Hip hop helps young offenders
By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, January 21, 2010 - 1 Comment
Toronto rapper Rochester is helping inmates produce songs
When Toronto-based rapper Rochester performed at the Brookside youth jail in Cobourg, Ont., last year, a small group of inmates were eager to share a performance of their own. Using the facility’s basic recording equipment, they had produced a music video, complete with their own lyrics and dance moves. Struck by their effort, Rochester had an idea: give them professional tools to produce their own songs. “If you have music out there, you’re going to want to play it for people,” says Rochester. “You’ve got something to dream about.”
Rochester’s idea has since grown into a project, which, organizers say, is one of the first of its kind. Over the next three months, five teens, selected by application through the all-boys facility, will spend time one day a week producing two singles, with original lyrics and cover art. The workshops, which kicked off this month, will also cover marketing and distribution, because, says Tamara Dawit of 411 Initiative for Change, the Toronto-based charity behind the program, “There’s so many jobs [in music] besides being a rapper.”
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Taliban enacts a code of conduct
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM - 3 Comments
Bombings that kill civilians, mutilations figure among banned behaviours
They certainly do seem to like rules, but given the bombings and assassinations it has on its resume, a code of conduct isn’t something that’s normally associated with the Taliban. In an bid to soften their image among local Afghans, the Taliban launched a new set of rules of engagement last spring, explicitly banning suicide bombings that target civilians, burning down schools, or cutting off ears, lips and tongues. The code’s scope eerily mirrors that of the Geneva Conventions, laying out rules for how to treat local people, how to treat prisoners, what to do with captured enemy equipment and when to execute captives. Its enforcement has so far been capricious, but one tribal elder in Afghanistan told the New York Times the tactical shift hasn’t gone unnoticed. “There is a tremendous change in the Taliban’s behavior,” says Haji-Khan Muhammad Khan, a tribal elder from Shawalikot, a rural district of Kandahar Province. “They don’t behead people or detain those they suspect of spying without an investigation. But sometimes they still make mistakes, people still fear them, but now generally they behave well with people. They had to change because the leadership of the Taliban did not want to lose the support of the grass roots.”
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U.S. Supreme Court sweeps away limits on corporate, union campaign spending
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:55 PM - 13 Comments
Decision seen as a sea-change in the way elections will be conducted
In a split decision that overturns a 63-year-old law, yet features a long, pointed dissent, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out limits on campaign spending by corporations and unions—a move experts say will have a transformative effect on candidate elections in the United States. Whether corporate speech enjoys the same protections as normal speech is a question every democracy—including Canada—has wrestled with. Today, the U.S. high court found that Washington cannot regulate political speech regardless of whether it is paid for by an individual or an organization. The finding will allow corporations to spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress. The decision arose from a controversial documentary about Hillary Clinton that had been produced by a conservative non-profit corporation, and released during the Democratic primaries for the 2008 presidential election.
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Midterm nightmare
By Luiza Ch. Savage - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:50 PM - 0 Comments
The Democrats are headed for a huge setback in November
How grim is the current political landscape for Congressional Democrats? The Massachusetts Senate seat of the late liberal icon Ted Kennedy is up for grabs in a special election next week, and the race is so close it’s not out of the question that a Republican could win. When the mid-term elections come up in November, 36 seats in the Senate and all 435 in the House will be on the ballot. The question is, how many will the Democrats lose? Between high unemployment and frustration with the government, the tide has turned against President Barack Obama’s party. When he was inaugurated one year ago, a generic Democratic House candidate enjoyed a seven-point advantage over the Republican. A poll this month showed support for Democrats has declined eight points since then, while Republican support is up nine.Grassroots conservatives are energized, while liberal Democrats tell pollsters Obama is not listening to them. Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, warned in a speech on Jan. 11 that Democrats could face an epic 1994-style route if they continue to alienate their base (the union is fighting an administration-backed proposed tax on generous union health care plans). Several Senate and House Democrats are retiring, and one, Alabama congressman Parker Griffith, crossed the aisle last month, blaming Obama’s push for health care reform. “Democrats are the ones who are accountable for running government right now and the public is not happy with their ability to get things done—whether it’s solving health care or airport security,” says Michael Dimock, associate director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.
