Racial profiling behind traffic stop: B.C. judge

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/24/bc-racial-profiling.html

Last Updated: Friday, December 24, 2010 | 6:19 PM PT Comments31Recommend6

The Canadian Press

A B.C. judge says an RCMP officer who pulled over a man last year, uncovering 57 marijuana plants inside his car, only did so because the man was Asian.

Provincial court Judge Elizabeth Bayliff has excluded any evidence against Zai Chong Huang obtained during the 2009 traffic stop, saying it's "more probable than not" the man was the victim of racial profiling.

Huang was pulled over in 100 Mile House.

Const. Berze, who is identified in the decision only by his rank and surname, testified he pulled Huang over after he saw the car swerve twice on the highway and didn't realize the driver was Asian.

But Bayliff said she doesn't believe the officer, and instead said it's more likely Berze stopped Huang because he assumed, since the man is Asian, he must be involved in the marijuana trade.

Bayliff said both the traffic stop and the officer's questionable testimony amounted to a "serious breach" of Huang's rights, and allowing the evidence into court would harm the reputation of the justice system.

"In my view, the police conduct in question here was serious," Bayliff wrote in a decision posted to the court's website Friday.

"An inevitable consequence of my finding that the real motivation for this stop was that the officer had observed Huang's race is the finding that Const. Berze was being untruthful with the court. This is a serious matter in and of itself, quite apart from the error in reasoning represented by the act of 'racial profiling.'"

Bayliff's decision excludes all of the evidence uncovered during the traffic stop, including the 57 marijuana plants, a heavy-duty timer, fertilizer and 150 empty plant pots.

The judgment does not say whether the charges against Huang will proceed.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/24/bc-racial-profiling.html#ixzz19696laDG

Herbal medicines may be risky for kids

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/24/alternative-medicine-children-risk.html

Giving alternative treatments such as homeopathic remedies instead of conventional medicines to children may have deadly side-effects in rare instances, a new analysis says.

Australian researchers monitored reports from pediatricians in Australia from 2001 to 2003 looking for suspected side-effects from alternative medicines like herbal treatments, vitamin supplements or naturopathic pills. They found 39 reports of side-effects including four deaths.

The study was published online Thursday in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, a specialist publication of the medical journal BMJ.

Unlike conventional medicines, whose side-effects are tracked by national surveillance systems, there are no such systems in place for alternative therapies.

In the study, researchers found infants to children aged 16 were affected by complementary medicines and that in nearly 65 per cent of the cases, side-effects were classified as severe, life-threatening, or fatal. In 44 per cent of cases, pediatricians believed their patient had been harmed by a failure to use conventional medicines.

"We have known for a long time that alternative medicines can put patients at risk," said Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, England. He was not linked to the study.

"Perhaps the most serious harm occurs when effective therapies are replaced by ineffective alternative therapies," he said. "In that situation, even an intrinsically harmless medicine, like a homeopathic medicine, can be life-threatening," Ernst said.

All four deaths the researchers identified were caused by a decision to use alternative therapies instead of conventional medicines.

"Many of the adverse events associated with failure to use conventional medicine resulted from the family's belief in complementary and alternative medicine and determination to use it despite medical advice," Alissa Lim of the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne and colleagues wrote.

They described one case of a 10-month-old baby who had severe septic shock after being given naturopathic medicines and was assigned to a special diet to treat eczema. In another case, an infant who suffered multiple seizures and a heart attack died after being given alternative therapies — which the parents had chosen due to their concerns about the side-effects of regular medicines.

Ernst said people should recognize the limitations of alternative medicines and that practitioners should be careful not to oversell their benefits.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/24/alternative-medicine-children-risk.html#ixzz19680fYYZ

The decade's top ten new species

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9269000/9269338.stm

As 2010 draws to a close, scientists have been looking back over the array of new species that have been discovered since the beginning of the century.

Some of the weirdest and most scientifically wonderful are featured in a BBC Documentary, Decade of Discovery.

The film-makers collaborated with Conservation International to make the documentary, which has whittled down nature's top ten revelations.

So here is a shortlist of many of the team's favourite new species, listed in reverse order according to how unique, special and surprising they are.

Big red jellyfish (Tiburonia granrojo)

The one-metre-wide jelly was found at a depth of 3,000m

More than 3,000m under the Pacific ocean, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) used cameras on a remotely operated vehicle to capture the hidden life at that depth.

Out of the darkness emerged a large, one-metre-wide red jellyfish.

Big red, as it has been dubbed, has no tentacles, making it unlike most jellies. Instead, it uses its fleshy arms to capture food. The scientists still do not know what it eats. They say it is a great example of how little we know of the deep sea.

Chan's megastick (Phobaeticus chani)

This is, as its name implies, a huge stick insect.

