Your humanist community for scientific, skeptical, secular, and rational inquiry
By Andrea Palmieri Philippines has joined Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand in affirming the safety of golden rice, by approving it for direct use as food, feed, and in food processing. Living in a developing country that relies on rice as a major food source and where vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is endemic, Filipinos will significantly…
Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is an insect-borne tropical disease that begins with flu-like symptoms and can end with heart failure for 20-30% of those infected. There are pharmaceutical treatments available which can reduce symptoms (and have up to a 90% cure rate for infants and young children). But recently, Global Affairs Canada allocated $350,000 to send volunteer…
By Seanna Watson Polio eradication: Two down, one to go. Let’s start with some good news. A wild poliovirus strain has now been declared eradicated. Poliovirus Type 3 was officially declared eradicated by the WHO in October of 2019, four years after the eradication of Type 2. Only Type 1 still remains in the wild. (Read more here .) Unvaccinated…
By Sandra Dunham CFIC member and retired accountant John Manuel took the raw data provided in CFIC’s first report on the cost of religion in Canada, and concluded that our numbers understated the tax savings for donations to charities whose self-declared primary purpose is “Advancement of Religion.” Mr. Manuel and I reviewed the numbers and determined that the…
By Seanna Watson The first vaccine, a preventive treatment for smallpox, was developed in the late 1700s. Over the years, vaccines have revolutionized medicine, saving millions of lives . Yet in the past few years, we have seen an increase of people who are opposed to vaccines. The rate of philosophical exe mptions for children in alternative public…
