Airborne fecal matter in Mexico City, er, ah. . . Tra-awna

Now, one hates to be alarmist but, having read and gasped at the the great investigation into odours wafting from Toronto dump sites by my talented colleague Mary Ormsby, I would be remiss to hoard my own knowledge of what this "stuff" can do to our bodies.

Mary brought along the Toronto Star's delightful wine critic Gord Stimmell, whose excellent nose discerned the merely gag-inducing to brink-of-coma scents at our temporary garbage dumps. The most pungent, he said, was of the fecal variety, ripening under sun, moon, stars and nourished by rain. This scares me because I have a special expertise here, so much learned as a foreign correspondent (and I thought such information would prove useless in life). Mary's article reminded me of my fears and preparations before I was posted to Mexico City for seven years more than a decade ago. I saw a top-notch respiratory specialist in Washington, D.C. before I left because I'd been doing a lot of reading about air quality — or lack thereof — in Mexico City and environs. He assured me my lungs were healthy and that the very young and elderly were most at risk. Still, he warned me that fecal content in the Mexico City air eventually brings misery to everyone. 

How right he was. Occasionally, I'd just be uncharacteristically sick for a few days at a time, the result, according to my doctor, of continuously breathing in shit — despite an array of pricey air filters spaced throughout my home and office. There was nothing to be done in the city at large, except live in medical masks which I, perhaps unwisely, declined. I wrote stories about untreated sewage in the heart of the city, a theme I turned  to again when I went down to cover swine flu last April/May and saw untreated porcine sewage as a potential cause of at least some health problems.

I've done a little research for this story here and, as you see according to UN and other environmental agency reports, there are certainly health hazards with airborne fecal matter (human and animal). But most experts offer comfort to Torontonians: the dangers exist mainly in the so-called developing world, where sewage isn't enclosed in pipes and rotting excrement-filled diapers are exposed to the air. Of course, that's no consolation to the folk who inhabit such regions of the world. Nor is it much comfort to the Torontonians who live cheek-by-jowl with the worst poop sites, as identified by Mary and Gord "The Nose" Stimmell. Do you wish to take the assurances of city officials spraying napalm (I jest) on baby diapers and assuring us we're safe?

You do? Well, a trusting heart surely leads to a longer, less troubled life. For my part, I'm uncomfortable being able to smell fecal matter like that. It can't be good for our health — no matter what they say.

For my part, I stand firm: airborne fecal matter, bad.

And so we go, full-speed ahead towards the ultimate end of summer, apparently well-behind in our diligent H1N1 planning, with Kurt Vonnegut mounds of garbage to bequeath to our children and grandchildren, with the pronouncement, "Someday, my boy, this all will be yours." Yippee.

* * *

I apologize for a recent two-day disappearance without notice. I got caught up in a long-term assignment and had forgotten to advise Decoder readers. Slap my hand, there's no excuse for such lack of manners.

Mexican authorities angry over treatment of nationals

From what's being shown on TV reports here, seems like Mexicans are being held in medieval dungeons in China. Canadian students under H1N1 quarantine in that country may be getting good treatment, according to my colleague Bill Schiller, but not so Mexicans. Media reports here are full of what happened to an AeroMexico planeload of Mexicans who arrived on the weekend in Beijing, to be whisked by ambulance to a hotel and quarantined for swine flu. Last night, television reports showed conditions in one hotel with filthy bathrooms, no water, poor food and confinement so difficult, one woman said over the telephone: "We're being treated as if we have the plague." (I apologize for lack of TV links; I'm far from the capital and holding on to my Internet connection by a thread.)

The Mexican government has chartered an AeroMexico plane to rescue and estimated 70 tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, opening up the flight to any Mexican who wants to get out of China. There will be huge celebrations when it arrives tomorrow afternoon at the international airport in the capital.

Anger has been building in this country for days over how Mexico is being treated. Several countries have cancelled flights - Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and Argentina. Cuba is a special irritant because Mexico has been one of the country's staunchest supporters against the U.S. embargo. Argentinian Ambassador Jorge Yoma apologized yesterday, but many Mexicans shrugged it off, believing (to generalize wildly) Argentinians feel superior to them at the best of times. There are reports of verbal aggression against Mexicans in the U.S. and officials refer to unwarranted discrimination and a special xenophobic paranoia against Mexicans abroad. There's a diplomatic row with China, with complaints yesterday at the United Nations.