The largest specimen of Chan's megastick is in London's Natural History Museum

It was found near Gunung Kinabalu Park, Sabah, in the Heart of Borneo and measures more than half a metre in length - the longest insect on the planet.

The largest and one of only a handful of known specimens in the world is held at the Natural History museum in London.

Despite is enormous size virtually nothing is known about it. Scientists believe it lives high up in the rainforest canopy, which has made it hard to find and kept it a secret until now.

Grey-faced sengi (Rhyncocyon udzungwensis)

This sengi or elephant shrew was first discovered in 2006 in Uzungwa National Park, Tanzania. Italian scientist, Francesco Rovero, from the Trento Museum of Natural Sciences caught the tiny mammal on a camera trap.

Elephant shrews share a common ancestor with elephants

The grey-faced sengi is much bigger than any other - roughly the size of a rabbit. It weighs about 700g and has a long, flexible nose which resembles an elephant's trunk.

Strangely, elephant shrews are not related to shrews but they do share a common ancestor with elephants.

Bamboo shark (Hemiscyllium galei)

The bamboo shark, also known as the walking shark, was found in 2006 in Cenderawasih Bay in West Papua, Indonesia.

This area of coral reef habitat has such a high level of biodiversity that some researchers call it a "species factory".

The shark can swim but usually uses its pectoral fins to walk along the reef

Mark Erdmann from Conservation International was the first scientist to lay eyes on this new shark species in 2006.

Although it can swim if it needs to, it usually uses its pectoral fins to walk along the reef and feed amongst the coral.

Scientists raised funds for marine conservation by auctioning the naming rights to the new shark.

Giant slipper orchid (Phragmipedium Kovachii)

This large flamboyant purple flower caused something of a sensation when it was discovered.

It was found in 2001 being sold at the side of the road in the Peruvian Highlands by an orchid hunter and dealer, who illegally imported it to the US.

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Giant orchid among the decade's top ten new species

He was duly prosecuted, but the orchid still bears his name. A few legal specimens are now in the hands of a select group of orchid breeders.

With its huge flowers - up to 20cm across - it originates in the Andes mountains of Peru.

Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji)

This is the first new genus (or group of monkey species) to be discovered since the 1920s.

It was tracked down in 2003 by Tim Davenport, a biologist from the Wildlife Conservation Society, who was working in the Mount Rungwe region of Tanzania.

He was interviewing local people about the animals they hunted and knew about in the forest. A few mentioned a "kipunji", a large monkey which sounded unlike anything else.

When Dr Davenport saw it he knew it was a new species, but later DNA analysis showed that it was actually an entirely new genus.

There were just 1,117 Kipunji in the wild at the last count, making them critically endangered.

Pitcher plant (Nepenthes palawanensis)

The large pitcher's slippery sides trap its prey

This giant plant was discovered just this year by botanist Stewart Macpherson who has made it his mission to find and photograph every species of these carnivorous plants around the world.

He found it at the very top of a mountain called Sultan's Peak, on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.

Pitcher plants are named after their highly-specialised leaves that form hollow, water-filled "pitchers".

Insects, such as flies, are attracted by nectar in the pitcher, but its sides are slippery so when prey falls in it cannot climb out.

Langkawi bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus macrotuberculatus)

This extraordinary gecko was first discovered in 2008 on an island off North-western Malaysia by Dr Lee Grismer and his team.

It uses its amazing eyesight and grip to catch its forest-dwelling prey at night.

But what made it a discovery of the decade was that this forest gecko has also recently been found in a limestone cave.

The forest-dwelling and cave-dwelling geckos show evolution at work

The cave gecko looks similar to those living in the forest but has some remarkable visible differences.

Dr Grismer believes this could be evolution in the making - a gecko that has evolved to live in a cave.

The lizards may have moved into the caves to avoid predators - specifically pit vipers that live in the forest.

Pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus)

This species, discovered on the island on Escudo de Veraguas off the Carribean coast, shows how quickly the process of evolution can happen.

The pygmy sloth, number one on the list, has a surprising talent

The pygmy sloth has been isolated on its tiny island habitat for just 9,000 years - when rising sea levels cut the island off from the mainland.

The sloths are slower and more placid than their mainland relatives and, remarkably, they can swim.

They seem suitably adapted to their Caribbean island lifestyle.

Pygmy sloths are less than half the size of a normal sloth and they only eat mangrove leaves - a low-nutirent diet that explains their diminutive stature.

There are just 200 of them on the island so every mangrove tree counts for these vulnerable creatures.

Decade of Discovery, a collaboration between Conservation International and the BBC's Natural History Unit, will be broadcast at 20.00BST on Tuesday 14 December on BBC Two.