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MS pill on the horizon?
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:44 PM - 1 Comment
Oral drugs could be available in 2011
Promising new trials suggest that multiple sclerosis could be treated with a pill as soon as next year, the BBC reports, after two new trials yielded promising results. In each one, 1,000 people in over 18 countries participated, taking drugs called cladribine and fingolimod, which come as tablets. They cut relapse rates by 50 to 60 per cent over two years, compared to placebos. MS, the most common disabling neurological disorder to affect young adults, affects over 2.5 million people worldwide, causing mobility problems, lack of bladder and bowel control, and blurred vision. Current treatments must be injected or given by infusion, but pharmaceutical companies have been competing to develop a pill and provide more choice. However, side effects are possible; the trials suggested these may include an increased risk of herpes and cancer. Still, drug licenses have been applied for, and the MS society called it “great news.”
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Capital Diary: Week starting January 21
By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 7 Comments
NO SHOWERS FOR THE LABOUR MINISTER
Labour Minister Rona Ambrose is right now climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. She promised herself she would reach the peak the last time she was in Eastern Africa, which was in 2006 for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Back then, there was no snow on the peak; now, she’s been told, the snow is back. The Kilimanjaro climb takes six days and that means “no showers,” quips Ambrose, who packed and repacked her backpack, trying to be prepared for all sorts of weather conditions. One item she made sure to include was a Canadian flag: she plans to bring it with her to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games as a good luck symbol for when she watches gold medal skier Jennifer Heil compete. Heil is from Spruce Grove, Alta., which is in Ambrose’s riding. Heil won Canada’s first medal at the Turin Games and Ambrose arranged for Stephen Harper to give her a congratulatory call. Ambrose is also bringing a pair of high heels she’ll put on when she reaches the top for a fun personal photo op. -
It’s the Middle Ages all over again
By Barbara Amiel - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 15 Comments
BRITISH MP George Galloway is welcomed by Palestinians in the town of Rafah on Jan. 6
Given my own experience as a lightning rod for schadenfreude—a posh word for “isn’t it great the bitch finally got what she deserves”—I’m careful in delighting in the misfortunes of others. So I’ll only note that Egypt expelled British MP George Galloway last Friday as an “unwelcome individual,” after his peace-loving convoy to bring aid to the inhabitants of Gaza ran into a bit of a roadblock—a stone-throwing session that left one Egyptian soldier dead and quite a few Palestinians bloodied. Galloway is an old foe, a spitting mad hater of the Jewish state of Israel who successfully sued the Daily Telegraph for libel when it claimed that he had been in the pay of Saddam Hussein.
The next year, a U.S. congressional report investigating the UN’s infamous Oil-for-Food program concluded that despite Galloway’s denials, documents and testimony showed Iraq had granted him allocations for millions of barrels of oil under the program. Only in Britain, with constituencies heavy with Muslim immigration, could such a man be re-elected as a member of Parliament, first on the Labour ticket and then on the party ticket of RESPECT, a wondrous acronym which covers all bases: Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community, and Trade Unionism. Take each element and parse the movements that support it for anti-Semitism and you’ve got the seeds of quite a few Nuremberg rallies.
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Jay Leno: Anti-Conan Insurance
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 36 Comments
As Conan O’Brien signs his severance pact with NBC and prepares to leave — see Maureen Ryan for the latest good LenCon analysis — the Hollywood Reporter points us to this 2008 article where an “inside source” sort of predicted the whole thing (I’ve added line breaks for greater ease of reading):
NBC has committed to Conan for ‘The Tonight Show’ and will go through with it. It’s less of a financial decision, because the $40-45 million penalty payment is not super relevant. If they went to Jay and said, ‘we need you to split the payment,’ he’d do it. They’ve made a public commitment to Conan and don’t want to get beaten up over it.