These feelings of being discriminated against always seem close to the surface here - a sense the rest of the world doesn't regard Mexico or its citizens with respect. This will not be forgotten.

It is worth noting country-by-country media charts on swine flu reaction show the government of Canada has acted well, issuing only a travel advisory against travel to Mexico. President Felipe Calderon speaks often of co-operation with both U.S. President Barack Obama and PM Stephen Harper.

* * *

From my own swine flu coverage diary, Friday was a special day. Photographer Carlos Osorio and I arrived in Acapulco by the seat of our pants to file on Toronto Star deadline. Just as we signed on to the Internet at our hotel, an earthquake struck near Acapulco. Not serious in terms of loss of life, but it knocked us off the Internet. Naturally, I took it personally. Sure, said editors on the desk about my late file: an earthquake.

* * *

Now that things are returning to relative normality in this country - schools opening either tomorrow or next Monday - Mexicans can return to wrestling and boxing news and the soap opera craze that is so important. It's great, for example, to know Mexican-American boxing icon Cesar Chavez has launched a new energy drink.

Personally, I am thrilled Alma Rebelde has regained its rightful importance in life. I too agree Ana Cristina is as arrogant as she is beautiful.

Help, locked down in Mexico City

Mexico City may not just be in lockdown, but under seige. Today comes news other parts of Mexico - vacation spots - are telling Chilangos from Mexico City they aren't wanted. That means anybody with Mexico City plates (DF). Oh-oh.

* * * 

I didn't have room in my overnight story about swine flu to get into all the details about pork production in the U.S. revealed in some fine investigative reporting. It's painful reading. Pigs live crowded together, without straw, without ever seeing sunlight, without air; sows are artificially inseminated and boars are separated into pens where they can't stand or turn around. I have come to understand in life, largely through telling the stories of others, that even if we aren't always exposed to actual toxins ourselves, the pain and suffering of innocent animals and people on this planet poisons our hearts and souls and makes lesser beings of us all. This is knowledge borne with pain.

Here are links to three good stories - Boss Hog in Rolling Stone and Al Giordino in the Narco News Bulletin. And, the AmericasMexico Blog, on the globalization of disease. *

* * * 

O-kaayyyy then, let's all have a giggle now.

Last night, photog Carlos Osorio got back to the hotel late after working all day in a mask and almost getting punched out by the bodyguards of a woman with an SUV the size of a city block. He stopped by my hotel where I was working - see proof - and started flipping through the hotel directory. His every muscle ached and he asked if I thought the hotel had massage service. (Kenny, he wouldn't expense it.) Yeah, sure, C, we haven't seen a hotel staffer without a surgical mask for three days and now you think they'll be thrilled to do give you hands-on treatment, up close and personal, for an hour. Sure thing.

Yep, Mexico City is the place to be

Sometimes it's so much fun being a journalist. "Feel like flying into the swine flu epicentre?" asked my editor (to paraphrase), except it wasn't really a question. Where else would I want to be, pray tell?

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

A woman prays at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral on April 29, 2009.

After Ottawa issued its travel advisory against going to Mexico Tuesday, Toronto Star photographer Carlos Osorio and I jumped on a plane — well, a couple of them — and headed to the Mexican capital. There's a bright side. American Airlines flights to Dallas and on to Mexico City Tuesday were so light in economy class, we could have brought in king size beds and dozed.

We're hoping the Tamiflu tablets we're taking will put us with the 30 per cent of the population the medication actually protects against swine flu.

Mexico City is, as always, bizarre, quirky and surreal, even in the midst of a health crisis. "Welcome to Mexico. Business or pleasure?" said the immigration agent through his mask, around midnight at the Mexico City airport. Nice to see a sense of humour; my papers were clear about this journalism thing.

It was a treat to receive a bowl of tortilla soup from a room service waiter wearing a medical mask and looking nervous.

I will be blogging whenever I can from Mexico over the next few days. That's if I recover from my devastation over the lack of a good margarita. I'm a fan of the margaritas at La Valentina restaurants here but they are closed except for takeout. Wonder if they'll prepare a batch for pickup?

And where can I go for magazines at 3 a.m. with Sanborns closed? Yes, the 24-hour phenomenon is, gasp! closed, at least in the wee hours. Must be the first time ever for the Carlos Slim money-maker.

