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Toronto’s Canary Retail District

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IHR Magazine
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Toronto's Canary Retail District

A new district – the Canary District has sprung up beside Toronto’s trendy and central distillery district in preparation to house athletes and officials for the Pan Am Games. The city is already on the lookout for businesses to set up shop there once the games are done and gone. So far they have a number of takers. They’ll be looking for as many as 18 tenants to occupy the 46,000 square feet of ground floor retail space designated for permanent use serving the condos, rental housing units and student residences that will move into the area after the games.

Developers decides to takes advantage of the bike paths and sporty legacy of the area to create a sort of health and wellness theme into the urban development plan for the neighbourhood. The first heat of confirmed tenants include

A health food store/café combo called Fuel Plus, OpusGlow Concept Spa, Dark Horse Espresso Bar, Think Fitness Studio , middle-eastern restaurant Tabule, Neopolitan-style Pizza e Pazzi and The Running Room footwear retailer.

 

Individualized Treatment for Optimal Benefit

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IHR Magazine
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Individualized Treatment for Optimal Benefit

In 1981, Kent McLeod, fresh out of the University of Toronto, worked for a major pharmacy chain. “I didn’t like it,” he says, without mincing words, “so I started an independent pharmacy.”

McLeod never saw the sense in a one-size-fits-all approach to customer care because, he insists, we all have different nutritional needs depending on our genetics, our health concerns and our individual body chemistry. Giving everybody the same products just because it’s more convenient or because it generates more profit simply never made sense to him. Determined to find a way to deliver personalized health solutions, he pursued his vision and opened Nutrichem 34 years ago. Compounding pharmacies were so rare back then that his was the only one McLeod was aware of.

Ask him whether he selected the original location at 1303 Richmond Road based on the demographics of the surrounding community and it will probably elicit a laugh. “What actually happened was that this was a bankrupt pharmacy and someone handed me the key. Nobody else wanted it because they thought the location was so bad and it was – and still is – surrounded by big chain pharmacies! I was never interested in competing with those guys. I wanted to do my own thing and just wondered if I could be viable doing that.”

His first forays into the nutritional industry were doing specialized compounds for kids. “I would do individualized nutritional formulas – drugs for infants – for instance, a drug that only comes in a 100 milligram capsule, I’d have to turn it into 10 mg liquid…that kind of thing.”

“From there, I actually worked with a number of Downs Syndrome kids. At the time there was a lot of work with nutrition and nutritional impact on Down syndrome. This group of parents asked me to design what I thought was the best formula based on current research for kids with Down syndrome. “ But the available research was contradictory. Opinion was split on the right approach. There were two or three studies showing benefits of this, two or three studies showing no benefits – a big hodge-podge of different opinions and different interventions. So McLeod designed what he thought was state of the art – balancing optimal benefit versus no risk.

“Your requirements can vary dramatically depending on your genetics and what’s happening in your body. And we see that regularly what you need and what you take can vary dramatically depending on your own underlying chemistry.”

“And so from there…I saw great impact, great benefits!” enthuses McLeod. “I was launched into a sort of controversy – doing customized nutrition for specific needs groups. Being the chemist I am, I always feel that everything should be individualized as much as possible for optimal benefit. We are uniquely equipped to be able to do that at Nutrichem because of our testing facility.”

There are many aspects to the main location of NutriChem Compounding Pharmacy. About half the space is occupied by their in-house clinic and laboratory. “We do get referrals from other clinics. We have patients from around the world. Our clinicians are naturopathic doctors, and clinical pharmacists and we have hormone specialized MDs as well. We have a generalized pharmacy, but every single thing in this pharmacy is a health product. There is no junk. Everything is related to health intervention. You may need information, advice or specialized knowledge to be able to use it. Clearly people self- select – but it’s all health products. If I add up all the labs and clinical spaces its probably around 7 to 8000 square feet.

“Retail would be about 4000 square feet and we have about 40 employees –15 in the store and the rest are more behind-the-scenes. There are other compounding pharmacies in Ottawa and in Canada – but we are the most sophisticated in terms of individualization of nutritionals. We are the leader in Canada in regard to individualization of hormones. And in terms of mental health – there is no one competing with us for actual leadership in terms of state of the art treatment of mental health issues without medication. Optimizing the use of nutrition and medication, we are able to deal with complicated mental/nutrient/ drug interactions…people come into our store with 25 different drugs with complicated health issues. We’re able to sort all that out.“
With natural products, individualization of therapy, drug management – it’s a pretty complex, integrated process.