B.C. forests adding to air pollution: report

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/09/bc-forests-carbon-dioxide-report.html

Reputation as a carbon sink no longer applies

Last Updated: Thursday, December 9, 2010 | 7:33 PM PT Comments2Recommend3

The Canadian Press

The pine beetle has turned one-quarter of B.C.'s pine forests brown, and that's hurt their ability to soak up carbon dioxide. (CBC)

British Columbia's forests, often hailed as a giant sponge soaking up harmful air pollution, have become a net producer of carbon dioxide, a government reports says.

The report indicates the mountain pine beetle, which has killed millions of trees, and massive forest fires in recent years have transformed the forests from a carbon sink into a polluter.

The State of the Forests Report says the pine beetle epidemic appears to have peaked, but it will still take another decade before B.C. forests return to their carbon-sink status.

Forests Minister Pat Bell said the report shows government policies are supporting a sustainable forest industry.

But the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union doesn't share that view, saying the report shows budget cuts and reorganization in the Forests Ministry have severely eroded the government's ability to manage the forests.

Union president Darryl Walker is calling for a public inquiry to make recommendations to revitalize the forestry sector and restore public accountability

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/09/bc-forests-carbon-dioxide-report.html#ixzz17gH071n6

Study reveals how taking an active role in learning enhances memory

Study reveals how taking an active role in learning enhances memory

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-reveals-role-memory.html
December 6, 2010

Enlarge

A new study from psychology professor Neal Cohen (in blue shirt) and postdoctoral researcher Joel Voss found that those who have some control over their learning environment do better at remembering what they learned than those who don't. The study offers a first look at the brain mechanisms that contribute to this phenomenon. Credit: Photos by L. Brian Stauffer. Montage by Joel Voss.

Good news for control freaks! New research confirms that having some authority over how one takes in new information significantly enhances one's ability to remember it. The study, in the journal Nature Neuroscience, also offers a first look at the network of brain structures that contribute to this phenomenon.

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"Having active control over a learning situation is very powerful and we're beginning to understand why," said University of Illinois psychology professor Neal Cohen, who led the study with postdoctoral researcher Joel Voss. "Whole swaths of the brain not only turn on, but also get functionally connected when you're actively exploring the world."

The study focused on activity in several brain regions, including the hippocampus, located in the brain's medial temporal lobes, near the ears. Researchers have known for decades that the hippocampus is vital to memory, in part because those who lose hippocampal function as a result of illness or injury also lose their ability to fully form and retain new memories.

But the hippocampus doesn't act alone. Robust neural connections tie it to other important brain structures, and traffic on these data highways flows in both directions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, which track blood flow in the brain, show that the hippocampus is functionally connected to several brain networks – distinct regions of the brain that work in tandem to accomplish critical tasks.

To better understand how these brain regions influence active versus passive learning, Voss designed an experiment that required participants to memorize an array of objects and their exact locations in a grid on a computer monitor. A gray screen with a window in it revealed only one object at a time. The "active" study subjects used a computer mouse to guide the window to view the objects.

"They could inspect whatever they wanted, however they wanted, in whatever order for however much time they wanted, and they were just told to memorize everything on the screen," Voss said. The "passive" learners viewed a replay of the window movements recorded in a previous trial by an active subject.

Then participants were asked to select the items they had seen and place them in their correct positions on the screen. After a trial, the active and passive subjects switched roles and repeated the task with a new array of objects.

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Enlarge

The new study showed that activity and interactivity increases between important brain regions in individuals who have more control over their learning environment, as compared to those who are passively absorbing information. The researchers found that the hippocampus is essential to the boost in performance that results from this heightened activity. Credit: Joel Voss

The study found significant differences in brain activity in the active and passive learners.
Those who had active control over the viewing window were significantly better than their peers at identifying the original objects and their locations, the researchers found. Further experiments, in which the passive subjects used a mouse that moved but did not control the viewing window, established that this effect was independent of the act of moving the mouse.

To identify the brain mechanisms that enhanced learning in the active subjects, the researchers repeated the trials, this time testing individuals who had amnesia – a disease characterized by impairment in learning new information – as a result of hippocampal damage. To the surprise of the researchers, these participants failed to benefit from actively controlling the viewing window.

"These data suggest that the hippocampus has a role not just in the formation of new memory but possibly also in the beneficial effects of volitional control on memory," the researchers wrote.

Brain imaging (by means of fMRI) of healthy young subjects engaged in the same active and passive learning tests revealed that hippocampal activity was highest in the active subjects' brains during these tests. Several other brain structures were also more engaged when the subject controlled the viewing window, and activity in these brain regions was more synchronized with that of the hippocampus than in the passive trials.

