Pink Ribbons Inc. screening & discussion WHEN? Wednesday February 27 2012, 2PM - 4:30PM
WHERE? Room 1009, TEL Building, York University
ABOUT THE FILM (FROM NFB WEBSITE)
About the film
“We used to march in the streets; now we run for a cure.” Barbara Ehrenreich, author and social critic.
Breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless women and men walk, bike, climb and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve?
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Léa Pool, and produced and executive produced by Ravida Din for the National Film Board of Canada, PINK RIBBONS, INC. is a feature documentary that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a "dream cause," has been hijacked by a shiny, pink story of success.
This space is wheelchair accessible.
Please refrain from wearing perfumes, scented personal care products or tobacco-scented clothing.
Production of this event has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. Hormone Disruptors Unmasked: How Chemical Exposures are Harming Human HealthA free public event presented by NNEWH, CAW, CWHN & BCAM  FEATURING:
DR. Annie Sasco
Director
Epidemiology for Cancer Prevention
INSERM (France)
WHEN: Thursday January 31st 2013, 7pm
WHERE: Pearson Room, Best Western Primrose Hotel
111 Carlton Street, Toronto
PRESENTED BY:
National Network on Environments and Women's Health
Canadian Auto Workers
Canadian Women's Health Network
Breast Cancer Action Montreal
Please refrain from wearing perfumes, scented personal care products or tobacco-scented clothing.
Production of this event has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. NNEWH Press Release - Chemical Exposures of Women Workers in the Plastics Industry in Relation to Breast Cancer RiskTORONTO, ON (December 6, 2012) A new study published in the journal New Solutions presents strong evidence that women employed in the plastics industry are exposed to workplace chemicals that can increase their risk of breast cancer and reproductive abnormalities. Spearheaded by Robert DeMatteo, in partnership with Margaret Keith, James Brophy, and the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH), the research supports Brophy and Keith’s recently reported epidemiological findings of a 5-fold elevated breast cancer risk for premenopausal women who work in the plastics industry. Together, these studies reveal the need for swift regulatory action on carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals in Canada.
From extensive interviews with workers and a review of available government and industry hygiene reports, the study found that exposure controls and government enforcement was virtually non-existent in many workplaces. One worker explained the way chemical exposures affect her daily: “I don’t know if it’s from the smoke or if it’s from the fumes. You smell fumes, you taste [it] in your mouth, and then you get—it’s like a light-headedness, dizziness.” According to DeMatteo, “Much of what workers describe about their working conditions was corroborated by our review of various industry and government hygiene reports. These reports indicate that there was little or no local exhaust ventilation to prevent worker exposures. To make matters worse, very few of the reports we reviewed indicate that inspectors wrote orders for remedial action.”
Brophy and Keith note that the study’s synthesis of scientific findings on carcinogens and endocrine disruptors is one of its most important contributions. “The review of the bio-monitoring literature shows that workers in this industry have high body burdens of hormone disrupting chemicals such as acrylonitrile, styrene, BPA, and phthalates,” stated Keith.
While federal regulators declared BPA “toxic” in 2010, and took action to ban baby bottles that were manufactured using the known hormone disruptor, there are still no safeguards in place to protect workers who are directly exposed to BPA (and several other carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals used as additives in plastics manufacturing) on a daily basis. “Canadians are entitled to expect that once a substance is declared “toxic” according to federal law, regulators will work together to reduce our exposures to it. This is what adherence to the precautionary principle requires,” said Dayna Nadine Scott, Director of NNEWH, located at York University.
The full study can be found on the following websites: www.nnewh.org, www.cwhn.ca, and http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?id=k01404273056. Media contacts: National Network on Environments and Women’s Health at nnewh1@yorku.ca or 416-736-2100 ext. 20711 and the Canadian Women’s Health Network at info@cwhn.ca or 204-470-1825.
