Ottawa discret sur les inspections d'usines de médicaments (French) Publish Date: 11-SEP-2012 09:57 AM Santé Canada dissimule si bien les informations qu'elle recueille lors de ses inspections dans des usines de fabrication de médicaments à l'étranger que les Canadiens ne sont pas en mesure de savoir si les médicaments qu'ils consomment sont sûrs, estime le chercheur Alan Cassels de l'université Victoria, en Colombie-Britannique. Il s'inquiète également des récentes compressions dans la fonction fédérale, car elles pourraient contribuer selon lui à la réduction du nombre d'inspections au Canada et à l'étranger.
Health Canada mum on overseas drug-manufacturing plant inspections: researcher Publish Date: 10-SEP-2012 10:02 AM Health Canada is so secretive about its inspections of overseas drug-manufacturing plants that Canadians can't be confident their medications are safe, says a drug policy researcher. Alan Cassels of the University of Victoria said most prescription drugs are manufactured overseas but that Health Canada has released only limited information about its inspections of foreign manufacturing plants after he made numerous inquiries. However, he's also concerned that recent government layoffs mean there will be fewer Health Canada staff to conduct such inspections in or outside the country.
Do you see a pattern on food files at Health Canada under Leona Aglukkaq? Publish Date: 21-JUL-2012 01:14 PM After discovering Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq quietly killed back in 2009 a departmental proposal to regulate trans fat levels in processed food, I wanted to find out if the issue was dead. After all, the department’s plan was drafted in accordance with a commitment from Aglukkaq’s predecessor, Tony Clement, to regulate if industry didn’t make enough progress under a voluntary program, tracked by Health Canada’s monitoring program. So, I filed an access to information to see if the issue was being discussed at Health Canada’s Food Expert Advisory Committee.
Les compressions dans l'inspection des aliments pourraient mettre le public en danger, disent les critiques (French) Publish Date: 17-JUL-2012 12:28 PM Austérité oblige, le budget de l'Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments (ACIA) a malheureusement été amputé de 56 millions de dollars pour les trois prochaines années. Des centaines d'inspecteurs et plusieurs autres employés seront mis à pied. Ottawa a toutefois promis de maintenir en poste les inspecteurs de la transformation des viandes.
Canadian isotope maker on alert Publish Date: 13-JUN-2012 08:36 AM Canada's capability as a world leader in medical isotope production faces stiff new non-proliferation actions by the United States, which is curbing exports of highly-enriched, bomb-grade uranium to foreign isotope makers.
The move is among seven measures announced by the White House to minimize the civilian use of highly enriched uranium-235 (HEU) and push isotope manufactures to convert to the use of far less dangerous low-enriched uranium.
Joan Muise, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Halifax Publish Date: 25-MAR-2011 11:58 AM Joan Muise is a project manager working with a team of dedicated professionals on the Sydney Tar Ponds Project. They are cleaning up the environmental damage left behind when the steel industry closed in that city a decade ago, ensuring the safety of public health as the area is turned into parkland.
Peter A. Singer Publish Date: 15-SEP-2010 02:15 PM Professor Peter A. Singer is Professor of Medicine, Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics and Director at the McLaughlin - Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network and University of Toronto.
Professional Institute Launches a Survey of Federal Scientists – June 6, 2013
Publish Date: 06-JUN-2013 08:45 AM
As part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to support the government scientists it represents and to promote the importance public science, PIPSC is now conducting a survey of all members with science-based jobs.
CAUT “Get Science Right” Campaign – April 23, 2013
Publish Date: 04-APR-2013 09:47 AM
In response to increasing concerns about the integrity and independence of scientific research, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has launched a campaign to “Get Science Right”.
Recent government cuts to Agriculture Canada could have a major global impact, particularly if the world population — and its appetite — continues to grow, said the dean of one of Canada’s top agriculture faculties. John Kennelly, dean of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, said the government’s decision to cut back on agricultural research comes at a time of a global food shortage.There is an international demand for more food, especially from major agriculture exporters like Canada, he said.
DFO has declined an interview request with a scientist to discuss the environmental impacts of oilsands development because it objected to a recent Postmedia News report, a federal government spokesman wrote in an email. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is one of seven federal departments and agencies under investigation by Parliament’s Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, over allegations that the government is “muzzling” and restricting access to government scientists.
