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Hazardous recalls: How

HealthandSafetyWatch.com

By Trevor Doré, Opinions Editor

ith the evolution of global

trade, it is often hard to

know where the majority
of the products in your house
originated. A lot of the time, bits and
pieces from different parts of the
world come together to form the final
product that we buy off the shelf ina
Canadian store.

While the diversity of products
is nice, many of these products come
from countries where the production
and quality assurance laws are a lot
less stringent than those in Canada.
And in some cases, where the laws
are as stringent, inspectors and
regulators can’t be expected to catch
everything.

So, as everyday consumers, how
can we expect to stay on top of what
to buy and what to look out for?

We often hear about toy recalls or
hazardous substances appearing in

a
nr

mass produced food products. Every
so often, we even have to watch out
for public advisories in something as
simple and yet so vital as our drinking
water.

If the average consumer were
to take the time to verify all of the
products they consume, there would
be no time for the basic functions of
life, never mind for the simple joys.
Luckily, there are many government
departments and municipal sources to
acquire information on such recalls.

The prospect of keeping up to
date with all of this information
may seem daunting and that is just
what former Health Canada senior
public health epidemiologist Dr. Jeff
Aramini thought. So in order to make
critical public health information that
much more accessible, he created the
web site HealthandSafetyWatch.com.
The website asks users to choose
which categories (food, product,
recalls, drugs or disease outbreaks)

can you be sure?

   

and which regions (125 across
Canada) are most important to them.

Although it is the responsibility
of government departments and
ultimately product producers to
ensure citizens and consumers have
access to safe and reliable products,
it is also the responsibility of the
individual to ensure that they are
not consuming products that may be
hazardous.

Everyday we are inundated

with information. This website lets
individuals take charge of their own
information acquisition.

So, if you’re one of those need-
to-know types, you should go ahead
and check it out. On the other hand,
if you’re one who prefers not to
know, you can sleep soundly knowing
that there are entire organizations
dedicated to making the products you
consume on a daily basis that much
safer.

 

Is post-secondary really the best decision for your future?

By Trevor Doré, Opinions Editor

or some of us, attending post

secondary is simply a right of

passage. For others, hopefully
the majority, it is the vehicle through
which we pursue our passion. It is
also a calculated investment, not
unlike a mutual fund or GIC. For
many, higher learning serves multiple
purposes.

In any event, post-secondary
education is by no means cheap, and
every once in a while, it can become
discouraging. As years of tuition
fees and book payments stack up,
sometimes the light at the end of the
education tunnel seems distant. It is
hard to know what the end goal will
be or if we made the right decision.
Often, it is not known until the very
end whether or not the big investment
will truly pay off.

Thanks to a newly released study,

16

post-secondary students have a little
less to worry about. The C.D. Howe
Institute recently released research
that shows that post-secondary
education delivers a substantial return
on investment.

The study found that for men, a
bachelor’s degree returns 13 per cent
and community college 11 per cent;
while, for women, the figures are 17
per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
Trade school earned a nine-per-cent
return for Canadian men, however,
there was no percentage for women.

Those who had their doubts
about the return on investment of
post-secondary education can breathe
a sigh of relief. Another study:

The Value of a Degree: Education,

Employment and Earnings in Canada,

by Joseph Berger and Andrew Parkin,
found that a bachelor’s degree holder
earned $18,000 more per year than a
high school graduate. And, over the

course of a 40-year career, it said a
bachelor’s degree holder would earn
$745,800 more than a high school
graduate.

The studies also found that those
with less education are more likely to
be unemployed than those with higher
educational attainment. High school
graduates are one-and-a-half times
more likely to be unemployed than
a bachelor’s degree holder. Overall,
higher employment rates represent
benefits for us all.

Along with all of the numbers
are the often less obvious benefits
associated with higher education,
such things as increased health and
well-being and lower rates of crime
and incarceration. Moreover, higher
levels of parental education have
inter-generational impacts in lower
levels of teen pregnancy, child abuse
and crime by children.

Just over one month into the

semester, faced with countless
months if not years of education, you
might be wondering if you made the
right decision. Based on the studies,
your best bet is to stick with it. After
all, it looks like you have made the
best decision for yourself and for the
future of all of us.