Funding for this project has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. This project incorporates research and focus groups funded by The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
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L’exposition aux produits chimiques associée au risque de cancer du sein chez les travailleuses de l’industrie des matières plastiques, conclut une nouvelle recherche
TORONTO, Ontario (le 6 décembre 2012) Selon une nouvelle étude publiée dans la revue New Solutions, tout porte à croire que les travailleuses de l’industrie des matières plastiques sont exposées à des substances susceptibles d’augmenter le risque de cancer du sein et d’anomalies reproductives. Pilotée par Robert DeMatteo et menée en collaboration avec Margaret Keith, James Brophy et le Réseau pancanadien sur la santé des femmes et le milieu (RPSFM), l’étude corrobore des données épidémiologiques publiées récemment par Brophy et Keith, qui révélaient un risque de cancer du sein cinq fois plus élevé chez les employées de ce secteur pendant la préménopause. Tous ces résultats confirment la nécessité d’instaurer rapidement des mesures de réglementation des substances chimiques cancérogènes et des perturbateurs endocriniens au Canada.
À l’issue d’une enquête approfondie auprès des travailleuses et d’une recension des rapports sur l’hygiène du travail publiés par le gouvernement et l’industrie, les auteurs concluent à la quasi-absence de toute surveillance gouvernementale et de toute réglementation en matière d’exposition aux produits chimiques dans bon nombre de lieux de travail. Une travailleuse a décrit notamment les effets quotidiens de l’exposition en ces termes : « Je ne sais pas si ça provient de la fumée ou des émanations. On peut sentir les vapeurs, leur goût s’imprègne dans notre bouche et peu après, on ressent comme des étourdissements ou des vertiges. » Selon Robert DeMatteo, « Une bonne partie de ce que décrivent les travailleuses à propos de leurs conditions de travail concorde avec les observations que nous avons relevées dans les rapports. Ces derniers relèvent la quasi-absence ou l’absence totale de ventilation par aspiration à la source, qui pourrait protéger les travailleuses. Or seulement une poignée de rapports font mention de mesures correctives ordonnées par les inspecteurs. »
Pour James Brophy et Margaret Keith, l’un des apports les plus importants de l’étude concerne sa synthèse des données sur les agents cancérogènes et les perturbateurs endocriniens. « La documentation scientifique sur la biosurveillance indique que les travailleuses et travailleurs de ce secteur présentent une charge corporelle élevée de perturbateurs endocriniens comme l’acrylonitrile, le styrène, le BPA et les phtalates », dit Keith.
Même si les responsables fédéraux de la réglementation ont décrété en 2010 que le BPA était « toxique » et interdit l’usage de ce perturbateur endocrinien connu dans la fabrication des biberons, il n’existe encore aucun mécanisme de protection des travailleuses et travailleurs directement exposés à cette substance sur une base quotidienne (ainsi qu’à plusieurs autres substances cancérogènes et modulateurs endocriniens utilisés comme additifs dans la fabrication des plastiques). « Si une substance est déclarée “toxique” en vertu d’une loi fédérale, les Canadiens ont le droit de s’attendre à ce que les responsables de la réglementation travaillent ensemble à réduire notre degré d’exposition à celle-ci. C’est ce que commande le principe de précaution », a déclaré Dayna Nadine Scott, directrice du RPSFM, établi à l’Université York.
On peut consulter l’étude intégrale dans les sites suivants : www.nnewh.org, www.rcsf.ca et http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?id=k01404273056. Relations avec les médias : Le Réseau pancanadien sur la santé des femmes et le milieu (nnewh1@yorku.ca ou 416-736-2100, p. 20711) et Le Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes (info@cwhn.ca ou 204-470-1825).
Ce projet a bénéficié d’une subvention de Santé Canada. Il incorpore des données issues de recherches et de groupes de discussion parrainés par la section ontarienne de la Fondation canadienne du cancer du sein.
Les opinions exprimées dans le présent communiqué ne reflètent pas nécessairement celles de Santé Canada.
NNEWH Press Release English NNEWH Press Release French Dematteo, New Solutions Article NNEWH PRESS RELEASE - Research findings: Chemical exposures contributing to elevated breast cancer risk in some occupations La version française suit TORONTO, ON (November 19, 2012) A new Canadian study conducted by co-principal investigators James Brophy and Margaret Keith and an international, multidisciplinary team of co-investigators demonstrates that women working in particular occupations have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The National Network on Environments and Women's Health (NNEWH) partnered with Brophy and Keith in the study's exposure assessment of automotive plastics workers in the Windsor, Ontario region. The research results are a valuable addition to growing evidence linking breast cancer and other diseases with exposure to toxic chemicals, and in particular, toxins in the workplace.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian women. The research was primarily funded by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. “Over the last 25 years mortality rates for breast cancer have declined by nearly 40% but incidence rates have remained the same, with one in nine Canadian women getting breast cancer in her lifetime, ” said Sandra Palmaro, CEO, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Region. “This research provides new evidence about workplace risks associated with breast cancer that we hope will lead to a better understanding of how to prevent the disease.”