NBC will do everything to try to keep Jay. Morning shows, afternoon shows, daytime shows – he won’t take any of those. They will try to keep Jay in the fold so if Conan fails on ‘The Tonight Show’ they will put Jay right back in there. Jeff Zucker will call Jay into his office with big wink and say, ‘if you say it publicly I’ll deny it, but if Conan fails, I want you back.’ That’s just the way NBC works. Back when Dave and Jay were fighting over ‘The Tonight Show,’ they tried to see if they could do the same thing. That’s what they’re going to try and do here with Jay and Conan, only they are more likely to pull it off this time.
So much for the “not getting beaten up” part, of course.
In my opinion, David Letterman has been the most entertaining person in this whole thing. His response to Leno’s “don’t blame Conan” comments, two nights ago, was particularly good. Letterman is bitter and cranky and his affable manner (intentionally) does not conceal his seething rage. All this can be a handicap when he’s trying to be lighthearted and funny, but it is perfectly suited for the current situation, in addition to the fact that he isn’t directly involved in this and can therefore say whatever he wants (unlike Conan). Letterman was the guy who really perfected the idea that a talk-show host could be a character on his own show, someone whose reactions, feelings and petty jealousies could be a part of each night’s storyline. Other people had done it, of course, but his shows are really not so much talk shows as the story of a guy hosting a talk show. And the reactions of the Letterman character, with his anger, his personal baggage, his passive-aggressive loathing of Leno, and his taunting response to Leno’s cheap shots (Leno can’t really think of anything to say about Letterman except to refer to the blackmail scandal over and over) has created some of his best character-comedy moments.
I think my favourite part of this speech is “Lonnie Donegan.”
[vodpod id=Video.2905453&w=560&h=340&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]
And just for the hell of it, and to explain the obscure reference, here’s the actual Lonnie Donegan with one of his biggest hit recordings:
Comedy fans may remember Stan Freberg’s hilarious parody of Donegan’s endless pre-song narration.
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Found: solution to medical isotope shortage
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:33 PM - 2 Comments
Quebec researchers use cyclotron, not reactor
Quebec scientists say they have an antidote for Canada’s medical isotope shortage: the cyclotron. Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre researchers claim they were able to produce radioactive technetium isotopes that are identical to the ones made at the Chalk River nuclear reactor, before it was shut down seven months ago. Now, the scientists are pushing for a network of cyclotrons to be built across the country. A cyclotron is a kind of particle accelerator. “It behaves exactly the same” as a nuclear reactor, said Johan van Lier, professor at Sherbrooke University. But unlike traditional nuclear reactors, cyclotrons do not create nuclear waste. The network “would make Quebec and Canada independent of this technetium that comes from reactor technology,” says Van Lier.
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Shaking all over?
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:30 PM - 1 Comment
NO HANDSHAKE for the Dalai Lamai in Memphis; the mayor greeted him with a fist bump
There is a great deal of good news in Ottawa’s recent end-of-year report on the H1N1 flu. But would you want to shake on it?
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, most regions in the country now report either sporadic or no evidence of H1N1. Hospitalizations have been falling sharply since mid-November and the flu threat appears to be in rapid decline in Canada, as well as the rest of the world. While any death from disease is a tragedy, the toll of the flu seems substantially less than the worst-case scenarios initially presented. Whether this is due to overstated risks or sound public health management is unclear. What is obvious, however, is that the most significant impact of last year’s H1N1 flu scare is the threat it still poses to one of our oldest and most recognized public customs—shaking hands.
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Detectives who aren’t that smart
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 5 Comments
The PI on the new CBC show ‘Republic of Doyle’ is a throwback to funny, fallible heroes
Everyone in the U.S. these days wants to do a show like The Rockford Files, but Canada got there first with Republic of Doyle. Allan Hawco, star and creator of the CBC’s new comedy-mystery (airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m.), told Maclean’s that he got the idea for the show, about a private investigator in St. John’s, “when I was watching The Rockford Files with my dad. I was thinking it’s time we re-investigate these private detective shows, as long as we don’t take them too seriously.” Rockford’s mix of mystery and self-parody is beloved in the TV business; Kay Reindl wrote at seriocity.blogspot.com that most writers dream of “creating a light detective show.” Now that Doyle is on the air, we’ll find out if viewers like this kind of show as much as writers do.