Enlarge

The hippocampus plays a vital role in enhancing memory in those who are actively engaged in learning something new. It coordinates with other brain structures to accomplish different tasks, such as recognizing an object one has seen before or remembering its original location. Credit: Graphic by Diana Yates. Brain by Andrew Giglio.

Activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the cerebellum and the hippocampus (see cartoon) was higher, and more highly coordinated, in participants who did well on spatial recall, the researchers found. Increased activity in the inferior parietal lobe, the parahippocampal cortex and the hippocampus (see cartoon) corresponded to better performance on item recognition.

"Lo and behold," Cohen said, "our friend the hippocampus makes a very conspicuous appearance in active learning."

The new findings challenge previous ideas about the role of the hippocampus in learning, Voss said. It is a surprise, he said, that other brain regions that are known to be involved in planning and strategizing, for instance, "can't do very much unless they can interact with the hippocampus."

Rather than being a passive player in learning, the hippocampus "is more like an integral part of an airplane guidance system," Voss said. "You have all this velocity information, you have a destination target and every millisecond it's taking in information about where you're headed, comparing it to where you need to go, and correcting and updating it."

More information: http://www.nature. … nn.2693.html

Provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (news : web)

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Chinese train sets speed record, says state media

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/china.high.speed.train/index.html?hpt=T2

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 3, 2010 9:05 p.m. EST

China's record-setting train

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The unmodified commercial train hits 481.1 kph (nearly 300 mph), state media says
• That tops the previous record by 64.5 kph

RELATED TOPICS

• China

(CNN) -- A Chinese high-speed train broke a world record Friday for fastest unmodified commercial train, reaching speeds of up to 481.1 kph (298.9 mph), state media reported.

According to China's official Xinhua news agency, the new-generation CRH380 moved as fast as a low-cruising jet-plane during a trial run on what will become the country's rail line between Beijing and Shanghai.

The previous world record was set by China in September, when a train on a Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed line hit a speed of 416.6 kilometers per hour, Xinhua said.

NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical

NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical

12.02.10

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/astrobiology_toxic_chemical.html

Image of Mono Lake Research area
Click photo for larger image.

Felisa Wolfe-Simon processing mud from Mono Lake to inoculate media to grow microbes on arsenic.
Image Credit: Henry Bortman
Click photo for larger image.

Image of GFAJ-1 grown on arsenic.
Image Credit: Jodi Switzer Blum
Click photo for larger image.

Image of GFAJ-1 grown on phosphorus.
Image Credit: Jodi Switzer Blum
Click photo for larger image.

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."

This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.

Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.

"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"

The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.

The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became incorporated into the organisms' vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA, proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.

The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry, especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake's isolation from its sources of fresh water for 50 years.

The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including the study of Earth's evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.

"The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."

The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA's Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA's Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.

For more information about the finding and a complete list of researchers, visit:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov

Oceans failing the acid test, U.N. says

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/02/ocean.acidification.threat.cancun/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

By Matthew Knight for CNN

December 2, 2010 2:34 p.m. EST

Acidification is is putting stress on ocean ecosystems, threatening biodiversity and food security says the U.N.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• New U.N. report highlights threat to marine organisms posed by ocean acidification
  
• A quarter of CO2 emissions are absorbed by the oceans
  
• Around three billion people worldwide rely on fish for key nutrients
  
• Acidification risen by 30 percent since Industrial Revolution according to U.N.

(CNN) -- The chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, with far-reaching implications for marine biodiversity and food security, according to a new United Nations study released Thursday.

"Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification," published by the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP)," warns that some sea organisms including coral and shellfish will find it increasingly difficult to survive, as acidification shrinks the minerals needed to form their skeletons.

Lead author of the report Carol Turley, from the UK's Plymouth Marine Laboratory said in a statement: "We are seeing an overall negative impact from ocean acidification directly on organisms and on some key ecosystems that help provide food for billions. We need to start thinking about the risk to food security."

Tropical reefs provide shelter and food for around a quarter of all known marine fish species, according to the U.N. report, while over one billion people rely on fish as a key source of protein.

Ocean acidification is yet another red flag being raised, carrying planetary health warnings about the uncontrolled growth in greenhouse gas emissions
--Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director

RELATED TOPICS

• Nature and the Environment
• Global Climate Change
• Environmental Protection

Increasing acidification is likely to affect the growth and structural integrity of coral reef, the study says, and coupled with ocean warming could limit the habitats of crabs, mussels and other shellfish with knock-on effects up and down the food chain.

The report, unveiled during the latest round of U.N. climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, says that around a quarter of the world's CO2 emissions are currently being absorbed by the oceans, where they are turned into carbonic acid.

Overall, pH levels in seas and oceans worldwide have fallen by an average of 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution. The report predicts that by the end of this century ocean acidity will have increased 150 percent, if emissions continue to rise at the current rate.