Women who are exposed to carcinogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals at work may be at a greater risk for developing cancer. Many plastics have been found to release estrogenic and carcinogenic chemicals. Significantly, women working with plastics in the automotive industry for ten years were found to be more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer, with women in that sector who are pre-menopausal being five times more likely.
The occupational risks associated with breast cancer are a neglected area of research. This study clearly demonstrates the value of including detailed work histories in the environmental and occupational epidemiology of breast cancer. “Women are regularly overlooked in occupational health studies and, consequently, there is very little research on the impact of chemical exposures on women in the workplace,” notes Anne Rochon Ford, Executive Director of the Canadian Women’s Health Network. “This is a vital contribution to not only the field of women’s health research, but occupational health research as well.”
The federal regulatory regime and provincial occupational health and safety standards have not adequately responded to new understandings about the health effects from environmental exposures. Women’s elevated exposures to toxics and the fact that the incidence of adverse health outcomes is influenced by sex and gender demands a precautionary approach to preventing disease. “This research supports a growing understanding that when it comes to endocrine disrupting chemicals, even low doses can be dangerous” stated Dayna Nadine Scott, Director of NNEWH. “We are exposed to these chemicals at home, in the workplace and in the environment – it’s time to demand a regulatory response that is integrated and health-protective for everyone.”
A Summary of the Research Findings and the full study, tables and references can be found on the websites of the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (www.nnewh.org) and the Canadian Women’s Health Network (www.cwhn.ca). For more information, please contact the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health at nnewh1@yorku.ca or 416-736-2100 ext. 20711 and the Canadian Women’s Health Network at info@cwhn.ca or 204-470-1825.
Production of this press release has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
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COMMUNIQUÉ DU RPSFM
Une étude démontre que l’exposition aux produits chimiques au travail contribue à l’augmentation du risque de cancer du sein
TORONTO, ON (Le 19 novembre 2012) Une nouvelle étude canadienne démontre que les femmes qui occupent certains emplois ont un risque accru de développer un cancer du sein. Les chercheurs James Brophy et Margaret Keith ont analysé, avec le soutien d’une équipe multidisciplinaire internationale et en association avec le Réseau pancanadien sur la santé des femmes et le milieu (RPSFM), l’exposition aux produits chimiques des travailleuses de l’industrie des plastiques automobiles dans la région de Windsor en Ontario. Leurs résultats constituent un apport précieux au corpus de données de plus en plus nombreuses sur l’existence d’un lien entre le cancer du sein et autres maladies et l’exposition, notamment aux toxines, au travail.
Le cancer du sein est le cancer le plus courant chez les femmes du Canada. Le projet de recherche a été subventionné en grande partie par la Fondation canadienne du cancer du sein. « Depuis 25 ans, le taux de mortalité attribuable au cancer du sein a diminué de près de 40 %, mais le taux d’incidence n’a pas changé : une Canadienne sur neuf en souffrira au cours de sa vie », affirme Sandra Palmaro, chef de la direction de la Fondation pour la région de l’Ontario. « Cette étude nous fournit de nouvelles données sur les risques professionnels associés au cancer du sein; nous avons bon espoir qu’elles permettront d’approfondir les connaissances sur les moyens de prévenir celui-ci. »
Les travailleuses exposées à des concentrations élevées de cancérogènes et de modulateurs endocriniens pourraient courir un plus grand risque de développer un cancer. On savait déjà que de nombreux plastiques libèrent des substances œstrogéniques et cancérogènes. Les chercheurs ont découvert que les femmes qui cumulaient dix ans dans l’industrie des plastiques automobiles étaient plus de deux fois plus à risque de souffrir d’un cancer du sein que les autres, et cinq fois plus pendant la préménopause.
