Malnutrition and bacterial infection ::

Malnutrition and bacterial infection

Newspapers and magazines are filled with stories on exotic diseases, but these might not be the biggest danger to children. A study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that in parts of Kenya with a high incidence of both malaria and HIV, unrelated bacterial infections were still the most important cause of death. The main risk factor identified was malnutrition.

The authors question whether the narrow disease-focused approach to public health in poor nations is appropriate. It would make much more sense to find ways to both increase the quantity of food that children get and ensure that they receive an adequate variety.

A recent study in South Africa showed that food choices are often weighted to what is cheapest, least perishable, and most convenient. Corn meal, tea, sugar, and oil were the most commonly purchased foods. Intake of green vegetables, fish, and whole grains was low and was probably responsible for the observed deficiencies in vitamins and minerals such as zinc and iron.

You can help by supporting aid organizations that recognize the importance of indigenous agriculture as well as education in farming techniques and nutrition.

Source: alive #M

Canada's Water Under Threat
Arm-twisting has begun by huge global corporations and financial institutions to get their foot in the door of what they perceive to be an excellent business opportunity--the exploitation of Canadian water.

Water, Water Everywhere
Ever since Walkerton's tragic deadly E. coli outbreak, Canadians across this country are asking, "Is our tap water really safe?" We have every right to ask. Walkerton, a fiasco of cover-ups and incompetence whose resulting deaths and illnesses were unnecessary, could have happened anywhere in Canada..

Like Oil and Water
Modern farming activities are no longer limited to small, family-owned operation.

Parasites: Unwanted Guests
Do you feel tired most of the time? Suffer from digestive problems, food sensitivities or allergic-like reactions? Do you have difficulty gaining or losing weight? Have you tried a yeast-control program, yet can't stay away from sugar? Is something not quite right physically, but you can't pinpoint the cause? Welcome to t.

Can You Swallow This?
Multinationals are poised to profit from the privatization of Canada's domestic water supplies.

Questioning Water Safety
Studies undertaken in Europe, the United States and Canada have detected a wide range of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in surface water, groundwater and even drinking water systems.

Water Pollution From Drugs And Cosmetics

Lighten Your Load
Heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and aluminum are natural components of the earth's crust; sometimes called trace metals, these metals were in our environment in only tiny amounts until the last century, when industrial uses became common.

Quench That Thirst-Safely

Cruise Ship Waste
The ocean glitters in the wake of the magnificent white cruise ship while you wine and dine at sumptuous buffets and then dance the night away in a starlit ballroom. Cruise lines promise decadence and opulence. But there is a darker side to the story.

The War Over Water
Canada dreads becoming water supplier to the United States--draining its lakes to fill California swimming pools, water Arizona golf courses, irrigate Midwestern farms and ease East Coast drough.

Nitrate-contaminated Water
Grade 10 students in Pierson, Manitoba, were given a well-testing project in a horticultural and environmental studies class. Of 20 samples submitted for analysis, 12 came back with unacceptably high bacteria or nitrate level.

Industrial Solvent in Drinking Water
The drinking water in some Ontario communities has been found to contain high levels of trichlorethelene (TCE), a toxic industrial solvent, provincial water quality disclosure records show. Tens of thousands of people have been exposed to the compound in recent years at levels considered risky in the United States..

Clean-Conscience Sewage Treatment
Sewage treatment is fun to learn about in Bear River, Nova Scotia. The town's solar aquatic treatment system is actually a tourist destination for 2,000 visitors a year. What makes the plant so unique is that it relies on natural processes to help sanitize waste, which saves energy and doesn't cause water pollution.

Water woes

What's on Tap?
Every so often, you hear something that really wakes you up to an issue. This happened to me while talking to Dr. Warren Bell about drugs in our water.

Marine Mystery
Thousands of poisonous, heartless, brainless creatures are taking over vast swaths of the world's oceans. The boneless blobs might seem otherworldly, but they aren't aliens-they're jellyfish. In certain seas, their populations are exploding, and some scientists view the phenomenon as a sign of ecological disaster.

Petro Problems in Cowboy Country
When it comes to mega-profits from mega-oil, the province of Alberta was not careful enough about what it wished for. What it has been granted, along with the riches, is a nightmarish mess of pollution that it has not begun to address.

From Sea to Stinking Sea
Bathroom jokes aside, few of us think about sewage, assuming that what we flush away will somehow take care of itself. But such an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude will no longer float, so to speak.

Volunteers for the Environment
We are so closely connected to other forms of life on our planet that survival without them is unthinkable. And although we have the power of intellect, we can never consider ourselves as superior. On the contrary, we need these species in order to survive.

Killer Protection
The West Coast’s most iconic marine mammals—orcas or killer whales—are under attack and facing many serious threats throughout their Pacific habitat.