“In our view,” says McLeod, “every person is interested in optimal function – optimal health, optimal quality of life with the least risk. That’s what every doctor and every person is interested in. And you have to have a very sophisticated global view to be able to deliver that advice.

McLeod believes strongly that “Everything should be designed according to what someone needs, not according to what’s in the marketplace. So if we’re looking at nutrition – as a chemist, I measure all the nutrient levels in the body – so I give people what they need. It’s pretty straight-forward; if you need more vitamin D, you should get it, if you’re iron deficient, you should get it. We’re looking at intimate chemistry, we’re looking at genetic factors. We have all this research that shows that each individual needs different nutrients based on their dietary intake, their absorption and their propensity for some disease and that gives me the hormonal status. There are all kinds of characteristics you can assess that define what each individual actually needs.
When asked about expense, McLeod admits, “It’s true that I do have to have higher margins, because there are higher service levels.”

NutriChem is not your average compounding pharmacy. They are a licenced manufacturing company that meets GMP standards. They have products that they compound on an individual basis as well as manufactured products which aren’t proprietary to them. McLeod says, “Over time, if I see a need for a product that’s not in the marketplace, we’ll design and get an NHP number for one of our own proprietary products.

McLeod’s approach may have had doubters in the beginning, but over the years, he’s emerged as an international thought leader in ortho-nutrition. He has lectured on the subject throughout North America, widely published his research and is even developing course material for other clinics based on this success of his clinic.

“What we do as consultants – and I think this is a very valuable role…often people are prescribed an agent which may not be available in generic form, but which may be the most expensive drug in its class – in cost and in risk. So we consult and actually direct people on this. For example – the typical drug prescribed for fibromyalgia is very expensive and has a 90 per cent failure rate and a 100 per cent side effect rate. “ NutriChem makes sure you have the best of both natural and drug products available to you.

“No-one delivers that information,” says McLeod. “People aren’t aware of the science behind this product and that product. And I explain this and people say, ‘wow why do you think that’s available?’ and I’ll say I agree, this is a problem we have. We’ll write a letter to your doctor saying ‘this the is evidence for our recommendation.’ And the doctor will often say – ‘oh, I didn’t know that. We should try that.’”
Getting better results is always the bottom line.

Our clients tend to be more knowledgeable, they tend to have been disillusioned with the existing system; the more sophisticated the client – the more appreciative they are of our services – the more they are aware of layers and depths of what we’re doing.

But in a recent market analysis – McLeod says, they have been reaching a wider and wider audience, cutting through all kinds of education – all kinds of socio economic groups to uncover a core group of people who are trying to approach their health in a more logical, sophisticated, integrated way – their health is important to them. When they find us, “they’re like – as a recent client put it ‘This is so logical. Why isn’t this the way we always do it?’”
Reaching out to that sort of client and connecting with them creates a particular sort of marketing challenge.

“A lot of this stuff requires some face time, says McLeod, “so we run seminars. You have to have more touch points with people – because it’s not so product-driven – it’s more about service and knowledge – so we have to get in front of people and run seminars, sponsor seminars, have doctor meetings – where doctors are sending us people.”

Nutrichem has a strong social media program. McLeod sees the process of social media as not to buy or sell – but simply to get in front of practitioners and talk to them so they go “I see! This makes sense. I want to have this guy talk to me! “

Same with the clients – it’s about relating to them on a level of essential truth. Despite the partnerships in place with practitioners McLeod says “It really is patient-driven. Many physicians don’t believe in spite of…you know I can have a doctor with ten patients who’ve had significant improvements right in front of them…and they may not ever refer to us. It’s like they don’t seem to believe what they see with their own eyes – that nutrition can affect your health.

In the not-so distant past – all drugs were compounded. If you think about it, compounding pharmacist may actually be one the world’s oldest professions. The shaman, healer, midwife and alchemist were all essentially compound pharmacists – combining two or more substances that were proven by experience to be beneficial to their patients. While modern medicine tends to look back unappreciatively on what is now regarded as folk medicine, these healers existed because they were needed and they were often effective. They used the best tools available to them at the time to bring relief from suffering. They nursed and cared for people – and that’s why they were always among the most respected members in the community. Natural health has progressed alongside medicine in terms of amassed knowledge. What modern practitioners recommend to their patients is as far from the old folk medicines as arthroscopic surgery is from the bone saw. But the pharmaceutical industry itself evolved quite differently.

