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Armed with a report by Dr. Benedikt Fischer (Centre for Addictions Research BC), the City of Victoria plans to apply for a pilot project to open up to three safe-injection sites for drug addicts in the BC capital. The report, which considered the experience of dozens of other sites around the world along with data and opinion collected from the local community, says supervised drug-consumption sites prevent overdose deaths and reduce the spread of disease, in addition to steering more people toward detox and rehabilitation. “Such a program will not make sense if the long-term, backup services in terms of detoxification, addiction treatment, resources and care facilities are not available or accessible to the target population,” says Fischer in a Globe and Mail article (June 28).
Gigantic ocean waves called planetary waves, spanning hundreds of kilometres from crest to crest, have been speeding up due to global warming, according to a new model by John Fyfe and Oleg Saenko (Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis) reported in New Scientist (June 12). “We were really surprised at how quickly the ocean responded to temperature change,” Fyfe says. “We knew we’d see an effect, but we didn’t think it would be significant for at least another two centuries.” The faster planetary waves will have an effect on global weather, he adds.
Mercury levels in lake small-mouth bass and ocean rockfish caught on or around Vancouver Island are up to twice what Health Canada safety guidelines allow, says Dr. Asit Mazumder (biology) as reported in the Vancouver Sun (June 1). He called for a survey of all BC fish species caught for human consumption to determine if their mercury levels are dangerously high, plus placing labels on fish for sale in stores indicating how much mercury they contain. “It’s only that way,” he says, “that consumers will be able to make safe, healthy choices.”
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