Canada
A Canadian helicopter team was able to airlift a 66 year old Connecticut man to safety about 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax. His boat had capsized in the rough seas caused by tropical storm Cristobal. After activating his emergency locator beacon, a Cormorant helicopter, a Hercules airplane, two coast guard vessels and a frigate were sent to rescue him. A search-and-rescue technician was lowered into the water from the Cormorant and was able to lift the the sailor into the chopper. Both the technician and the sailor are in good condition.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/23/cristobal-sailor.html
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Fewer Children Affected by Lead-Poisoning
France
Having been first investigated in the 1980s, lead poisoning is condition brought on by the ingestion of lead-containing materials or inhalling dust that contains traces of lead. Once the lead is in the blood stream it can result in neurological damage and in extreme cases prove fatal. A French scientific journal reported that lead poisioning effected over 85,000 children in 1999, with hundreds of new cases every year. The French National Health Watch Institute and other organizations came together to study the development of the disease and to monitor the lead-poisoning tests being administered to children.
The resulting report is full of good news!
Lead-poisoning tests in recent years have shown a marked diminution of the average quantities of lead found in the tested children. This improvement is probably the result of combined factors: refurnishing of buildings that once had lead-based paint, the phasing out of lead carbonate usage, water treatment facilities lowering the concentrations of metals in municipal water supplies, and factory innovations which result in fewer traces of metal found in food.
To continue this trend, France is now specifically targeting the children of those workers exposed to lead to insure they are tested at a young age and that preventative measures can be taken. Their strategy includes campaigns to increase public awareness of at-risk families, including those living in geographic areas where the risk of exposure is higher. Doctors and scientists are also now working on a lead-poisoning detection test that would detect even smaller amounts of lead in the blood stream. Together these strategies should keep this upward trend going!
the story, for all you francophones:
http://news.doctissimo.fr/saturnisme-vers-un-depistage-plus-systematique_article4056.html
Having been first investigated in the 1980s, lead poisoning is condition brought on by the ingestion of lead-containing materials or inhalling dust that contains traces of lead. Once the lead is in the blood stream it can result in neurological damage and in extreme cases prove fatal. A French scientific journal reported that lead poisioning effected over 85,000 children in 1999, with hundreds of new cases every year. The French National Health Watch Institute and other organizations came together to study the development of the disease and to monitor the lead-poisoning tests being administered to children.
The resulting report is full of good news!
Lead-poisoning tests in recent years have shown a marked diminution of the average quantities of lead found in the tested children. This improvement is probably the result of combined factors: refurnishing of buildings that once had lead-based paint, the phasing out of lead carbonate usage, water treatment facilities lowering the concentrations of metals in municipal water supplies, and factory innovations which result in fewer traces of metal found in food.
To continue this trend, France is now specifically targeting the children of those workers exposed to lead to insure they are tested at a young age and that preventative measures can be taken. Their strategy includes campaigns to increase public awareness of at-risk families, including those living in geographic areas where the risk of exposure is higher. Doctors and scientists are also now working on a lead-poisoning detection test that would detect even smaller amounts of lead in the blood stream. Together these strategies should keep this upward trend going!
the story, for all you francophones:
http://news.doctissimo.fr/saturnisme-vers-un-depistage-plus-systematique_article4056.html
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