Mandatory hardwired alarms and sprinklers

This weekend, there was a fatal fire in Montreal. The fact is that such events should be easily preventable in our 2010 society. We have so many ways to be connected to the things around us that something with so many warning signs as a fire should have raised alarms and let the inhabitants. It was said that the battery ran out but hardwired alarms exist. They should be relatively inexpensive to retrofit in existing houses, especially if you consider the amount of lives they would save. A push in this regard would go  along way.

In the same vein, mandatory sprinklers in newer constructions should be studied. Again, there is no reason, with the level of technology we have that people still die because an alarm didn’t go off.

Clip by “Le Cerveau”

Interesting clip, good message (In French though… can Google translate audio already?)

 

Le Cerveau - Réflexion feat. Boogat
envoyé par Le-Cerveau. - Clip, interview et concert.

The internet system

Today, the news were that Obama had managed to go through with his reform on Health Care. From our perspective here in Canada it seems like something that was a long time coming. For the past few weeks however, what has caught my attention was the growing support into providing broadband internet access anywhere. In the US, the FCC proposed a national broadband plan, something that would end up as something similar to the construction of the highway system in the past century. This post from Google’s Eric Schmidt pretty much transmits how exciting this plan is.

Obviously this is only for the US, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the strength of the internet in the future will not only be in the information it already contains but in the information that people are bringing in in real-time. For this, having millions more connected will benefit all of us.

With this being said, It’s also good to look at what is going on here in Canada. I think a lot of people will agree that our telecommunications system is a bit lacking. Our cell phone plans cost significantly more than elsewhere and, from my perspective at least, it seems like our CRTC is preventing a lot of innovations from ever finding themselves to this side of the border.

As for an internet plan, the government had announced about a year ago that they would invest to provide access to under-served communities. There doesn’t seem to be a well defined plan although this is a beginning. It should be noted that a broadband plan in Canada is much harder than in the US because of our population density and the huge territory to cover. This being said, if we do not want to create two classes of citizens (connected and unconnected), then we need to act. Because, I think that, very soon, we will not have a choice but to say that internet access IS a fundamental right.

FDA regulation of supplements

 

I haven’t been following US politics much lately so this is why I only recently found out about this issue: a John McCain back bill to have the FDA regulate dietary supplements.

 

This comes after there had been several complaints (even deaths) due to tainted supplements in US. For Senator McCain, i guess the thinking is that a regulatory agency could force supplement companies to implement procedures to ensure the public’s health. It seems however that a lot of people don’t see it that way.

A very vocal group of people opposing this bill states that the goal is the make help pharmaceuticals that feel threaten by the “natural health” industry.

 

Now, I have no doubt that lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry would welcome such a bill, but saying that this would be McCain’s only reason for doing it is ludicrous. I’ve had to deal with the FDA and I can tell you that they are not in bed with pharmaceuticals. What I mean by that is that the agency does not favour a particular company over another. If Pfizer were to make drugs in a basement with no safety precautions whatsoever, the FDA would shut them down immediately. Similarly, a supplement company that follows FDA regulations will not have any problems. What is important however is that the people chosen to enact those regulations know the industry and its customers well. They need to have a good understanding of what is important and what is not to ensure that whoever takes those dietary supplements can do so safely.

 

Back to Canada, we are apparently in the process of regulating this industry. The bill has passed and natural health companies are getting registered (although the complaint here is that this process is very slow). It seems that there aren’t many advocates of no regulation here.

 

To finish, I just wanted to share an argument I’ve heard against regulation. It is the idea that a lot of small natural health companies will not be able to pass the inspections and will have to close, adding to unemployment. Now, if this is true, this shows a problem with the industry since such a statement is similar to saying that food regulations for restaurants are not good because they shut down a dirty diner.

Quote by James Macgregor Burns

Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.