“A hundred years ago,” says McLeod, “There were no big manufacturers. And then of course, we went down the road ‘we’re going to have more consistency. ‘ Like more big studies proving that one agent is going to be the answer to human health problems. And so we created a monstrous marketplace of mass merchandising of pharmaceuticals for human health. As we humans evolved, we really have made major inroads on chronic health conditions: mental health, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers, all these things that are big, big costs. The costs keep increasing at a logarithmic rate. Pharmaceuticals are contributing hugely to the costs – and they just don’t have good success rates.“

When he looks at the industry, McLeod asks hard questions, like, “Why does everyone with mental health issues get the same drug…or get whatever the latest manufacturer has proposed – even though the success rates are poor – even if there might be a failure rate of 80 to 90 per cent? So why don’t we look at these other things? Are they proven? Are they effective? The answer is yes, whatever your genetics, whatever you are eating. Although of course there are individual issues affecting how our brain works.

Are there any products that are good for everyone? One product for everyone? “I might say yeah, how about antioxidants – Coenzyme Q10? But the long answer is that your requirements can vary dramatically depending on your genetics and what’s happening in your body. And we see that regularly what you need and what you take can vary dramatically depending on your own underlying chemistry. But if you’re not aware of the fact, you’re simply not aware. So on the one hand, giving everybody the product is a good idea, but on another level it would be better to determine the optimal level of Coenzyme Q10 that an individual should have.

Everyone needs vitamin C. But how much vitamin C should someone take? Everyone has a different optimum level.

When asked if he has ever created mass market products, McLeod prevaricates. “I sort of have – but I always think in terms of niches – that this is what this group needs. Generally a vitamin company would have a different way of thinking. ‘I’m going to try to sell as much of this as I can.’ On the other hand, I’m thinking there’s a very defined population group that actually needs this product. I always think in terms of niches.

“I have created a proprietary version of Down syndrome vitamins. Lets say there’s someone who lives over here and can only afford 20 or 30 dollars a month for a vitamin. I have created a basic vitamin for that group. I’m not going to just create another vitamin C when that’s already available from any number of vitamin manufacturers, but if it’s in my niche – absolutely I’ll make a mass market version. I have created multivitamins for specific needs. These products are available at our store or on our website. If someone was to contact me about producing a mass market version under their own label – I would certainly be interested. While my main interest would be in being thorough – adding a clinical dimension to it, I would entertain anything because I’m a businessman. To fuel my clinical interests I need the margins to keep things going. “

“If someone came to me with the latest research on Alzheimers and asked if we had anything with an E2 blocker, I would tell them that there’s a hierarchy; that the biggest proven contributor to Alzheimers is elevated blood sugar – so we’d manage that first. The number two contributor is oxidative stress. We measure that and deal with that. The number three cause involves disfunctions in the membrane of the brain. The number four related issue that’s proven is related to energy dysfunction.

We have to manage those individual issues directly. The E2 thing is suggested to be a contributor – but it’s all just unraveling – it’s very speculative. But the other things I’ve listed – we can lay down evidence that no researcher would argue with – these things correlate 100 per cent with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is a multi-factorial disease. And we manage it better, we feel, than anyone else, because we are aware of all the research and we are integrating proven therapies into a full and complete treatment plan.

With just a couple locations in Ottawa, McLeod knows he doesn’t have the same sort of reach as the chain pharmacies, but Nutrichem has been working on solutions, so that if someone on the other side of the country or the other side of the world is interested in consulting with them – they can contact NutriChem and arrange to send their bloodwork in in preparation for a Skype consultation.

“It’s a really new dimension,” says McLeod. “We currently do consultations with clients in Czech Republic, Ireland, and elsewhere.”

Looking at how he brought his original vision to life, who would be surprised to see Kent McLeod find a way to bring his philosophy of personalized health solutions to the world at large?

Brain Health Nutrition is Essential Throughout Life

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IHR Magazine
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Brain Health Nutrition is Essential Throughout Life

Benefits of Pycnogenol® – Dr. Pescatore

More than ever, consumers are doing their own research and seeking out natural products that are clinically shown to be safe and effective and can help to achieve overall health and wellbeing. This search for achieving optimum health has been widely noticed in the natural health industry.

Specifically when discussing supplements and ingredients focused on improving memory and overall cognitive function, we are no longer speaking only to a 50+ demographic, as consumers are very much aware of the health benefits they can receive throughout life.