Il y a peu de recherches sur les risques professionnels associés au cancer du sein. L’étude confirme hors de tout doute la pertinence de scruter avec soin les antécédents professionnels dans le cadre des recherches en épidémiologie environnementale et professionnelle du cancer du sein. « On fait régulièrement abstraction des femmes dans les études dans ces domaines, si bien qu’il existe très peu de recherches sur l’effet des produits chimiques en milieu de travail sur celles-ci », fait observer Anne Rochon Ford, directrice exécutive du Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes. « Cette étude fait un apport essentiel non seulement au domaine de la santé des femmes, mais aussi à celui de la recherche sur la santé au travail. »
Ni le système de réglementation fédéral, ni les normes provinciales en matière de santé au travail ne tiennent suffisamment compte des nouvelles connaissances sur les effets de l’exposition aux produits chimiques sur la santé. Les niveaux élevés d’exposition aux substances toxiques des femmes et le fait que l’incidence de résultats nocifs sur la santé varie selon le sexe et le genre exigent une approche de précaution dans la prévention de la maladie. « Ce projet de recherche appuie une hypothèse de plus en plus acceptée sur les modulateurs endocriniens, selon laquelle même de faibles doses peuvent être nocives », affirme Dayna Nadine Scott, directrice du RPSFM. « Nous sommes exposés aux produits chimiques à la maison, au travail et dans notre environnement; le temps est venu d’exiger un dispositif de réglementation intégré destiné à protéger la santé de tous et de toutes. »
On peut consulter un Résumé des conclusions de recherche et l’étude intégrale, accompagnée de tableaux et de
références, dans les sites suivants : le Réseau pancanadien sur la santé des femmes et le milieu (www.nnewh.org) et le Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes (www.cwhn.ca). Pour un complément d’information, communiquez avec le Réseau pancanadien sur la santé des femmes et le milieu (nnewh1@yorku.ca ou au 416-736-2100, p. 20711) ou le Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes (info@cwhn.ca ou 204-470-1825).
La préparation de ce communiqué de presse a bénéficié d’une contribution financière de Santé Canada. Les opinions exprimées ici ne reflètent pas nécessairement celles du ministère.
NNEWH Press Release - English NNEWH Press Release - French Full Manuscript - Breast cancer risk in relation to occupations with exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors: a Canadian case–control study NNEWH Summary of the Research Finding - English NNEWH Summary of the Research Finding - French Latest Cuts: Another Federal Ministry Announces Program Closure - The End of the Women’s Health Contribution ProgramApril 23, 2012
Six federally funded organizations devoted to research and communication in women’s health learned this week that their funding will end March 31, 2013.
The Program is critical to funding innovative social policy research, building community partnerships and providing important mentorship opportunities for students in women’s health. Within a year, the affected organizations will be forced to either close their doors permanently or attempt to find funding elsewhere.
The Women’s Health Contribution Program (WHCP) supports: Le Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes (RQASF), the Canadian Women’s Health Network (CWHN), the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (ACEWH), the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH), the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE) and the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH), located across the country from Vancouver to Halifax.
“The effect of this decision by Health Canada is yet another strong sign that the federal government is pulling away from its responsibility to gender equality. The work funded through the WHCP has been crucial to ensuring that Canadian women have had access to the best evidence and policy advice on women’s health issues, through research that recognized that social and environmental determinants of health are key,” said Chi Nguyen, Chair of the Board of the Canadian Women’s Health Network.
The centres and networks funded by the WHCP carry out research and provide policy input to federal government departments on a broad range of women’s health issues, including:
- the women’s health implications of the federal government’s regulation of toxic chemicals (NNEWH);
- the hyper-sexualization of girls (RQASF);
- the inter-generational legacy of residential schools on Aboriginal women and their families (PWHCE);
- the need for trauma-informed counselling for women with addictions (BCCEWH);
- a working guide for conducting sex and gender-based analysis in health research (ACEWH);
- a critical analysis of funding for the HPV vaccine (CWHN).