* * *

At the Metropolitan Cathedral on the weekend, Church authorities took out the statue of the Christ of Health (Cristo de la Salud) that hadn't been brought outside for 300 years. At that time, Mexicans were suffering from a third epidemic of foreign-imported smallpox. They placed the statue in the Zocolo with the hope it would heal people. Eventually, the disease passed, although all three epidemics in the New World  wiped out an estimated 90 per cent of the indigenous population.

Last Sunday, Church authorities brought out the statue again, this time to heal the swine flu. It's too soon to see any results.

However, some people I spoke to in the Cathedral Wednesday suggested God has no interest in taking care of this problem. In their opinion, the world-wide swine flu outbreak is evidence of the wrath of God over humankind's godlessness.

In that case, we're all in deep trouble. The Apocalypse cometh.

* * *
I just saw President Felipe Calderon on TV promising Mexicans will be told the truth about this disease at all times. Mexico has such a sterling record of keeping its citizens informed of the facts — like, say, the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City, the 1985 earthquake, the killing of campesinos by Guerrero state police at Las Aguas Blancas in 1995 and the ongoing murders of hundreds of women in Juarez.

But I digress. Swine flu is enough for the moment.

A concerted government approach to swine flu

There couldn't be a better time for the Institute for Research on Public Policy to make its report on Canada's ability to respond to public heath emergencies and offer recommendations for better co-ordination.

Planning for the Next Pandemic, by Kumanan Wilson and Harvey Lazar came out first in a condensed version in 2006, three years after Canada - notably Ontario - went through the SARS epidemic. Even after all this time, the authors say there remain shortcomings in policy and co-ordination in Canada and recommend, among other things, a streamlined communications approach and changes to federal legislation to allow Ottawa to take unilateral action to meet a natinal health crisis.

Blue Monday: another way to decode winter

Toronto Star photo Even the excitement of tomorrow's  momentous cultural shift in the United States can't quite erase our awareness today is "Blue Monday." According to a formula worked out by lecturer Dr. Cliff Arnaff at Cardiff University, the third Monday in January is the "saddest day of the year," notably for us northern hemisphere types. The weather is freezing, Christmas bills are piling on and resolutions, including to get in shape, are  fading fast. Plus, there's no friggin' light. Winter is no picnic for Canadians who spend the workweek slogging through snow.

Despair not. 

I doubt I will focus much on the weather in this blog, but I'm in a position to tell my fellow Canadians why this dubious day is  a blessing. I spent seven years based in Mexico City, following five years in Washington where winter is negligible for a Canuck. When I first arrived, I saw two seasons in the Mexican capital, dry and sunny and rainy. But even after I learned to differentiate and appreciate the subtle changing of nature - the jacaranda blooming in February or people bundled in woolen layers at positively balmy temperatures - I missed the Canadian seasons, more desperately with each passing year. Most of the time I was on the road in tropical climates, not even tasting the temperature changes Mexico City has to offer. I missed freezing my ears white on the outdoor rink and boasting about it.

This is something we all know but let me remind you. Without a hard winter, there is no joyous, over-the-moon, wonderful excitement of spring. I missed that in Mexico. My garden bloomed all year around (one way or the other) and I missed lining up at garden centres as soon the temperature stays above freezing for two consecutive spring days. I missed that crazy optimism that allows us to plant - against all good advice - before the 24th of May. I missed winter and I missed being at home so I could complain like everybody else about how awful it is.

Like I said: this isn't something you don't know. Dormancy, rebirth, renewal, etc., etc. It's at the heart of mythology and story-telling. But it's true. Spring is coming. The light is already increasing, that late February day when you first really notice it going home from work is almost here and the joy of spring almost upon us. How would we recognize it without all the shovelling?

Tomorrow I will return to the more important topics expected by discerning readers of Political Decoder. Is there one?

Arctic gold, diamonds, natural gas and oil - YEEHAW

Reuters Photo

Harper in the Canadian Arctic

It's hard to ignore a gold rush. Add diamonds, natural gas and oil and look out.

In a summer during which everyone has been looking north to the Arctic with dollar signs spinning over their eyeballs, Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined the rush this week with a trip to the Arctic himself to, among other duties, announce Canada will spend $100 million to map the mineral resources of the north. Now, on a grander scale most of this work has already been done by the United States Geological Society (USGS) that mapped the entire Arctic to estimate in July the area north of the Arctic Circle contains 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas. Development of such reserves, according to USGS estimates, could meet current world oil demand of 86.4 million barrels a day for almost three years.

