Health

Fluoride will be reintroduced in Calgary's drinking water starting June 30, about 3½ years after Calgarians voted in favour of fluoridation in the October 2021 municipal election.The fluoridation process will supplement the natural fluoride in the Bow and Elbow Rivers, bringing it to "the optimal level of 0.7 milligrams per litre," the city said in a release.That's the fluoride level recommended by Health Canada's guidance for community water fluoridation. Health Canada is one of over 90 national and international governments and health organizations that endorse the fluoridation of drinking water.Fluoride supports oral health by replenishing minerals like calcium and phosphate on the surface of teeth, making enamel stronger and more resistant to acid, bacteria and tooth decay.The Universi...

The wide-ranging "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report spearheaded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist.Asked about the report's problems on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated. She did not directly respond to a question of whether artificial intelligence had been used to generate the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule and decried America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs."I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated." Leavitt told repo...

A group representing Canada's doctors is challenging the constitutionality of Alberta's legislation banning certain gender-affirming treatments for children under the age of 16, arguing it violates their Charter right to freedom of conscience.The Canadian Medical Association says it filed the challenge Wednesday in Alberta Court of King's Bench. The CMA says the move is meant to protect the relationship between patients and doctors when it comes to making treatment decisions."This is a historic and unprecedented government intrusion into the physician-patient relationship and requires doctors to follow the law rather than clinical guidelines, the needs of patients and their own conscience," the association said in a statement.The legislation was part of a trio of bills affecting transgende...

Measles cases are surging across Canada, so it might not come as a surprise that nearly 70 per cent of Canadians surveyed recently agreed that childhood vaccinations should be mandatory.The Angus Reid Institute polled nearly 1,700 Canadian adults online between May 20 and May. 23, asking them if proof of immunization should be required for kids to attend daycare or schools.Sixty-nine per cent said yes — an increase from last year, when only 55 per cent of respondents agreed that vaccinations should be mandatory for kids.Maxwell Smith, a bioethicist and associate professor at Western University's School of Health Studies, says the figure suggests mandating childhood vaccinations is not as divisive as once thought. "Given what we just experienced with COVID and controversies around vaccine m...

Nick Bordignon was still deep in grief over the death of his infant daughter last October when an envelope from the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) turned up in his mailbox.It was addressed to the infant he and his wife had named Makayla Poppy when she was delivered at B.C. Children's Hospital four weeks earlier following an ultrasound that showed the child was dead.Inside was an invoice for the cost of an autopsy and an itemized list of tests conducted by a coroner — a bill the PHSA has since admitted the Bordignons were never supposed to see.And to make matters worse, the letter seemed to indicate Makayla's body was still in the morgue — two weeks after the autopsy was performed and nearly a month after she was stillborn.Nick Bordignon shows the bill he received for his still...

As southern Alberta battles its worst measles outbreak in decades, some doctors are warning the virus is more rampant than the case counts show and they're now struggling to keep up with demand.As of midday Wednesday,  628 cases had been confirmed in Alberta since the outbreaks began in March.The last time the province reported more cases was 1987, when 690 cases were confirmed."Unfortunately I think, for at least parts of the province, this is no longer controllable," said Craig Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary.The vast majority of this year's cases — 472 cases as of Wednesday — are in the south zone. And the Taber Health Centre emergency department is dealing with high volumes of measles patients, accord...

Canada's minister of agriculture says a group of B.C. ostriches will "not necessarily" be killed, despite an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that they be culled due to concerns about the avian flu.On Wednesday, reporters in Ottawa asked Heath MacDonald, the minister of agriculture and agri-food, about the fate of the ostriches, after high-ranking U.S. officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., publicly called for the herd to be spared."We're in a process," MacDonald said. "We're taking all facts into consideration. And we'll move forward on the best possible solution for everybody involved."Asked directly if the birds would be killed, he said, "The process is in place. And not necessarily."WATCH | Dr. Oz, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wade into B.C. ostrich...

Amid growing concern from Ontarians with disabilities and their advocates, the province has announced it will not claw back the incoming Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). The CDB was passed in 2023, and the government committed $6.1 billion to it in the 2024 federal budget. Beginning in July, eligible recipients can receive up to $2,400 per year, or a maximum of $200 per month.In a news release on Tuesday, the province announced it will be exempting the federal benefit as income. That means recipients won't have money deducted from their provincial social assistance payments or entitlements such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).Since the CDB's passage, advocates have feared the provinces and territories may claw back the benefit. As of this March, at least seven have promise...

You've likely let your handwashing habit slide as the pandemic moved out of the spotlight.Jason Tetro doesn't like it, but he understands. The Canadian microbiologist and handwashing evangelist said the COVID-19 health crisis helped focus people's minds on proper hand hygiene, but even as early March 2020 he was predicting a backslide once the immediate threat of a new virus faded.  Surveys on handwashing trends suggest Tetro was right."I feel vindicated, but at the same time it's really depressing," he said.Tetro, who wrote The Germ Code and The Germ Files, said high-touch surfaces like door handles, shared office equipment and cellphones still carry the risk of microbes, so people should wash their hands or at least use sanitizer after touching them."Unfortunately, a lot of people simply...

Researchers at the University of B.C. have created a new website and social media campaign they hope will empower young people to take the experience of period pain more seriously.The website Period Pain is Real Pain, which was created with the input of youth partners, includes resources about period pain, related conditions like endometriosis, and pain relief.It also features a free quiz that helps youth determine whether they should speak to a health-care provider about their pain. Period pain common: researcherUBC PhD student and campaign developer Zeba Khan, who studies period pain care in Canada, said period pain is a very common experience, one that affects more than 60 per cent of females of reproductive age."Despite being so common, there is this narrative that period pain is norma...