Legal status of patented genes in Canada remains unclear, though recent settlement should defuse tension, say experts
A landmark settlement reached earlier this year over diagnostic testing is being lauded as a potential solution to the ethical and legal quagmire presented by genes patented by private companies. Work is currently underway to help develop a framework for provincial governments, on behalf of their publicly-operated hospitals, to appeal for legal use of patented genetic material […]
Biotech advocates call on the feds to strengthen industry incentives
The Liberal government must maintain or strengthen current financial supports for biotechnology companies to ensure the industry can continue to prosper in Canada, advocates say. Andrew Casey, president and CEO of BIOTECanada, an industry advocacy group, said Canada needs to continue to offer robust incentives for firms or else they could be lured to other countries […]
Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Photo of the week
More research investment needed to beat ALS
MARKHAM, ONT.—It is with great sadness that we said goodbye this month to Mauril Bélanger, MP for Ottawa-Vanier, Ont.. In the short time he lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Mr. Bélanger raised significant awareness about the harsh realities of this devastating neurodegenerative disease. The fall of 2015 should have been a time of celebration for […]
Bélanger set example for what politicians should be
When Mauril Bélanger died last week, we truly lost one of the good ones. In the immediate aftermath of someone’s passing, it’s typically a time to gather all the positives one can recall about that person and, for at least for the immediate timeframe, overlook some of their less desirable qualities. But with Mr. Bélanger […]
Mauril Bélanger remembered for his service, devotion to the job
The House of Commons seat for Ottawa-Vanier is vacant. But the riding’s longtime Member of Parliament has left a unique void no successor will ever fill. Mauril Bélanger, who represented Ottawa-Vanier for 21 years and served in former prime minister Paul Martin’s cabinet, died in Ottawa on Aug. 15 at the age of 61 following a […]
If only I had chickens around, I might not have gotten malaria
LONDON, U.K.—I had malaria once, and it was extremely unpleasant. I had been working in Yemen, but I actually contracted it when I was flying home. The flight made a stop in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and the plane was parked out on the runway while waiting to pick up passengers, right on the edge […]
As Syrian hospitals are destroyed daily, the world’s apathy is horrifying
The images shown in the media of parents crying over their lost children, of civilians being attacked in a war they didn’t sign up for, of bodies left in the streets are not an exaggeration. I cannot shake the image of water washing down the steps of a building, tainted red with the blood of […]
Sharing a wealth of information: how regulators can improve fracking disclosure practices
Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a technology employed in the production of oil and gas from unconventional shale formations. The technology has become ubiquitous, with tens of thousands of fracking wells drilled worldwide over the past decade. Fracking often takes place in relatively populated areas, thus posing an array of risks to public health such as […]