But scientists say there may well be winners and losers as acidification doesn't affect all sea creatures in the same way.

Adult lobsters, for example, may increase their shell-building as pH levels fall, as might brittle stars -- a close relation of the starfish -- but at the cost of muscle formation.

"The ability, or inability, to build calcium-based skeletons may not be the only impact of acidification on the health and viability of an organism: brittle stars perhaps being a case in point," Turley said in a statement.

"It is clearly not enough to look at a species. Scientists will need to study all parts of the life-cycle to see whether certain forms are more or less vulnerable."

Scientists are more certain about the fate of photosynthetic organisms such as seagrasses, saying they are likely to benefit from rising acidification and that some creatures will simply adapt to the changing chemistry of the oceans.

The authors identify a range of measures which policymakers need to consider to stop pH levels falling further, including "rapid and substantial cuts" to CO2 emissions as well as assessing the vulnerability of communities which rely on marine resources.

"Ocean acidification is yet another red flag being raised, carrying planetary health warnings about the uncontrolled growth in greenhouse gas emissions. It is a new and emerging piece in the scientific jigsaw puzzle, but one that is triggering rising concern," Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director, said in a statement.

Ombudsman slams 'deceptive' Veterans Affairs

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 | 5:15 PM ET

CBC News

Veterans ombudsman Pat Stogran expressed his fury at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday over the federal government's treatment of servicemen and women. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Canada's outgoing ombudsman for veterans expressed his fury Tuesday over the federal government's treatment of servicemen and women and the thwarting of his work by an obstructive bureaucracy.

Pat Stogran said at a news conference in Ottawa that he was not going to comment on the Conservative government's decision not to appoint him to a second term.

Veterans share their stories.

Stogran said it's the "government's prerogative" and that he will leave it to the government to defend its decision, though he said his non-renewal is likely a sign he was doing his job, and that he sees it as a mark of success.

Stogran said that as ombudsman, he was "impeded by a bureacracy that was deliberately obstructive and deceptive," and that information given to bureaucrats isn't reaching the minister of veterans affairs.

Stogran said he was speaking out in order to highlight how badly many veterans are treated and to ask Canadians to stand up for their "sons and daughters." He vowed to use his remaining three months as ombudsman to continue trying to get Canadians to take notice.

The ombudsman acts as the voice of veterans and their families, helping them access support services and benefits and fielding complaints.

Stogran was notified early last week that his appointment will not be renewed, according to federal government sources. Word of his anticipated removal leaked late Friday.

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Tell us about your experience dealing with Veterans Affairs Canada.

At Tuesday's news conference, Stogran was joined by a number of veterans representing those with physical and mental health issues, as well as those taking the government to court over pension clawbacks.

"If you're not willing to stand behind the troops, then feel free to stand in front of them," said Brian Dyck, a veteran who suffers from ALS and is fighting the government over denied health claims.

At a separate news conference, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that his government has invested money in programs for veterans.

"If the ombudsman has concerns or suggestions, the government remains open and is always open to hearing those suggestions and incorporating them into our future programs, but we are hoping that he can continue to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs," Harper said in French.

Joins list of departed watchdogs

Stogran met with Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn over the weekend, but has refused to comment about the outcome of their discussion. A spokeswoman for the minister also declined to comment.

Never one to mince words, Stogran has harshly criticized the federal bureaucracy's treatment of injured soldiers and policies, such as the replacement of pensions with lump-sum payments and disability stipends.

He has said Veterans Affairs has adopted a "penny-pinching, insurance-company mentality" toward its clients.

Liberal MP Marc Garneau said Stogran should be praised, not let go, for doing his job and making sure Canada's veterans are treated properly.

Garneau told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that Stogran joins a long list of arm's-length advocates — including former military police complaints commissioner Peter Tinsley and ex-RCMP watchdog Paul Kennedy — who were "sacked because they are telling the government the truth, instead of parroting."

Blackburn sparked the ire of veterans groups and opposition critics in recent weeks by suggesting that the department he heads will get smaller as more Second World War vets, the department's biggest client base, die.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/08/17/veterans-ombudsman-stogran.html#ixzz0wv9iehUk

How to make grilling safer

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/02/how.make.grilling.safe/index.html?hpt=C2

By Tammy Worth, Health.com

July 2, 2010 2:27 p.m. EDT

(Health.com) -- When the dog days hit Boston, Massachusetts, Stephanie Meyers starts cooking alfresco to keep things cool indoors.

Meyers grills--a lot--and as a nutritionist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, she's well aware that charring meat over an open flame produces cancer-causing substances (known as carcinogens) that may be harmful when eaten. So to make grilling healthier, she sticks to the same advice she gives her patients.