Staff and directors managing the centres and networks add their voices to the growing body of Canadians who are shocked and outraged by the short-sightedness of the federal government cuts to programs, services and the federal civil service. These cuts are in direct contradiction to the pledges regarding gender equality that Canada has made both in international commitments and to Canadians. Women are being hit particularly hard with these cuts, and, because the research being eliminated generated proactive, preventative strategies for health promotion, these cuts will cost everyone in the long term. The end of this work will be most strongly felt by the disadvantaged and the disempowered.
Dr. Liz Whynot, Chair of the Board of Directors of the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health expressed her concern that “This cut threatens the significant work on women’s health that has been undertaken across the country, and represents an enormous loss of capacity to monitor and improve the health of women in Canada, particularly those who are marginalized.”
The impact of these cuts across the country will be felt in ways not yet fully imagined and will create a further burden on our health and social support systems. The centres and networks are calling on ALL Canadians to contact their MPs to voice their concerns about cuts to the Women’s Health Contribution Program, along with the Health Department of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, the National Council of Welfare, and all those organizations devoted to promoting women’s health and women’s equality.
Media contacts:
Canadian Women’s Health Network (Winnipeg/Toronto)
Alexandra Merrill 204-470-1825 or cwhn@cwhn.ca
Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes (Montréal)
Lydya Assayag 514-222-2731 or rqasf@rqasf.qc.ca
Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (Halifax)
Greta Rasmussen 902-494-7850 or greta.rasmussen@dal.ca
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (Toronto)
Jyoti Phartiyal 416-736-2100 ext 20715 or nnewh1@yorku.ca
Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence (Winnipeg)
Carla Simon 403-813-9831 or carla@carlasimon.com
British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (Vancouver)
Marie Dussault 604-875-2633 or mdussault@cw.bc.ca Source URL:
cwhn.ca/en/node/44620 Book Launch: Thinking Women and Health Care Reform DATE: February 14, 2012
TIME: 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION:Sociology Common Room - 2101 Vari Hall
Thinking Women and Health Care Reform in Canada starts with the understanding that health care is a women’s issue. Written by members of Women and Health Care Reform, a national working group housed within the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health, the collection points to the importance of including gender in health sector decision-making. The book looks at such issues as obesity, maternity care, mental health of health care workers, and private health insurance through a gendered lens.
Alison Jenkins Jayman, a doctoral candidate in Sociology, Morgan Seeley, a doctoral candidate in Women’s Studies, and Pat Armstrong, professor in Sociology and Women’s Studies, are three of the authors in a recently published book edited by Women and Health Care Reform, a group that has been working for more than a dozen years on identifying why health care reform is an issue for women, what the issues are and for which women.
Three short presentations will be followed by a light lunch and a chance to mingle.
PRESENTATIONS:
Pat Armstrong - Framing Health Care as a Woman’s Issue and an Issue for Specific Women
Alison Jenkins Jayman - Women and Private Health Insurance
Morgan Seeley - Women and Long-term Residential Care
Co-sponsored by Canadian Women’s Health Network; the Centre for Feminist Research; the Graduate Programme in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies; the Graduate Programme in Sociology; and the York Institute for Health Research. More information on this book:
www.cspi.org/books/thinking_women_and_health_care_reform_canada Event Poster BEYOND PINK RIBBONS?EVENT DATE: Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7pm
EVENT LOCATION: Capitol Theatre
121 University Ave, Windsor, ON
*Film screening at 7pm - Discussion and reception to follow
Invited respondents:
Patricia Noonan - Lori Dupont Inquest Action Group
Natalie Gierman - Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region
Patricia Kearns - Breast Cancer Action Montreal
For additional information, please contact NNEWH at nnewh1@yorku.ca or Margaret Keith and Jim Brophy at 519-735-2944.
*$5.00 admission charge for film, available at the door or on line at
www.windsorfilmfestival.com Join us for the launch of www.womenandchemicals.ca! EVENT DATE: Thursday November 17th 2011, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
LOCATION: Toronto Women’s Bookstore, 73 Harbord Street
Please join the National Network on Environments and Women's Health (NNEWH) in celebrating the launch of www.womenandchemicals.ca and our latest report, Sex, Gender and Chemicals: Factoring women into Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan.