While Hawco was influenced by other shows, including Denis Leary’s mix of comedy and drama in Rescue Me, he says Rockford, which ran from 1974 to 1980, is “the first show on the list of inspirations.” Like James Garner’s character, Hawco’s Jake Doyle spends a lot of time with his father, though unlike Rockford’s dad, Malachi (Sean McGinley) is a PI too. The plots occasionally have a Rockford feel: the fourth episode, about a disreputable rich man offering Jake a huge fee to prove he didn’t commit a murder, recalls the first episode of the ’70s classic.
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Paul Quarrington, dead at 56
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:14 PM - 0 Comments
Canadian author was diagnosed with lung cancer last May
Paul Quarrington, the author of Home Game and Whale Music, has died. The Toronto-born writer was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last May and had spent the past year completing a book and touring with his band, the Porkbelly Futures. Quarrington’s first novel, The Service, was published when the author was just 25, and was succeeded by nine others, as well as works of non-fiction, journalism, screenplays and work for the stage. In one of his final interviews with the CBC four months ago, Quarrington maintained a bright outlook on life despite the grim diagnosis. “I (thought) I was one of the luckiest guys alive. And when I got the diagnosis, I thought, ‘Well, my luck has just run out’,” he said. “But actually, it hasn’t really. You find out how lucky you are in terms of friends and people around you.” Quarrington was 56.
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With or without you
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:13 PM - 19 Comments
Afghan committee hearings will apparently resume, unofficially, next month.
Layton says the three opposition parties have reached an agreement to continue unofficial committee hearings into that controversy while Parliament is suspended. The first hearing is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 3.
It would seem at least some NDP MPs will be in Ottawa next week. The Liberals have released a rough outline of their plans.
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Margaret Elizabeth Blake 1951-2009
By Jen Cutts - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 1 Comment
A gym teacher dedicated to teaching kids about healthy living, she found time to visit 145 countries
Margaret Elizabeth Blake was born in Vancouver on Dec. 30, 1951, to Leslie John Ward, an importer of Van Houten chocolates, and Margaret Elizabeth, a nurse. (Les had been injured as a soldier in Italy during the war, and fell for Marg as she nursed him back to health.) Margaret, who came to be known as Liz, and her elder brother John were soon old enough to find the stash of chocolates in the basement of the family home in Burnaby, B.C. Les, seeing his kids eating up his profits, decided to follow his father and grandfather before him, and began selling life insurance.At school, Liz was an involved student, winning awards for her performance on the field hockey and track teams, dancing in school plays, and working on the yearbook. She also fit in a part-time job as a cashier at a Super-Valu, where she met Steve Blake, who worked as a bagger. Steve preferred packing groceries at Liz’s till, he says, because “she was so fast, and she made you look good” in front of the boss. Struck by Liz’s “gorgeous red hair” and “beautiful, friendly smile,” he decided to ask her out.
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Adopted Haitian children could arrive in Canada this weekend
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:39 AM - 1 Comment
Kenney says all children set for Canadian adoption before quake are safe and proceedings are under way
Canadian families in the process of adopting Haitian children might see their tots as early as this weekend, says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. “We are working through the logistics of how we can transport them back here.” The effort applies to adoption proceedings that were initiated before last week’s quake. Kenney’s office said Thursday that 150 such cases have been identified. The good news, he says, is that the children in Haiti, who have already been paired up with Canadian families, are all confirmed safe: “Of those we have spoken with, I am happy to say that we were able to confirm that all of the children that they are adopting have survived the earthquake, although a few are ill and have health concerns.” Many of the adoptive parents, who are now waiting for their children, live in Quebec.
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Conan signs deal to leave NBC
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:32 AM - 0 Comments
O’Brien cheaper to let go than Leno
It’s official: Conan O’Brien will be leaving The Tonight Show and NBC. After his final show this Friday, the late-night program will once again be in the hands of Jay Leno. It took until today for the host to work out the terms of his severance deal with the network, but the final package gives O’Brien $30 million, plus severance money for his crew (paid jointly by NBC and O’Brien himself). If he gets a show on another network, he will not be free to go back on the air before September 1 under the terms of this agreement. Despite the tens of millions of dollars this is costing them, this is actually the cheaper deal for the network: apparently according to the terms of Jay Leno’s contract, it would cost them much more to let him go than to let Conan go. Apparently Leno, who is his own agent, negotiates better deals than O’Brien’s high-powered people.