"I follow my own tips and grill a lot of veggies," she says. "I've been known to put all kinds of things on the grill just to see what happens." (She's not kidding: Plums, kale and Swiss chard are among some of her favorite past experiments.)

Unlike meat, vegetables don't create carcinogens when they char. But the small cancer risk associated with grilling meat isn't so great that you need to forgo hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks altogether. Taking a few precautions while barbecuing will minimize the health risks without sacrificing that delicious charcoal taste, experts say.

Health.com: 15 Healthy Grilled Chicken Recipes

Grilling protein-filled foods such as meat and fish creates two kinds of chemical compounds that may contribute to cancer: heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

HCAs form in meat when it's cooked at a high temperature. While frying and broiling produce these chemicals as well, those charred bits at the edges of barbecued meat contain HCAs in their purest state. HCAs, which are also found in cigarette smoke, have been shown to cause cancer in organs including the stomach, colon, liver and skin--but only in animal studies.

It's unclear whether HCAs cause the same problems in people. Still, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stated that the chemicals are "reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens."

Health.com: Ways to Breathe Easier When Eating

PAHs, the second type of compound, are formed when juices from meat drip onto coals or other hot surfaces and create smoke. The smoke contains these carcinogens, which are deposited onto the surface of meat as it swirls around the food.

Colleen Doyle, the director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society, says the risks these two substances pose shouldn't make die-hard grillers put away their oversized utensils for good. "From our perspective, there has not been enough definitive research that would cause us to tell people not to grill at all," she says.

But there are ways to minimize your exposure to carcinogens when grilling, Doyle adds. She recommends cleaning the grill prior to cooking, which will remove any charred debris that may stick to food. And if some parts of the meat you're cooking get badly charred, cut those pieces off.

Health.com: The Best Healthy Burger Recipes

In addition, precooking food slightly before grilling will help cut down on PAHs. Meyers recommends placing meat in the microwave and zapping it for between 60 seconds (for leaner cuts) and 90 seconds (for thicker, fattier pieces). This reduces the amount of time the food is on the grill and allows some of the juices to drain beforehand.

Certain recipes can make grilling safer as well, according to Meyers. Marinades made with vinegar or lemon act as an "invisible shield" that changes the acidity of the meat and prevents PAHs from sticking, she says. (On the other hand, sugary marinades such as barbecue sauce that encourage charring should be used only during the last one to two minutes on the grill.)

And whenever possible, Meyers recommends grilling vegetables or fruits instead of meat.

The carcinogens in charred meat aren't the only health concern associated with barbecues. Though for many people the smell of a juicy steak wafting from the grill is synonymous with the onset of summer, the smoke that carries the aroma is less desirable.

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A 2003 report from researchers at Rice University, in Houston, Texas, found that grilling creates "ambient fine particulate matter"--air pollution, in other words. Although backyard barbecues add far less pollution to the atmosphere than cars and factories, this particulate matter can still cause problems. In concentrated amounts, the smoke from a grill can trigger respiratory trouble in people with lung diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

"Anyone who is sensitive to smoke should avoid exposure to a grill--or fire, or trucks," says Paul Billings, the vice president of advocacy at the American Lung Association. "They should protect themselves by limiting their exposure to whatever the source is that irritates their lungs."

Billings recommends cooking over natural gas or propane grills to reduce the pollution emitted. If you own a charcoal grill, using a chimney starter instead of lighter fluid will also keep you from inhaling harmful chemicals, he says.

Buying lean cuts of meat, trimming off most of the fat and wrapping foods like fish in a foil packet will all help cut down on smoke by reducing the amount of juices that drip onto the grill.

Health.com: 9 Mouthwatering Barbecue Recipes

Although at-home chefs should always try to grill as safely as possible, Meyers emphasizes that you shouldn't let the health risks of barbecuing spoil your appetite.

"Keep the risk in perspective," she says. "Grilled foods are not the greatest cancer risk--not wearing sunscreen while at the grill is a bigger deal. If you like to grill, put meat on the grill and use the safety tips."

Syncrude guilty in Alberta duck deaths

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/06/25/edmonton-syncrude-duck-trial-verdict-expected.html

Last Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010 | 3:23 PM MT

CBC News

Shown is one of more than 1,600 ducks that landed on a Syncrude tailings pond on April 28, 2008, in a photo taken by Alberta wildlife biologist Todd Powell. (Government of Alberta) Oilsands giant Syncrude was found guilty Friday on both environmental charges in the April 2008 deaths of 1,600 ducks in a northern Alberta tailings pond.

Syncrude was charged under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act with failing to protect migratory birds from a toxic tailings pond.