In recent years, NNEWH has been working on a variety of projects related to women’s health and chemicals covering such aspects as consumer products (and the individualization of risk), occupational exposures, and chemicals management in Canada. In light of our recent and ongoing projects, NNEWH is launching a website that will bring together resources related to women and chemicals and serve as a platform for releasing new research and policy tools from NNEWH on this issue.
Light refreshments will be served.
If possible, please RSVP to nnewh1@yorku.ca
NNEWH Chemicals Launch Flyer 2011 What's Worth Knowing: Health and Environment SymposiumEvent Link
lsf-lst.ca/symposium2011 Living Downstream: Documentary Screening & Panel DiscussionScreening of Sandra Seingraber’s documentary film about the environmental links to cancer, a personal journey and a public account of how chemicals in the environment affect our bodies and ecosystems. This will be followed by a panel discussion.
WHEN: Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
TIME: 4:15pm
WHERE: T1009 TEL Building, York University
SUBWAY: York University 196 Express from Downsview Subway station, parking available on campus.
PANELISTS:
Ellen Sweeney, Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Environnmental Studies, York University
Anna Tilman, International Institute of Concern for Public Health
MODERATOR:
Sonia Lawrence, Director, Institute for Feminist Legal Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
More info: nnewh1@yorku.ca
The TEL building is wheelchair accessible.
NNEWH website
www.nnewh.org / www.womenandwater.ca
Our Bodies, Our Burdens: A Public Forum on Gender and BiomonitoringYork University’s National Network on Environments and Women’s Health presents a free public forum on the growing trend toward biomonitoring* studies, their promise and pitfalls, their social significance, their gender implications and the ethical questions that they raise.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
TIME: 7pm
WHERE: Novella Room, Bluma Appel Salon, 2nd floor, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St, one block north of Bloor.
SUBWAY: Yonge and Bloor subway station, parking in HBC parking garage off Asquith Ave.
SPEAKERS:
Sharyle Patton, Director, Health and Environment Program Commonweal (Environmental Research Institute),
Bolinas, California
Andrew Black, Policy Analyst, Assembly of Fist Nations (First Nations Biomonitoring Initiative)
More info: nnewh1@yorku.ca
NNEWH websites: www.nnewh.org / www.womenandwater.ca
The Novella Room is wheelchair accessible.
* Biomonitoring is a scientific technique for assessing human exposures to natural and synthetic chemicals, based on sampling and analysis of an individual’s tissues and fluids. (Environmental Health Research Foundation).
Policies Needed! Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Women’s HealthA free public forum sponsored by the National Network on Environments and Women’s health discussing the need for the development of policy related to multiple chemical sensitivity and women’s health.
Simultaneous translation will be available. Please refrain from wearing perfumes, scented personal care products or tobacco-scented clothing.
WHEN: March 30th, 2011
TIME: 7pm
WHERE: Le Centre Sheraton Montréal Hotel, East Ballroom, 1201 Boulevard René-Lévesque West, Montréal.
SUBWAY: station Bonaventure
SPEAKERS:
Geneviève Nadeau, Doctoral Candidate, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Lise Parent, PhD, Professeure, Télé-université (UQAM)
Rohini Peris, President, EHAQ
More info: nnewh1@yorku.ca
NNEWH websites: www.nnewh.org / www.womenandwater.ca
Le Centre Sheraton Montréal Hotel is a wheelchair accessible hotel.
WEBINAR - Gender-bending and Environmental Justice WEBINAR – Thursday March 18, 12-1 p.m. EST
Dayna Nadine Scott, co-director of the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health, will discuss the environmental health effects of long-term, low-dose exposure to pollutants, with a focus on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve near Sarnia, ON. This community, in the midst of Canada’s largest petro-chemical complex, has seen a drastic decline in male newborns in recent years. Scott's on-going project applies gender-based analysis to the problem of chronic pollution, looking in particular at long-term, low dose exposures.
Scott is cross-appointed between York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Her current research examines the way we talk about “endocrine disruption” from critical perspective. She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at McGill’s Faculty of Law, and a Fulbright Fellowship at NYU Law School.
* Please email info@cwhn.ca for registration information.
* The webinar is free of charge and open to the public. You will need a computer with a high speed internet connection and speakers (or a headset).
* If you would like to suggest a question for Dayna Scott, please email it along with your registration request Survey on Chemical Exposures and Women's HealthTake our survey on chemicals and women's health!
