If you could choose the gender of your unborn child, would you? For $9 000, there are doctors in Thailand who are happy to help. The concept of “designer babies” is not a new one.  Arguments against preselecting or prescreening embryos usually focus on two main areas: how far is too far and what happens to the unwanted embryos? Popular opinion...

When my son was diagnosed with autism, I was surprised at the depths of grief that threatened to overwhelm me. Even though I still had my son, I felt as if I had lost him in some ways. The burden of mourning and moving into a new normal was not a load I was able to carry on my own. Thankfully, my family and friends linked arms with me, walking...

Recently my husband and I had his sister and her husband over for supper. I explained rather sheepishly that my meal choices were made because I was trying to clean out the kitchen of random food items. I mean, it wasn’t all canned mushrooms and Jello, although I did make Jello Jigglers for the first time since I was 12, because who doesn’t have...

By now it is probably clear to most consumers that eating out is not the healthiest choice. Yet, all the marketing hype projected by restaurants can sound quite convincing. Restaurants and fast food chains are pitching everything from fat free, no carbs, low calories, high fiber and other specialty menu items. Many even make specific promises...

Do you drink tap water or bottled water? In the past decade or so, bottled water sales have skyrocketed. There are now over 100 different brands of bottled water available for sale in the US alone. Millions of dollars are spent on bottled water.  Do you know where the water comes from? Manufacturers are currently not required to indicate the...

Some consequences of the economic downturn are obvious, such as lost jobs and plunging stock market values. But others are more subtle but also important, as described in the article "High food prices threat to health" from the Toronto Star: There are "startling discrepancies" in the cost of basic, healthy food at grocery stores across Canada, according...

By now, nearly everyone has heard of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). If you’ve watched all-news channels like CNN or Fox News over the past month with their alternating images of people hurrying through airports wearing surgical masks and bombs exploding over Baghdad, you’d think there were only two news stories worth reporting: the...