Often my patients come to me inquiring about natural supplements that can help improve focus, memory, mood, among other things, and I direct them to one of my favorite supplements, Pycnogenol® – a natural plant extract originating from bark of the French maritime pine tree. What is unique about this super-antioxidant is that is has been found both safe and effective to support brain function throughout the lifespan – from young children to college students to working professionals and seniors.

One of the most exciting pieces of research on Pycnogenol® is the effects the ingredient has on children affected by ADHD. Approximately 6 million children aged 3-17 years old have been diagnosed with ADHD – making it likely that at least one student in a 30 person classroom will have this condition. In 2006, a study published in the European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychology examined the effectiveness of Pycnogenol® in treating children with ADHD. After four weeks of supplementation, the antioxidant was found to help the production of nitric oxide to balance stress hormones, which lowers adrenaline and dopamine, resulting in a decrease of ADHD.

Younger consumers, especially students, are now looking at natural supplements to help them stay focused. In a study on college-aged students, Pycnogenol® was found to decrease test anxiety and improve mental performance, which resulted in higher test scores. According to the American Test Anxieties Association, about 16-20 percent of students have high test anxiety, making this the most prevalent scholastic impairment in our schools today.

We must also acknowledge that consumers want to age well, and are aware of the health conditions that can arise later in life – motivating them to be proactive in preparing for advanced years. Additionally, a study on patients aged 60 – 85 found Pycnogenol® to improve both numerical working memory as well as spatial working memory. The research suggests that the antioxidant activity of Pycnogenol® played a major role in these results and blood results showed a significant decrease in F2-isoprostanes in blood among those taking Pycnogenol®.

Because of Horphag Research’s commitment to demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Pycnogenol® for cognitive function, the extract continues to be a trusted source of brain-healthy nutrients by both consumers and physicians, like myself. In fact, this year a study conducted on Pycnogenol® found the antioxidant to help improve overall cognitive function in the work place, including mental performance, sustained attention and mood – ultimately serving as “brain food” for our day-to-day activities.

As the healthy aging category continues to grow amongst seniors, boomers and now younger consumers, Horphag Research continues to invest in the many congnitive health benefits of Pycnogenol® to further prompt long-term health and support education consumers are actively seeking-out.

Staff Training – A Necessity in Natural Health Care

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Staff Training – A Necessity in Natural Health Care

by Tim Allen

When it comes to differentiating one retail business from another inside the world of “Natural Health Care,” it’s certain; education and staff training are integral to the process of building a vibrant business. If you are an independent retailer or a small chain operator catering to consumers who are searching for natural and/or alternative health care options, you have to accept that “self-serve” is not going to work for your business.

The old saying “reach out and touch someone” is more powerful now than it has ever been. As consumers, we have more information available to us today than ever before. And with the media and online marketing machines bombarding us 24/7, we are more confused than ever. It is not only important that consumers become educated about product offerings in your store but it is equally important that they become engaged and romanced by the “story.” Why? Simply put, the experts who are working in your store need to be the “messengers of truth”. Once consumers trust in you and your staff, they will be committed to return over and over again.

While natural health care products can be found in just about every retail store across the country, those who truly stand out – time and again – are the ones that offer both a broad range of products and those that present retail staff trained on the products – real people who are committed to a “healthy lifestyle” and want to help others attain extraordinary health. So if you are a retailer with a lacklustre business in the field of natural health care, where do you start?

According to Tim Pernitsch, Buyer and Store Manager of Healthtree in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, “it all starts with hiring the right people.” Healthtree searches for people with a solid background in natural health but more importantly, they are looking for those with a great attitude, someone who can make the consumer feel comfortable and able to discuss their health issues. Typically, people who want to work in a natural food and/or natural health care retail environment come into the role with a keen desire to communicate information to consumers. But not all those people are necessarily qualified to engage and teach – and this is the part that is so important to the overall success of the business. This is why you need to start with a strong interview process. And then follow that up with reference checks. Ask the hard questions so that you know you are hiring someone who will make a difference and set you apart from your competitors.

Once the “right” person has been hired what are the next steps? Onboarding any new staff member is critical. Many independent retail businesses are run by just a couple of staff members including the owner; it may be a challenge to set in motion a proper training program. Obviously, it is key that the new hire understand the flow of the business in functional areas associated with a) responsibility at the cash register, b) merchandising and inventory replenishment, c) promotional offers and loyalty programs, d) suppliers and associations, and of course e) customer service and product knowledge. That’s a lot of “specialties” to pack into one person so how do you do it?

