Health Canada News

Spring is still weeks away but for those looking ahead to lawnmower season, Health Canada has a warning to keep in mind.

As Canadians celebrate the holidays with gift giving and feasts, Health Canada is warning about a choking risk from several stuffed toys for kids.

Brominated vegetable oil, a food additive used in citrus-flavoured soft drinks, has now been banned in Canada, but consumers could still see it popping up on ingredient labels for one more year.

Canadians are being advised to stop using various multivitamins and supplements from several brands after Health Canada said the products may contain metal fibres that could injure people’s digestive system.

After she chose doctor-assisted death because she was in agony with no end in sight, the family of a Quebec woman with Lyme disease is calling for change on how the medical system handles cases of the infectious illness.

A promotional NÜTRL branded tumbler that was recalled in Canada earlier this month caused multiple reports of adverse health effects, an updated notice said Friday.

The federal government has rejected a request from Toronto to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use after an increasingly bitter public spat over the city’s ask.

recalled by Health Canada, including one the agency warns could potentially cause death in the most vulnerable patients.That device is known as the OmniLab Advanced, and it’s typically used by people with sleep apnea — a condition where those affected stop and restart breathing while asleep.According to the recall notice, the OmniLab Advanced has an alarm to notify users when the device’s ventilator finds an internal error or problem. The agency says products with any lot are recalled or have the model number 1044278.According to the agency, this includes the device rebooting intermittently, restarting therapy, or even entering an inoperative state with or without reboots.Health Canada says any of the issues could “result in interruption and/or loss of therapy which may lead to hypoventilation, mild to severe hypoxemia, hypercarbia, respiratory failure/insufficiency, or potentially death in the most vulnerable patients.”It’s not the only medical device recalled, however.Among the recalls, several of which began last month, are multiple Medtronic cannulae products.

U.S. lab said it detected benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, in several popular over-the-counter acne products, Health Canada said it is reviewing the findings.On March 6, Valisure, an independent lab, reported that benzene can form at high levels in benzoyl peroxide products (used to treat acne) and that it found it in products from the brands it tested.In an email to Global News on Monday, a Health Canada spokesperson said the department “has been made aware of the test results from Valisure, the U.S.

respiratory illnesses surge across the country, the persistence of a cough that just won’t quit may be prompting some to wonder if there is a deeper underlying issue.This lingering cough is what Nicholas Vozoris, an assistant professor and staff respirologist at Saint Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, calls a “post-infectious cough” and it can last as long as eight weeks.“This is a cough that seems to linger after the other infectious symptoms settle down,” he said. “And this post-infectious cough is known to possibly occur with viral or bacterial respiratory tract infections.”While doctors like Vozoris have long been familiar with post-infectious cough as a condition, he believes it may not be widely recognized by the public.He noted that many patients are often surprised when hearing about this diagnosis.

Health Canada on Monday emphasized its commitment to taking swift action to “safeguard” the country’s prescription drug supply after a U.S. ruling that could see certain drugs imported south of the border from Canada.The warning comes days after the U.S.

Ozempic.Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for obesity, has been warning for months now the products — which are both the drug semaglutide but at different dosages — will be difficult to get as the new year looms.Already pharmacies in Edmonton are having to limit how much it dispenses and shortages means it’s very difficult for people to get their medications quickly, if at all.“The patient usually comes and we have the prescription (filled) in like 15-30 minutes. Right now I would say maybe the day after, tomorrow when I get back from the doctor,” Haggag said.A lot of the patients who head to her pharmacy tend to call around looking for their medications, but almost every pharmacy in Edmonton is facing the same issue.She said in her 23 years as a pharmacist, she has never seen it this bad and that the backlog can mainly be attributed to manufacturing shortages.“Usually, I have one account with one wholesaler.

A new COVID-19 subvariant called HV.1 is gaining traction across Canada, but whether or not it is more contagious than past variants remains to be seen, according to health experts.

lung cancer at small percentages, but I didn’t think it was a problem for me and I didn’t think it would be in my house.”He then ordered a radon detector and measured the levels of the gas in his Kelowna home. He found that radon levels were spiking in parts of his house, particularly in the basement where his son played Lego, he said.“I knew right then that this is probably the main cause of my lung cancer,” said Khoo, adding that he is thankful doctors were able to find the cancer so early, as he didn’t have any symptoms.“The radon detector was the most important $300 I spent in my life,” he said.

Health Canada has issued a recall for two models of portable generators from Generac due to potential “fire and burn” hazards.

COVID-19 booster shot in hopes of bolstering the nation’s defence against the virus as the fall season approaches.The health regulator on Tuesday approved the updated vaccine made by Moderna for all Canadians aged six months and older. Approval for the updated Pfizer and Novavax vaccine under review has not been announced.The updated mRNA vaccine is tailored to the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant that is circulating in the country.

COVID-19 variants across the country, attention is once again turning to rapid antigen tests.However, this flu season is different from the last, as the federal government stopped its shipments of rapid tests to the provinces and territories, meaning Canadians may have to look a little harder to find them, or even pay out of pocket, experts say.Given the dwindling supply, increasing numbers of expired tests and the emergence of new COVID-19 variants in the country, the question arises: Are rapid tests still effective?“I still see a value in the tests, because SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID sheds for a longer time than we tend to see with some the other respiratory infections,” explained Dr. Gerald Evans, infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.“It would be able to inform you of the likelihood you might have to be off work for a little bit longer than you were expecting.”In March 2023, the federal government ended new shipments of rapid antigen tests to provinces and territories.

Since Ozempic and Wegovy crashed into the spotlight early this year, numerous other experimental drugs — and one natural remedy — have been trying to replicate its success.

Canada has detected its first case of coronavirus infection from the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant of Omicron in a person in British Columbia who had not traveled outside the Pacific province, health officials said on Tuesday. The individual is not hospitalized, and the detection of BA.2.86 virus has not changed the risk to people in British Columbia, the province's top doctor, Bonnie Henry, and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement. «It was not unexpected for BA.2.86 to show up in Canada and the province,» they said. "COVID-19 continues to spread globally, and the virus continues to adapt." The BA.2.86 lineage, first detected in Denmark last month, carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is tracking a new, highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 which has been detected in at least four countries, Health Canada says, but no cases have been detected in Canada so far.

A fresh set of Health Canada regulations that require warning labels on individual cigarettes is set to come into effect Tuesday.