Derek Burney, a tough political strategist on the Conservative scene who's now studying U.S.-Canada relations, wants Canada to get more involved in the Arctic, advising that increased traffic through the Northwest Passage as a result of global warming carries commercial and security opportunities for both countries. He doesn't talk about the downside for our world - and particularly for future residents of the planet - of rapidly melting ice caps and glaciers. It's a business opportunity.

Harper appears to agree with Burney. While the PM talked today about environmental concerns, he spoke about the "proliferation of international shipping in the north" as a done deal, rather than an environmentally precarious event that Canada should be working to moderate as much as possible. Sure, Harper said Canada wants to enforce anti-pollution rules, but that's what they all say before all-out development goes hog-wild. You don't do the sophisticated mapping of resources if you don't plan to be drilling, excavating and carrying tonnage through fragile Arctic waters at a hasty clip.

Last night on The National, the CBC showed a map to accompany a report on Harper's trip north. It looked like a set for Let's Make a Deal, with gold appearing on one part of the north, diamonds on another and oil and natural gas sites marked in the fragile northern seas.

Warnings from environmentalists appear to be unheeded. Not to worry, says USGS director Mark Myers. He stressed before any decisions can be made about "protection of endangered species, native communities or the health of our planet, we have to know what's out there."

Like Cassandra, environmentalists are left to warn of risk to Arctic residents, as well as the world's population and generations to come, if they come. Not to mention the natural world. Tony Clarke, executive director of the Polaris Institute in Ottawa, says development in the Arctic is akin "to playing with fire as far as nature is concerned." Andrea Harden-Dolnahue, energy campaigner for the Council of Canadians, believes it is critical to conduct social and environmental impact studies before "rushing into an energy gold rush."

Famous last words.

And remember, for oil alone, we're talking about only a three year supply from the development of all the undiscovered oil resources in the entire Arctic, of which Canada has only a fraction.

Tainted meat at Maple Leaf: Where's old man Schneider when you need him?

Well, I guess JM Schneider has left the smokehouse. At Maple Leaf Foods, CEO MIchael McCain has apologized for the tainted meat related to the outbreak of listeriosis, saying his company will do better in future. Perhaps it's time for advertisers to do better by giving consumers a break.

You've probably seen Schneiders' folksy TV ads that feature a smokehouse employee who says his wife always complains about the smell in this clothes - but, hey, that's the price of quality. The ad is shot like an old-time news reel showing employees working together and the old man himself saying nothing but the best gets past him. Okay, nobody thinks it's a genuine 1920s newsreel, but we do at least expect Schneiders meats come from a Schneiders plant where, in a modern age, employees show the same dedication as in the past. That's the point of the ad: times change, dedication remains the same.

But no. We find out with this tainted meat scandal at least some of Schneiders meat comes off assembly lines at the Maple Leaf plant in Toronto. It's the plant linked to meats contaminated with the listeria bacteria, with Schneiders products on the recall list.

Probably it would be tough to prove lack of truth in advertising in the Schneiders ad. They could argue nobody thinks biting into a piece of gum produces a river of water either. But the ad shows Schneiders meat being prepared at a Schneiders facility - and that's the minimum a consumer should be able to expect. Otherwise, in my book, it's false advertising.

On other fronts too, these awful events have been telling.

If I had any doubts about how the elderly and infirm are being fed in Canadian nursing homes, I don't anymore. They're eating a lot of processed meat.

Ontario has already been hit with stories this year about abuse and neglect in nursing homes in the province and this story confirms most of the 12 people who have died to date fell ill in these facilities. Everybody - and especially older people - require good nutrition. Personally, I don't eat processed meats because I don't like the taste and I know they aren't doing much for me nutritionally. I can't imagine they can be much more for seniors. (And there's the obvious fact some are lethal.)

It was also interesting yesterday to hear Maple Leaf spokeperson Linda Smith saying in a radio interview the Toronto plant was scheduled to reopen today, but that it wouldn't unless they were 100 per cent satisfied everything was safe. Later in the day, Agriculture Minister Jerry Ritz pointed out it's the government's call when the plant reopens, and not the company's.  Ms. Smith didn't mention that.

That would be the agriculture minister we're talking about, which begs the question: Where's Tony Clement? The answer is easy: the health minister is in Denver at the Democratic National Convention. The better question is why.