In a decision delivered to a packed courtroom in St. Albert, Alta., provincial court Judge Ken Tjosvold said Syncrude didn't exercise due diligence in preventing the birds from landing on the water.

He pointed to evidence presented during the trial that showed Syncrude made staffing cuts and actually scaled back its bird deterrent system before the ducks died.

While Tjosvold found Syncrude guilty on both counts, he did not enter convictions.

Legal arguments will take place later this summer about whether convictions should be entered on both counts, because the charges are similar in nature.

The ducks died April 28, 2008, on Syncrude's Aurora tailings pond in northern Alberta, about 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

The trial, which started on March 1 and wrapped up on May 12, featured some dramatic evidence, including video and still images of ducks struggling in the bitumen that floated on top of the tailings pond.

The Crown argued that adequate deterrents to dissuade birds from using the pond, including air cannons and scarecrows, weren't in place when the ducks died.

Syncrude officials said a spring storm delayed installation of such equipment.

Defence lawyer Robert White argued the charges against Syncrude were intended for companies that dump toxic materials into lakes or rivers, not companies that have legal tailings ponds.

$250 million for abstinence education not evidence-based, groups say

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/31/abstinence.education/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

March 31, 2010 10:21 a.m. EDT

Under federal guidelines, programs that get abstinence-only funding must "teach that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Health care bill has renewal of $50 million per year for abstinence education until 2014
• States have the option of tapping into the $50 million or not
• There's a separate funding stream for programs including contraception

RELATED TOPICS

• Health Care Issues
• Health Care Policy
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(CNN) -- The health care reform legislation that President Obama signed recently isn't only about insurance coverage -- there's also a renewal of $50 million per year for five years for abstinence-focused education.

Programs that receive this funding must "teach that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems," according to the Department of Health and Human Services. To qualify, they must also teach that sex before marriage is "likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects." These are part of the "A-H definition," requirements for programs to receive abstinence funding under Title V of the Social Security Act.

"Title V is trying to make sure that kids are being given a message that saving sex and childbearing for marriage is the safest, healthiest, best choice," said Scott Phelps, executive director of Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership. Public schools hire educators from this organization to teach abstinence, and may use Title V funding for it, he said.

In Phelps' experience -- he started his abstinence education work in Chicago, Illinois, 10 years ago -- the abstinence message is embraced by kids, even some who have already become sexually active. "They didn't realize they could stop," he said.

Organizations promoting evidence-based sex education say it's troubling that this $250 million will go to state programs that have not been shown to work.

"Just the fact that we continue to pour money into programs that have no evidence of effectiveness at all just doesn't seem to us to be good evidence-based health policy," said Heather Boonstra, senior public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit reproductive and sexual health research firm.

There have been numerous studies suggesting that it's not so easy for people to practice abstinence consistently. A congressionally mandated study in 2007 found that none of four abstinence programs showed a significant positive effect on sexual behavior among youth. A January 2009 study in Pediatrics found that religious teens who take virginity pledges are less likely to use condoms or birth control when they become sexually active, and just as likely to have sex before marriage as their peers who didn't take pledges.

Medical professional organizations also criticize abstinence education on ethical grounds, for leaving out potentially lifesaving information. Abstinence-only programs "are inherently coercive by withholding information needed to make informed choices," the American Public Health Association said in a statement.

Phelps' program doesn't teach that sex before marriage is wrong, but that waiting will enable teens to eliminate the risks of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Students are taught that contraception, a "limited part of our conversation," reduces risk, but does not avoid it altogether, he said.

The law sets up a separate funding stream of $75 million for "personal responsibility education," which includes teaching about both abstinence and contraception. It sets aside an additional $25 million for untested but innovative programs.

Having separate funding for abstinence-focused and comprehensive programs "is a method that provides real choice for states and for communities, and we would like to see that model used across the board," said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association.

But Huber's group is not happy that abstinence-focused programs get less funding per year than the other approaches. "We would like to see equitable funding," she said.

Abstinence programs have received federal funding through a program that grew out of welfare reform during the Clinton administration. The $50 million per year began in 1998 and expired in 2009, with restoration in the recent health care legislation from this year until 2014.

States have the option of tapping into the $50 million or not, but those who want it have to contribute also, Boonstra noted. For every $4 of federal money, states have to put up $3 of their own money, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

As of June 2009, 22 states, plus Washington D.C., had declined to apply for funds under the program, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

A study published in February in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that an abstinence-based program was more effective than other initiatives at keeping sixth- and seventh-graders from having sex within a two-year period.

Rather than asking students to delay intercourse until marriage, however, the program told students to wait until they were ready. It also did not portray sex in a negative light.