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In defense of the simple life
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:26 AM - 1 Comment
Why too many choices may cause more harm than good
Variety is the spice of life, but is there such a thing as too much choice? According to a recent study (slated for publication), the endless array of options for everything from diet to schools to careers can paralyze us with indecision. And once we finally make a choice we often regret our decision, wondering if, given all the other possibilities, it was truly the best one. To make matters worse, this navel-gazing can lead to selfishness, as we become obsessed with ourselves, and what our decisions say about who we are. As the study’s author, Hazel Rose Markus, a psychology professor at Stanford University, explains: “The enormous opportunity for growth and self-advancement that flows from unlimited freedom of choice may diminish rather than enhance subjective well-being.” The paralysis of choice, however, is somewhat of a bourgeois pickle: the study found that non-Westerners and working class Westerners don’t put the same emphasis on having an abundance of choice as the middle and upper classes.
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John Edwards admits to paternity
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:23 AM - 1 Comment
Former U.S. presidential candidate had child with mistress, says he’ll take “love and support” her
John Edwards has publicly stated that he fathered a child with Rielle Hunter, the campaign videographer with whom he admitted to having an affair in 2008. Edwards announced that he’s the father of Frances Quinn Hunter in written a statement to NBC, where he said, “I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves,” and that, “it was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter,” referring to claims he made in 2008 that the timing of events made it impossible for the child to be his. The admission follows the release of a political expose detailing the affair, and comes just ahead of a tell-all book written by Andrew Young, a former campaign worker who had once claimed to be Frances Hunter’s father. However, Harrison Hickman, a friend of Edwards who spoke on his behalf, said the former senator was only waiting to go public until legal issues surrounding the child were resolved, and that the expose and book didn’t affect his decision. Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth Edwards, who has incurable breast cancer, has stuck with her husband since the affair came to light. But NBC is now reporting that family friends say the two have separated, at least temporarily.
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Le castor fait tout
By Colby Cosh - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 30 Comments
I wonder if any of the other Macbloggers have been straining at their imaginations trying to find a PG-rated way to talk about the name change over at Canada’s second-oldest magazine. It took me a while to remember that General Semantics has an answer for this. So: The Beaver, now to become Canada’s History, was named in 1920 for what we’ll call beaver1, the rodent Castor canadensis. The periodical was obliged to make the change because of jokes about and search-engine confusion with beaver2, a colloquialism for an anatomical neighbourhood in the human female. Continue…
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Canada Day in Quebec: not worth the cash
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:56 AM - 1 Comment
Feds overhaul program that saw more than half the “Celebrate Canada” funding going to province
The real surprise is that it lasted this long. Celebrate Canada was a $6.7-million program born during the same period as the infamous sponsorship initiative, so you’d think the Harper government might have unwound it earlier. They are, after all, the ones who declared Quebec to be a nation, and French Quebec celebrates its existence on St. Jean Baptiste Day (a.k.a. Fête National, June 24). Still, the competing holidays have in the past been regarded as a barometer of opinion in Quebec: if the June 24 parade drew more marchers and onlookers than its Canada Day equivalent, sovereigntist hearts would flutter. By spreading the Canada Day funding equitably between provinces, on the basis of population, the Tories are signalling they put little stock in such symbolism.
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Tories, Grits in a virtual tie
By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:51 AM - 9 Comments
But neither party is anywhere near a Parliamentary majority
According to the latest EKOS poll, the Liberals have crept into a virtual tie with the Conservatives. At 30.9 per cent, the Grits now trail the Conservatives (31.5 per cent) by less than a point. The NDP, meanwhile, remains stuck in the mid-teens, garnering 14.9 per cent support. The broad direction of the Harper government left respondents almost equally divided, with 45 per cent of Canadians believing they’re headed down the right path while 42 per cent believe they’re going in the wrong direction. EKOS president Frank Graves says the most important demographic to keep an eye on could be the baby boomers, who are increasingly deserting the Conservatives for the Liberals. “The Conservatives still lead among this group,” he says, “but their lead is much less significant than it was.”
