Health & Wellness
 

Minister of Health Tony Clement Encourages Canadians to Get WinterActive OTTAWA, Jan. 15 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, welcomed today the launch of WinterActive, a national community mobilization initiative led by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in collaboration with the Provinces and Territories to help Canadians improve their health while having fun enjoying the best of Canada's wintertime. "With today's launch of WinterActive, Canada's New Government is encouraging Canadians to be more physically active and healthy by participating in events and activities across the country," said Minister Clement. "Encouraging healthy living is also why on January 1 we introduced Canada's first tax credit for parents who enroll their children in sports activities to keep them physically active." A popular annual event, WinterActive runs from January 15 to February 23 and is designed to encourage and support Canadians taking their first steps towards regular physical activity, healthy eating, living a tobacco-free lifestyle and participating in sport activities.  This year's WinterActive website features listings of ideas and events that are searchable by province or territory plus unique approaches to wintertime activity, including during winter break. The comprehensive online resource also includes tools and messaging aimed at various population groups, such as children, youth, seniors and Aboriginal Peoples. The benefits of regular physical activity include better health, improved fitness and weight control, better posture and balance, better self-esteem, stronger muscles and bones, more energy, greater relaxation, and reduced stress, and continued independent living in later life. Research has shown that even a moderate increase in regular physical activity can improve health, as well as prevent disease, disability and premature death. For more information on WinterActive programs in your community, visit www.winteractive.org.  Information on the Children's Fitness Tax Credit is available at www.cra.gc.ca/fitness.

A Call To Society To Stand Up For The New Targets Of Intolerance MONTREAL, Jan. 15 /CNW Telbec/ - In Canada, terminally ill patients and handicapped senior citizens in nursing homes are being left to fend for themselves out in the cold winter months. In the U.K. a 17 year old girl with a learning disability is beaten and tortured for four hours, resulting in a burnt body, a broken nose, a perforated ear-drum and inestimable psychological damage. Across North America, nurses and other employees are more and more easily targeted for muggings and other forms of violence while they are forced to take their work breaks outside. The important story lies not in the tragic sufferings of these individuals, but rather in the calculated media campaign that has led these victims to be categorized as acceptable targets for the cruelty of their peers and the self-righteous sadism of their caretakers and protectors, for the simple crime of having one trait in common. What do these people have in common? They are smokers. As such, they are the natural victims and predictable casualties of a well-planned and well-financed campaign to "denormalize" smokers. This campaign was begun in the late 1980's by certain anti-smoking activists and resulted in much relatively benign and well-balanced non-smokers' rights legislation in the 1990's. Unfortunately, these groups needed to justify their continued existence and the salaries of their directors and personnel, and have since become far more radical in their portrayal of the dangers of tobacco smoke. Unsatisfied with their success in the 1990's and benefitting from generous grants from our federal and provincial governments and from many pharmaceutical companies, anti-smoking groups are now proceeding with the final stages of their denormalization campaign and strategy for completely marginalizing the remaining smokers. They are now touting such irrational and unsubstantiated views of the relative risks of secondary smoke, that the public is led to believe ridiculous statements such as that only 30 seconds of exposure is sufficient to cause severe physical reactions, or that diluted smoke molecules may drift away from a smoker's apartment and contaminate the air space of a non-smoker's apartment. . Although tobacco smoke may be an irritant and a nuisance to some, and those who are intolerant of it should be able to avoid it, it is clear that the claims of the anti-tobacco activists are grossly exaggerating the epidemiological studies upon which they are based. Studies, we may add, that are not without biases or serious flaws. This makes those who propagate these claims, guilty of hate propaganda against a specific and identifiable minority of our population. When those claims result in vigilante justice, or absurd draconian laws that expose victims of this propaganda to danger, pain and humiliation, then there is cause for both criminal and civil pursuit of those formulating and promulgating the propaganda. C.A.G.E. (Citizens Against Government Encroachment), Citizens for Civil Liberties, and FORCES International, have adopted the plight of smokers and of private businesses that cater to smokers ever since governments began embracing a one sided and completely unbalanced approach to the control of tobacco use and the sanctity of personal choice both with regard to one's health and one's business. Now that the worst-case scenarios that were predicted years ago are beginning to come to pass, our respective organizations call for the following on behalf of our membership: C.A.G.E. (Citizens Against Government Encroachment) is a Quebec based national grassroots organization that represents citizens who envision a society where the dignity, sovereignty and liberty of all individuals are treated with the utmost respect. For further information: Dan Romano, President, C.A.G.E., (514) 288-5016, dan.romano@videotron.ca,  www.cagecanada.ca;  Michelle Gervais, Director Media Relations, Citizens For Civil Liberties, (519) 680-1172, michellegervais@sympatico.ca,  www.citizensforcivilliberties.ca;

Growing Older, Working Longer The New Face of Retirement Author(s): Monica Townson | Publication Type: Reports & Studies | ISBN: 0-88627-473-7 | Pages: 254 Price: $19.95 Many Canadians may be forced to work longer, delay retirement-report . Click Here to download following * Growing Older, Working Longer: The New Face of Retirement - Executive Summary - PDF   File, 120 Kb * Growing Older, Working Longer: The New Face of Retirement - Contents, Preface, and     Chapter 1 - PDF File, 371 Kb (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

New Blood Test Could Predict Heart Failure More Details A new blood test could help predict the risk of heart failure or a stroke, allowing doctors to take action to help prolong a patient's life. Researchers say the test will be beneficial to all patients with coronary heart disease, which kills more than 110,000 people in England every year. It could reveal whether a patient with angina, swelling or a weak heart is at a greater risk of a heart attack or failure than previously thought. Coronary heart disease is the biggest cause of death in England - and 275,000 annually suffer a heart attack. The development of the blood test came after a study of 987 men and women found that those with higher levels of a certain protein were more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or heart failure, and were at a greater risk of dying. The test, developed by scientists at the University of California, can detect presence of the protein, known as NT-proBNP. The protein is present in the blood when the body is produding high levels of the hormone BNP, which it does when the heart is stretched or stressed. Researcher Dr Mary Whooley said: "When the heart wall is over-expanded by too much blood volume, or damaged by lack of blood flow to the heart itself, BNP goes up and NT-proBNP along with it. "After adjusting for all other risk factors, it's clear that this marker is picking up something that we are otherwise unable to detect with standard tests." Patients were studied for an average of just over three and a half years each, and 256 - just over a quarter - died or had a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, during the period. Those with the highest levels of the protein were almost eight times more at risk of having a cardiovascular event or dying than those with the lowest levels. Dr Whoolley said the test, carried out on people with known heart disease, would help identify patients suitable for more aggressive therapy, such as increased doses of medicines, and help doctors prioritise treatment between different patients. However, she did not recommend patients undergoing the test as part of routine check-ups. The research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.