There's kind of a health crisis at home, or doesn't Clement think parents worried about what to put in their children's mouths is a health problem? Sure, there's a role for the agriculture minister, but I'd feel a lot better if the health minister was doing the heavy lifting here. But I've got a hunch his staffers (and/or the PMO?) keep him on a pretty tight leash.

Let me give you an example. Recently, I wanted to talk to Clement about the concerns of Canadians about cellphone safety, as well as the links between the telecommunications lobby and health and industry officials who make regulatory decisions for cellphone use. But I was out of luck. A health ministry spokesperson got back to me to say she didn't feel "too comfortable" having the minister comment on a "scientific" issue.

Funny, he handled the SARS crisis in Ontario well enough.

Ontario "pill pack" cuts increase risk of drug error, says pharmacist

I guess pill packs are just not a sexy issue. Not unless you're elderly, living on a fixed income and tied to taking several medications a day — but what kind of political clout do you have then?

Evidently not very much.

Since the Ontario government cut funding for pill packs under its drug plan a couple of weeks ago, there's been little public reaction. Pill packs are those handy plastic containers that keep different medications in clearly marked compartments. They are particularly important for seniors who are trying to live on their own. Under new regulations effective Aug. 1, Ontario will pay the $8 dispensing fee for only twice monthly (with limited exceptions) — a decision critics argue will help push seniors into nursing homes. Health ministry official Helen Stevenson told the Toronto Star the new policy was carefully studied before implementation.

But problems with the new policy are deeper, according to Kichener pharmacist Scott Hannay, who wrote to me after a recent story on the policy change:

 

"Thank you for writing your article (July 30/08) bringing the issue to the public's attention. I share the frustrations with some of the readers who have commented on the article. Our pharmacies supply a large number of retirement home residents with a version of a weekly pill pack. The new regulations will have a huge impact for those seniors who have a nurse administer their medications in a retirement facility (which unlike nursing homes are unregulated by the government and are not exempt from the laws). By eliminating compensation for preparing medications on a weekly basis pharmacies will stop offering this service. This will shift the task of organizing and preparing medications to the nursing staff and will result in less time to spend with the residents and much higher chance of errors in dispensing. There's also the issue of community psychiatric patients who are dispensed their medications in limited supply to monitor their compliance and reduce risk of overdose. By having some medications exempted from the regulations (like antipsychotics) Helen Stevenson has given the impression that she has put some thought and political posturing into this but the fact is that it is far easier to have a lethal overdose on blood pressure medication than it is on sleeping pills. Ironically drugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease are not on the exempt list (those who need compliance packaging the most to keep up their independence before the eventual placement in an LTC facility).

If it is decided that a person needs help organizing and monitoring their medications (by the doctor, patient and pharmacist together) I feel the taxpayers of Ontario would support the government continuing to pay for this service (which I have figured out based on our pharmacy's patient population works out to about $250/yr).

Scott Hannay
Medical Centre Dispensary/Williamsburg Pharmacy
Kitchener, ON.

Mr. Hanny had no objection to my publishing his views. Such concerns apparently weren't top of mind for the health ministry making the changes.

 

Blogger gone fishing

Canada Day celebrations continue. The blog will return July 7.

A life by any other name

Health Minister Tony Clement wants Canada's only safe drug injection site -- in a clinic on Vancouver's tough Lower Eastside -- shut down. Last week, he announced his intention of asking Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to appeal the recent B.C. Supreme Court decision to keep Insite open for another year, giving Ottawa time to revamp drug laws to exempt the clinic. The B.C. Court says the law applied to Insite is unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The health minister mirrors Nancy Reagan's drug mantra, "Just say no." Meanwhile, scientists, medical professionals and social workers, who deal with the raw reality of the already addicted, fight to educate the public about the benefits of a safe injection site in providing counseling, preventing overdoses and stopping the spread of infectious diseases. Toronto is now investigating the possibility of opening its own injection clinic.

Clement rejects it all. "The evidence is that Insite's injection program saves at least one life per year. A precious life, yes. I believe we can do better and we must," Clement told the Commons health committee. He argued his job is to balance that one life against a life potentially lost because of the injection site -- without explaining how Insite might take a life.

It's difficult to imagine Clement making the same argument about a program operating within a different strata of Canadian society. Rather, it sounds like he's saying: "A precious life -- not so much."