The National Network on Environments and Women's Health, in collaboration with the Canadian Women's Health Network, is conducting a survey on people's daily exposures to chemicals. We are trying to gather information from as broad a range of people in Canada as possible, with a particular interest in responses from women. The survey will be on line until March 24th. Please fill it in and encourage others to do so as well (it only takes a few minutes). The results from the survey, which we will make known to Health Canada, will be published on our websites some time later in the spring. Here are the links to the surveys in English and French.
Chemicals Survey - English
www.surveymonkey.com/s/PBGRWGC Sondage sur les produits chimiques - French
www.surveymonkey.com/s/PBPPJTM CMP Backgrounder
More information on the Government of Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan What’s In That Glass?Sex, Gender, and the Water We Drink A free panel discussion exploring the issue of pharmaceuticals and disinfectant by-products in our drinking water – the state of the research, what is and is not known about the impact on sex and gender, and alternative routes for managing this environmental hazard.
WHEN: Wednesday February 17, 2010
TIME: 7pm
WHERE: Spadina Room, Courtyard Marriott Hotel, 475 Yonge St. Toronto
SUBWAY: between Wellesley & College; parking behind hotel ($8/hour)
SPEAKERS:
Pam Eliason, Senior Associate Director, Toxics Use Reduction Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Prof. Deborah MacLatchy, Vice‐President Academic and Provost; Founding Fellow, Canadian Rivers Institute, Wilfrid Laurier University
Prof. Chris Metcalfe, Environmental and Resource Studies; Director, Institute for Watershed Science, Trent University
More info: nnewh1@yorku.ca
NNEWH websites: www.nnewh.org / www.womenandwater.ca
The Courtyard Marriott is a wheelchair accessible hotel. SPEAKER SERIES: A pill for every ill or an ill for every pill?Speaker: Dr. Barbara Mintzes
Date: Tuesday January 26, 2010
Time: 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Room: 320 Bethune College
Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines is illegal in
Canada on public health grounds. However, Canadians see these ads every day, in U.S. television and magazines sold in Canada, and -- increasingly -- in Canadian media. What do we know about the effects on public health, health care costs, and people's understanding of drugs and diseases?
This presentation reviews the research evidence and discusses its implications for Canadian health care policy, especially in light of the recent CanWest Charter Challenge.
Presented by Graduate Research Association of Students in Public Health (GRASP), York University. SPEAKER SERIES -The Price of Advocacy: Can We Afford It?The story of one physician's experience in simply trying to do his job to the best of his ability as an advocate for his patients in a Northern Canadian town Dr. JOHN O’CONNOR
Community Physician (former Medical Examiner for Fort Chipewyan), Northern Alberta
Tuesday 26 January 2010
12:30pm to 2:00pm in HNES 140
Dr John O’Connor is a family physician who bravely raised concerns about possible link between Alberta’s oilsands mega-development and cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, a remote aboriginal community situated on the northern shore of Lake Athabasca. He was medical examiner for the region of Fort Chipewyan from 2000 to 2007. In 2007, Health Canada physicians laid complaints of professional misconduct against O’Connor with the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr O’Connor was cleared of all charges.
Presented by the Faculty of Environmental Studies in collaboration with the Faculty of Health and the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health The POWER Study cancer chapter now availableThe POWER Study (Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-based
Report) Cancer chapter is now available for download.
The POWER Study is producing a two-volume Women's Health Repo...
Read More Welcome to two working groupsThis past spring, NNEWH welcomed into its Network two sister working groups, Women and Health Care Reform (WHCR) and Women and Health Protection (WHP). WHCR, chaired by York University Professor Pat Armstrong, has a mandate to conduct research and advise on the effects of health care reforms on women as providers, decisions makers and users of health care systems. Areas of focus have included women as ancillary workers, women’s work in long term care, the impact of privatization on women, timely access to care and a gender-based analysis of wait times. WHP, coordinated by Anne Rochon Ford (former Community Co-Director of NNEWH, 1996-1998) has a mandate to examine the impact of federal decisions relating to drugs and devices on women’s health. Work to date has included a gender-based analysis of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, transparency in the drug regulation process, women and adverse drug reaction reporting, decision-making and the HPV vaccine, and the impact of pharmaceuticals in our water.
