine cravings, but we don't know if it would help in the longer term," he said. It is likely that exercise would have to be combined with a larger strategy of other anti-smoking techniques to be successful in helping people quit.

Nearly anything that distracts people from smoking is thought to help, but scientists have long suspected that exercise might have a more potent effect. Taylor theorized that exercise could produce the mood-enhancing hormone dopamine, which could, in turn, reduce smokers' nicotine dependence.

Still, experts were not convinced about the study's practical applications. "Doctors can tell patients to do things until they're blue in the face, but the limiting factor may be getting people to actually take up exercise," said Dr. Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology at Queen Mary University Hospital in London. Hajek was not involved in the study.

He said that if people were taught simple exercises, including isometrics they could do at their desk, they could potentially stave off their need for a cigarette break. "When you are dying for a cigarette, you can try to exercise instead," he said.

Source: CBC.ca

Red Dull

Source: Women's Health March 2007

Bread Wonder and Cancer Link

Source: Women's Health March 2007

The Nuttiest Antioxidant

Source: Men's Health March 2007

Office Workers & Blood Clots

Office workers prone to blood clots

Staying chained to your desk might place you at greater risk of potentially fatal blood clots in the legs, researchers in New Zealand say.

Deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT, is thought to be caused by sitting rigidly for too long.

Also called travellers' thrombosis, the condition is caused when a blood clot forms in leg veins and travels to the lungs, heart or brain days or weeks later, where it can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Prof. Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in Wellington looked at 62 people under 65 who were admitted to hospital with blood clots.

About 34 per cent were admitted after sitting at work for long periods, compared with 1.4 per cent among people who recently took a long-distance flight.

"There are considerably more people who are seated for long periods at work as part of their normal day than there are traveling," Beasley told National Radio Monday.

The researchers were surprised to find how long some workers, such as those in the information technology industry and call centres, were seated.

Walk for prevention

"We had people not uncommonly working up to 12 to 14 hours a day and being seated for that time."

Clots formed in 10 per cent of air passengers at high risk for the condition and in one per cent of passengers generally.

"The study suggested that people develop clots in their legs from sitting three to four hours at a time," Toronto cardiologist Dr. Beth Abramson, a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, told CBC Newsworld.

"It wasn't common, but it was more common than we thought."

Certain segments of the population are at higher risk for clots because their clotting systems are more active, Abramson said. These include women on estrogen from the birth control pill, pregnant women and people being treated for cancer.

To avoid DVT, Abramson recommended office workers get up and walk around and stay hydrated.

Avoidance tips

For passengers, doctors suggest:

• Wearing compression stockings to improve circulation during flights.
• Stretching their legs occasionally.
• Taking ASA.
• Avoiding alcohol.

People should seek medical attention if they sit for a prolonged period and feel a severe cramp in the calf or pain higher up in their leg that doesn't go away, Abramson advised.

The clots are treated with blood thinning drugs, and the treatment can take months.

The research will be presented this month at the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. It will be published next month in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Source:CBC.ca

Canned Food Chemical Unhealthy Lab Results

Controversial chemical found in canned foods, U.S. tests show

High levels of bisphenol A, a compound that mimics the hormone estrogen and is used to make many types of plastic products, have been found to be leaching out of tin cans and baby bottles in separate tests conducted by two U.S. environmental groups.

The largest amounts were found by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group in brand-name canned goods purchased at U.S. supermarkets, with the most elevated readings detected in chicken noodle soup and mixed vegetables. The highest U.S. level found was about four times above top readings detected in canned food in Europe.

The findings are likely to add to the current controversy over bisphenol A, a chemical that its manufacturers insist is safe, but that has been linked in independent laboratory testing on animals to a raft of hormonally related health effects, including declining sperm counts, earlier onset of puberty, birth defects, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Currently, there are no regulatory limits on the amount of bisphenol A residues allowed in Canadian food. But bisphenol A is one of the first chemicals slated for review under a policy the Harper government announced late last year to consider thousands of compounds in widespread use that were never given thorough safety assessments.

The Canadian safety review is expected to begin in April or May and to be conducted jointly by federal health and environment officials.

Canadian environmentalists say that bisphenol A is likely to be present in food here in similar quantities to those in the United States, given the close links between the two countries.

"The same canned goods that are eaten in the United States are eaten in Canada, so there is every reason to believe that Canadians are exposed to the same levels of bisphenol A as our American neighbours," said Rick Smith, head of Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based group that is tracking chemical residues in the body tissues of Canadians.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency doesn't monitor bisphenol A residues in food, a spokesperson said yesterday.

Bisphenol A is used to make polycarbonate plastic, which is a sturdy, glass-like compound used in many water bottles. It is commonly identified by the plastic industry's triangle symbol containing the number 7. Bisphenol A is also added to the resins used to line the inside of tin cans to prevent foods from picking up a metallic taste.

The chemical bonds that hold bisphenol A together in products are unstable, allowing some of it to dissolve off containers into foods and beverages.

But a spokesman for bisphenol A manufacturers says the amounts inadvertently being eaten in food are nothing to worry about. "Human exposures to BPA from these kinds of products is well below a level that would cause concern," said Steven Hentges, executive director of the polycarbonate business unit of the American Plastics Council.

The other U.S. environmental group that conducted tests, the Los Angeles-based Environment California Research and Policy Centre, says it considers the potential human health threats from bisphenol A to be so large that it called on governments to remove the chemical from baby bottles.

It found that baby bottles it tested commonly leached four to 10 parts per billion of bisphenol A into water, and it expressed concern that young children would routinely be exposed to the chemical.

In January, the European Food Safety Authority stated that it viewed as safe the levels of the bisphenol A found in European canned food and beverage containers, although much of the research finding harmful effects has been conducted using animals given doses similar to those consumed by people through the food supply.

The highest level of bisphenol A detected in canned food in Europe was 91 parts per billion, according to the authority. However, that level was exceeded in testing conducted for the Environmental Working Group, which said it found levels as high as 385 ppb in a can of soup.

Source: Martin Mittelstaedt, The Globe and Mail

Fitness Coach and Best Friend on Four Legs

Source: Men's Health March 2007