For these reasons, it is unclear whether that program would qualify for funding from the $50 million allocated in the health care bill, because it does not fit the A-H definition, said Bill Albert of the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Boonstra agreed that it would likely not fit this category, as it differs from the programs that have received funding in the past. Huber said she thought it would qualify, although she has not seen the curriculum.

It's better to invest taxpayer dollars into what works, Albert said. Public opinion surveys reveal that Americans view abstinence and contraceptive education as complementary, not contradictory.

"There is great and very wide support among parents and among teens themselves that young people should be encouraged to delay sexual activity," Albert said. "But it is also clear that the American public wants young people to receive information about contraception."

9 Charged In Student's Bullying Death

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/22987784/detail.html?hpt=T2

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Nine teenagers have been charged in connection with the suicide death of South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince, 15, who took her life after she was bullied by other students at her school, Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said Monday.

Phoebe Prince

Two male teens, ages 17 and 18, were also both charged with statutory rape."The investigation revealed relentless activity directed at Phoebe," in the three months before her death, Scheibel said, until the situation became "intolerable" for the girl.Prince, a student at the school whose family had recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, took her own life in January, authorities said, after she was bullied for three months both at school and online by other students."It appears that Phoebe's death on Jan. 14 followed a tortuous day for her in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened physical abuse," Scheibel said.The district attorney said according to the investigation, which involved interviews with more than 50 people, on the day of her death Prince was harassed as she studied in the school library, and as she walked in the school hallways and later as she walked home.The bullying in the library was witnessed by a faculty member and other students but was not reported until after Prince's death, Scheibel said, adding that the bullying of Prince was "common knowledge" at the school."On the day of her death, primarily three individuals -- one male and two females -- were involved in this assaultive behavior, which appears to have been motivated by the group's displeasure with Phoebe's brief dating relationship with a male student which had ended some six weeks previous," Scheibel said."Their conduct far exceeded the limits of normal teenage relationship-related quarrels," Scheibel said.Six teens and three juveniles were charged in connection with the case, the charges including criminal harassment, violation of civil rights and disturbing a school assembly.

Click To Comment | 9 Charged In Student's Bullying Death | Video | Images: Phoebe Prince Case Timeline

Among those charged, three were teenaged girls, Scheibel said.The teens were identified as:

A 16-year-old from South Hadley was charged with violation of civil rights, as a youthful offender.

A 16-year-old from South Hadley was charged with violation of civil rights as a youthful offender, stalking as a youthful offender.

Sean Mulveyhill More

Sean Mulveyhill, 17, of South Hadley, charged with statutory rape, violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly.

Kayla Narey, 17, of South Hadley, charged with violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly.

Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield, charged with statutory rape.

A 16-year-old from South Hadley was charged with violation of civil rights as a youthful offender, stalking as a youthful offender.

SURVEY Nine teens are facing criminal charges in connection with the suicide death of a South Hadley, Mass., teen who committed suicide in January. Do you agree or disagree with this move? Yes, they should have been charged No, they should not have been charged I'm not sure Results | Disclaimer | E-Mail

All of those charged will be summoned to court at a later date and more charges could follow, authorities said.The indictments were handed up Friday, Scheibel said.Three are still students at the school, and three were expelled in February, authorities said."These students' lives have also been dramatically altered, and they won't be graduating from South Hadley High School," Principal Daniel T. Smith said at the time the expulsion was announced.The district attorney said there were three months of intense harassment that ended when Prince hanged herself at her Newton Street home in South Hadley after school. Her younger sister found her in the staircase heading up to the family's second-floor apartment.The case, and the earlier bullying-related death of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, 11, of Springfield, sparked outrage across the commonwealth and prompted calls for strict anti-bullying legislation to be passed.Lawmakers approved an anti-bullying law earlier this month that requires schools to report incidents of bullying to local police if it's believed any laws may have been broken. The bill is in conference committee to settle differences between House and Senate versions.The district attorney said South Hadley school officials were aware of the Prince bullying but none were charged in connection with the case because officials said their actions did not rise to the level of a crime.She did, however, say that Prince's mother had spoken to at least two school staff members about the bullying, and some faculty had intervened and reported it, but administrators failed to intervene, which Scheibel called "troublesome.""A lack of understanding of harassment associated with teen dating relationships seems to have been prevalent at South Hadley High School. That in turn brought about an inconsistent interpretation and enforcement of the school's code of conduct when incidents were observed and reported," Scheibel said.

Previous Stories:

• March 18, 2010: House Approves Anti-Bullying Bill
• March 8, 2010: Mass. Lawmakers To Debate Anti-Bullying Bill
• February 24, 2010: Students Expelled Following Teen's Suicide
• February 17, 2010: Students Suspended After Bullying Incident
• February 12, 2010: Parents Confront School Over Bullying
• February 2, 2010: Parents Demand Answers On Bullying