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Study fuels concerns Yaz and Yasmin increases risk of blood clots
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 12:58 PM
Certain oral contraceptives are more likely to cause serious blood clots than others, a new study confirms.
Cellphone radiation levels exceed 'safe' limits for adults and children: study
Monday, October 17, 2011, 10:21 AM
A new study on cellphone safety has found that carrying a phone in a shirt or pants pocket exceeds radiation exposure guidelines spelled out by the the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and that children absorb twice as much cellphone radiation as adults.
Are higher SPF sunscreens more effective and worth the extra bucks?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 1:21 PM    2
Erica Johnson cuts through the hype to find the best sunscreen: how high does that SPF rating really need to be?
Health Canada reviewing safety of country's top-selling birth control pill
Thursday, June 2, 2011, 11:58 AM
Marketplace has learned that Health Canada is reviewing two new studies that show Yasmin, the country's top-selling birth control pill, may put women at a higher risk of blood clots.
WHO says cellphones could increase cancer risk
Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 4:22 PM    2
The largest study ever done on cellphones makes some disturbing conclusions - cell phones could increase your risk of getting cancer.
Bayer disciplined over Yasmin birth control pill claims
Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 11:28 AM    5
A story in the news makes me think that every once in a while drug companies must have a good chuckle to themselves. Yesterday, the maker of one of Canada's top-selling birth control pills was sharply reprimanded for misleading promotion -- again. But the disciplinary action carries no fine or penalty other than public criticism.
Are your holiday electrical decorations and gifts up to standard?
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 6:34 PM    3
Time to check under the tree to make sure that your holiday lights -- and any gifts that need to be plugged in -- are really up to standard. Recently, faulty holiday lights caused a Vancouver house fire, resulting in three deaths.
Inquest to be held on retirement home fire deaths
Friday, December 3, 2010, 1:34 PM    1
Ontario's Chief Coroner has just announced this week that an inquest will be held into the deaths of four people in a retirement home fire. Last March, our story "Burning Question" revealed a sad history of deadly fires in nursing and retirement homes over the last 30 years.
The real dangers of fake guns
Thursday, September 30, 2010, 3:13 PM    3
"Mama," says my six year old breathlessly.  "We found a gun on the playground!"  We?  A gun?  I assumed she meant a toy gun.  But she insisted it was real.  Said all the kids "took a good look".   Not exactly what you expect, when kids are sent outside for fresh air, exercise, and play time.
Should it be illegal throughout Canada to use a GPS while driving?
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 10:56 AM    29
A reminder this week about the dangers of distracted driving. Over the weekend, a Toronto-bound double-decker bus drove into a railway bridge in central New York, killing four passengers.

The cause of the crash: the driver was distracted by his GPS device.
Taking a simpler approach to CPR
Thursday, July 29, 2010, 1:55 PM    1
Forget about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Two new studies say chest compressions alone are just as good in rescuing victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The studies are published in today's New England Journal of Medicine and are the latest to suggest that traditional CPR should be simplified -- call 9-1-1, do hard and fast chest pumps, and don't worry about the forced breathing.
Medical device licence pulled, but still on the market
Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 3:26 PM    3
You might think when a license for a medical device gets pulled by health officials, that you're protected -- and that device can no longer be used in Canada. An investigation by Marketplace has discovered that's often not the case.
Will Ontario spring for sprinklers in nursing and retirement homes?
Monday, June 7, 2010, 12:08 PM    4
If you're like me, you'd probably never think to check for a sprinkler in a retirement or nursing home. Firefighters know that sprinklers save lives in a fire, so why are they missing in thousands of older care homes across Canada?
Do you know what the radiation level is for your cellphone?
Monday, May 17, 2010, 1:43 PM    18
Can cellphone use cause brain tumours? The science around the safety of cellphones continues to be hotly debated -- and the question of whether cellphone use causes brain tumours remains unsettled, even after the results of a major study on almost 13,000 cellphone users over 10 years.
 
There are about 23 million cellphone subscribers in Canada, but not many know that radio frequency energy, a type of radiation, is absorbed by the body when the phone is being used. It takes a bit of digging, but you can find your phone's radiation level in the manual, or online. It's called the SAR rate.
More on fire safety in nursing and retirement homes
Monday, April 26, 2010, 4:31 PM    0
More follow up on the story we brought you last month on fire safety in nursing and retirement homes - we asked why the Ontario government hasn't required homes to install sprinklers retroactively despite numerous fire deaths and calls for sprinklers from inquests.  Fire Chiefs across the province are asking why sprinklers aren't mandatory in all nursing and retirement homes.  We even visited the site of a fire at a home that killed 25 people in 1980 and discovered there are still no sprinklers there, leaving loved ones vulnerable. Now, The Globe and Mail's Christie Blatchford has written an article shedding some light on the politics involved behind the scenes - you can read her report on a seeming connection between the firefighters union and the Ontario government.
Resident-to-resident violence in nursing homes
Friday, April 23, 2010, 3:57 PM    4
grey_black_and_blue.jpgIn 2007, I worked on a Marketplace investigation into nursing home violence, and discovered that one of the greatest dangers in nursing homes was residents attacking other residents.

So, unfortunately, I was not surprised when I read the story the behind Wednesday's headline: Murder charges laid in senior homes death.

I saw the violence for myself when I visited an Ontario nursing home as part of our investigation. It didn't take long before I saw a resident strike another resident, which quickly escalated into a physical struggle. With no workers near by, I had no choice but to intervene as I could see how it could lead to someone seriously getting hurt.
GPS safety concerns, but no regulations
Monday, February 1, 2010, 12:48 PM    2
gps100131_16x9_xtralarge_1.jpg
Following Marketplace's GPS Distraction report, our colleagues at the Consumer News Unit revealed this weekend that even though Transport Canada has identified the use of GPS devices as a threat to road safety in 2003, after six years of consultation with industry and safety groups, it has done nothing to regulate them.
More about mould
Monday, January 11, 2010, 11:59 AM    0
mp_growop_mould.jpgMould can be a deal-breaker when it comes to buying a house, but it's even worse if you find mould after you've paid for an inspection and bought the property.
 
Mould can be difficult to detect and even more difficult to get rid of. And while many inspectors fail to detect mould, or are unable to because it's hidden by gyproc, they also sometimes "detect" mould that isn't there, and then recommend expensive cleaning options.
 
That was the case with one Toronto homeowner, Antony Anderson, who got worried when he saw what looked like a soft-white coat forming in his basement floor.
Is it bad parenting to ignore the crib recall?
Monday, December 21, 2009, 11:13 AM    6
mp-crib-recall-190.jpgThree weeks ago, you couldn't turn on the TV or read a newspaper without reading about Canada's largest ever crib recall. Parents were told to "immediately stop using these cribs!" And like two million other Canadian families, we own one of these cribs. Our two-year-old has slept in it, safely, and usually soundly, for most of her life. But did we stop using the recalled crib?
Even guns made of Lego can look real
Friday, December 4, 2009, 2:59 PM    66
A Toronto man learned a hard lesson this week about the real danger of fake guns. Jeremy Bell found himself staring down the barrel of a police assault rifle after a neighbour spotted Bell in his office handling what looked like a genuine semi-automatic pistol.

It turns out Bell was putting the finishing touches on a handgun made entirely of black Lego bricks.
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