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Al-Qaeda: the world’s new pushers
By Cameron Ainsworth-Vincze - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:48 AM - 16 Comments
Islamist extremists are assisting Colombian cocaine smugglers
In a partnership that U.S. authorities are referring to as an “unholy alliance,” Islamist extremists are helping Colombian guerrillas smuggle cocaine into Europe through unstable West Africa to increase their funding.
Marxist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have started collaborating with al-Qaeda in the wake of interdiction efforts on the part of American and European forces aimed at curtailing the amount of cocaine travelling straight from Colombia and other Andean nations to the United States and Europe. “In the mid- to late-1990s when the Europeans became better at maritime interdiction, off the coasts of Portugal and Spain, for example, traffickers started moving their routes southward,” says Jay Bergman, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for the Andean region of South America. “So the next progression was to Western Africa.” Indeed, according to the DEA, drug flights from South America to West Africa have greatly increased over the past three years, and officials have seized “ton-sized quantities of cocaine.” Interpol also estimates that two-thirds of drugs sold in Europe in 2009 were trafficked through West Africa.
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Iceland’s genetic problem
By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:47 AM - 3 Comments
CEO Kari Stefansson’s company never turned a profit
Iceland was supposed to be the perfect test subject for one of the world’s leading genetic research companies. Its isolated, nearly homogenous population, combined with the country’s meticulous genealogical records, it was thought, would greatly simplify deCode Genetics’ arduous task of identifying the genetic mutations that lead to diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. But, like the island nation’s anemic economy, the project proved to be a bust.DeCode, the Reykjavik-based biopharmaceutical company, filed for creditor protection last November having never turned a profit; the NASDAQ suspended trading on the company’s stock last week. It’s a precipitous fall from grace for the once-celebrated company. More importantly, though, its failure suggests scientists are still a ways off from developing tests and cures for diseases based on research into genetic mutations.
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Pray for Mr. & Ms. Elizabeth Gilbert
By Anne Kingston - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:41 AM - 8 Comments
The author of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ has remarried. All indicators point to the match being doomed.
When readers last left Elizabeth Gilbert, she and her Brazilian lover were jumping joyously into the Java Sea. The leap was metaphorical as well—a triumphant ending to Eat, Pray, Love, the American writer’s post-divorce, pan-continental self-discovery tour capped by her falling in love with a man she dubbed “Felipe,” a precious gem importer 17 years her senior. The 2006 single-gal escape fantasy became a cultural phenom, selling millions of copies, inspiring travel junkets, and spawning a chick flick starring Julia Roberts out later this year.
Now there’s a sequel, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, which traces a more tortuous internal trek: Gilbert’s attempt to shed her (re)marriage aversion before taking Felipe as her husband. She succeeds, more or less, though sadly all indicators point to the legalized love match being doomed.
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Location, location, location
By Kate Lunau - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:30 AM - 2 Comments
Where you live affects when regular breast cancer screening starts
YAKABUSKI had an unofficial 'screening program'
Concerned about an aunt who’d been diagnosed with breast cancer, Vicky Yakabuski—then in her thirties—got a referral from her doctor for a mammogram, a habit she got into keeping each year. At age 46, Yakabuski learned she had breast cancer. “It was a treacherous time,” says the homemaker, now 48, who lives in Stouffville, Ont., and it was hard on her husband and two daughters. After a mastectomy and chemotherapy, she’s doing better; she and supporters (dubbed “Team Victorious”) raised $15,200 in October’s Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. As for the mammogram, she says, “it saved my life.”
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Canadian women, yet for those under 50, the benefits of regular mammograms remain controversial. Because it’s less common in younger women—the annual risk of developing it at 40 is half what it is at 50—experts warn that regular testing can actually do more harm than good. (Women in their forties, who have denser breast tissue, are more likely to get false positive results.) Others insist it saves lives: one B.C. study showed that providing women in their forties with regular mammograms reduced deaths from breast cancer by 25 per cent. Even so, medical bodies offer conflicting advice, and screening programs vary between provinces. This “creates confusion,” says Beth Easton of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), and can put women at risk.
