Tag: Health

Toronto Hosts 16th Annual Aids Conference

aidsstatue.jpgThis year Toronto is the proud host of the largest HIV/AIDS conference in the world. Beginning this Sunday, the event will have an estimated 20,000 participants and wil include such keynote speakers as Bill Clinton and Bill and Melinda Gates (who recently donated $500 Million dollars to the global fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria).

People venture from all over the world to attend the conference which includes a film festival of HIV/AIDS-themed movies, related visual art and photography exhibitions, poetry and prose readings, theatrical performances, author sessions and panel discussions. There will also be art events in galleries and museums all around the city and live performances by Alicia Keys, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Man Group and many others. It is awesome to have this event happening in our own city and may not be back in Toronto again for a long time. So go on out this week and share in the awareness.

India Blows Coke

india flagCoca-Cola and Pepsi Cola can no longer be purchased in some states in India. This is after the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based NGO, discovered that pesticides were inside the drink. The level of pesticides in the drink are technically legal, but also against voluntary standards set in India.

It’s good to see that some states in India are taking this public health issue seriously and banning the poisonous drinks. Still, it is not a complete ban; however it is very symbolic. Banned is the selling of colas a certain distance around schools because of health concerns for children.

“The sale of Pepsi, Coca Cola, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Blue, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Thums Up, and 7up will be banned within 100 metres of all schools, colleges and hospitals across the state, they said.”

This is getting a lot of media attention and should pave the way for more stringent health and environmental concerns in the country.

Brazil and India Defend Nature

Last year India saw that biopiracy was damaging to the country and they reacted by documenting every plant and will release an encyclopedia of all the plants. They are specifically recording how these plants are used in traditional medicine in India, making it much harder for large foreign corporations to proclaim the use of plants as their idea.

Brazil is now doing something similar:

“Brazil has published a list of more than 5,000 generic terms from the Portuguese language related to Brazilian plant biological diversity to raise awareness and prevent further misuse of trademarks that hinder Brazilian exports.

The Brazilian government has been, and is, involved in a number of trademark disputes with companies that, for example, take a name of a fruit in Brazilian Portuguese and trademark it to get exclusive rights to commercialise it under that name in a certain country or region.”

Nutrition Facts & Calorie Counter

apple Ever wondered what you are putting in your mouth? I know I have and now I can find out using NutritionData. At the site you can find out what foods are best for your health or for weight loss.

It presents the information in very visual manner making it easy to understand how much fat something really has.

This is one place you can compare apples and oranges

World Map of Happiness

_41948068_happinessmap.gifThe first ever World Map of Happiness has been created. This map measures the happiness levels of people from different countries all over the globe. Developed at the UK’s University of Leicester the Happy Map is based on responses from 80,000 people worldwide who rated such things as their health levels, prosperity and education. Denmark ranks highest while Zimbabwe ranks amongst the least happy. Click on the map to take a closer look.