Each group will continue to carry out work within their long-standing mandates, and both groups will be administratively housed under NNEWH within York University.
NNEWH Fellowship in Women's Health and the Environment**This competition is now CLOSED**
The National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) Graduate Fellowship in Women's Health and the Environment is an annual award designed to supp...
Read More 44th CENTRAL Canadian Symposium on Water Quality ResearchThe NNEWH team presented "The gendered implications of chronic
chemical exposures through
Canadian drinking water: Preliminary
research findings" at the 44th CENTRAL Canadian Symposium on...
Read More "Consuming" Chemicals: Implications for Women’s Health - Policy ForumBased on our fall symposium's deliberations and on federal priorities, NNEWH will host a closed policy forum in Ottawa on "Consuming" Chemicals: Implications for Women’s Health. This fo...
Read More Researcher needed for a project on "Accommodated Breastfeeding"We are seeking a Ph.D. student in law, social science, or women's studies (or another relevant discipline) to conduct research into current employment law regimes around the accommodation of brea...
Read More Thinking Women and Health Care Reform in CanadaAvailable in February 2012 "The topics are timely...The manuscript's strength is in its thoughtful and careful analysis of the topics it covers. It would seem this strength is derived from the authors' many years of experience engaged in health care activism, in thinking and in writing about these topics." Dr. Lynda Ross, Athabasca University
Thinking Women and Health Care Reform in Canada explores why health care is a woman's issue and seeks to address gender equity in health services. Written by members of Women and Health Care Reform (WHCR), this collection establishes the importance of including gender in discussions and decisions surrounding health sector reform.
In twelve concise chapters, Thinking Women and Health Care Reform in Canada addresses a wide range of issues, including obesity, maternity care, mental health of health care workers, and private health insurance. This thought-provoking collection is an essential read for students and researchers in the fields of women's studies, health sciences, sociology, and nursing, as well as for anyone who is looking for a new picture of health care in Canada. Please visit the website below for more information:
cspi.org/books/thinking_women_and_health_care_reform_canada Sex, Gender and Chemicals: Factoring Women into Canada’s Chemicals Management PlanThe "Sex, Gender and Chemicals: Factoring Women into Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan" policy report calls on the federal government to strengthen the management of chemicals in Canada in order to prevent chronic low-dose exposures to toxic substances that may be having a wide-range of effects on the health of Canadians, and are disproportionately affecting women. It exposes the critical shortcomings of the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), a federal initiative aimed at improving the degree of protection against toxic substances in Canada.
“In this report, we examine several of the government’s own risk assessment documents for the way they have estimated the exposures to Canadian women and the way they have evaluated the expected health impacts of those exposures”, says NNEWH Director Dayna Nadine Scott, a faculty member at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies. “We find that neither the
greater exposures to women, nor the elevated health risk due to gender-related “windows of vulnerability”, have been factored into the analysis. The result is that Canadians continue to be exposed to levels of toxic substances in their everyday
environments that have a chronic impact on their health, and that especially burden women”.
Being mindful of different vulnerabilities to chemical exposures due to socioeconomic circumstances, gendered practices, and age, for example, this report provides a sex and-gender-based analysis showing how specific policies and practices may affect women differently than men. Moreover, the Sex, Gender and Chemicals report provides recommendations for improving chemicals management in Canada and moving towards a truly precautionary policy stance that would protect everyone.
The NNEWH has been working on a variety of projects related to women’s health and chemicals over the past several years, covering such aspects as consumer products (and the individualization of risk), occupational exposures, and the presence of chemicals in drinking water. In light of our recent and ongoing projects, NNEWH is
launching a website that will bring together resources related to women and chemicals regulation, with the aim of enhancing women’s participation in this important area of policy that touches on both health and the environment.
Please visit www.womenandchemicals.ca for the full report or download below.
NNEWH Sex, Gender & Chemicals report The Push to Prescribe: Women & Canadian Drug PolicyThe Push to Prescribe:
Women & Canadian Drug Policy
Edited by Anne Rochon Ford and Diane Saibil
“A compelling book about one of the major societal problems of this decade: the over-consumpt...
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