For Jason Sebeslav, General Manager of The Peanut Mill Natural Foods Market located in St. Catharines, ON, his training program consists of “working through a checklist by shift.” His new staff members do not necessarily go through a formal training program; typically, new staff will shadow an experienced employee to understand and ask questions about specific functions related to the role. Most roles in the store become specialized and it is clear that Jason values his employees as he has profiled all of them and their specific role on his corporate web site. This is a great idea and a fabulous resource for his community, attracting new consumers and future employees.

When it comes down to “education” of retail staff members, learning about products and the industry is vital. It is clear that the vendor community recognizes the need for its customers, “the retail and education specialists”, to be trained too. Thankfully, there are a number of companies who value education and training and make it a priority to reach out to their retail partners. In fact, there are so many companies and so many offers to train staff that retailers have to plan very carefully to maximize value. Both Healthtree and The Peanut Mill are committed to hosting regular product trainings for their staff with their vendors.

In the case of Healthtree, the staff attend monthly training sessions, which typically take place after store hours, normally starting at 7 pm and running for a couple of hours. Healthtree encourages all of its staff members – not just those involved with supplements – to join the group in order to learn more about products and the particular company sponsoring the event. Similarly, The Peanut Mill organizes bi-weekly training sessions where a specific morning is reserved for a supplier to visit and train on its products. Because these sessions take place during work hours, Jason finds himself on the floor covering for as many of his staff as possible. These sessions are conducted in a separate room away from the retail floor in order to allow everyone to stay focused on learning.

In speaking with other top performing retailers across the nation, it is clear that stores that are taking advantage of the suppliers’ desire to educate and train, are the stores dominating the natural health products industry.

If you want to distinguish your retail business from the others in your community, it’s time that you take a hard look at training and start adopting some of the strategies the leaders have put into practice. Reach out to the specialists that want to work with you to grow your business. Assistance is available as long as you are committed to the task. When your staff engages in the process of learning and growing, they will attract and help you keep customers returning to your store. At a time when retail is so competitive and the consumer has so many options, passionate engagement as the “messenger of truth” will make all the difference to your business and your community!

Five Top Ingredients for Brain Health

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IHR Magazine
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In the face of alarmist and dire predictions about dementia, millions of Canadian baby boomers are looking for ways to stay vital and active. If you give them a way to proactively maintain and even improve their brain health, you won’t have any trouble selling it.

All that retailers have to do is identify the products that deliver the good and pass along that information to a legion of consumers who are interested in:

  • Increasing their ability to concentrate and focus,
  • improving clarity,
  • Help prevent or alleviate memory loss,
  • Help maintain their mental vitality and improve their capacity to assimilate new concepts,
  • Help deal with the depression that inevitably comes with declining health.

So we’ve combined a list of the most effective natural products available to improve and maintain brain health. The order of importance is debatable, because, as with all natural health products, different people have different needs. But most of these ingredients are not just good for everyone – but important or even essential in the quest to maintain brain health.

Many of the items on this list fit into more than a single category. For instance: Pycnogenol and vinpocetine are botanicals that contain high levels of antioxidants. And as a water soluble essential nutrient, choline is often grouped with the B Complex vitamins rather than the phospholipids.

Many of the items on this list fit into more than a single category. For instance: Pycnogenol and vinpocetine are botanicals that contain high levels of antioxidants. And as a water soluble essential nutrient, choline is often grouped with the B Complex vitamins rather than the phospholipids.

Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidization and the resulting production of free radicals, that can damage or kill brain cells (and cells in other parts of the body). A recently concluded study that looked at 5,400 people aged 55+ over a period of 14 years identified no difference in risk between people on high-versus-low antioxidant diets.  But as Harvard Instructor of Medicine, Elizabeth Devore, ScD recently told , “The overall message here is it’s the of the antioxidants as opposed to overall levels.”  So simply eating more cranberries and blueberries may not do much good, but taking specific anti-oxidants may be invaluable.

  1. Antioxidants:

    Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidization and the resulting production of free radicals, that can damage or kill brain cells (and cells in other parts of the body). A recently concluded study that looked at 5,400 people aged 55+ over a period of 14 years identified no difference in risk between people on high-versus-low antioxidant diets.  But as Harvard Instructor of Medicine, Elizabeth Devore, ScD recently told Men’s Health Magazine, “The overall message here is it’s the specificityof the antioxidants as opposed to overall levels.”  So simply eating more cranberries and blueberries may not do much good, but taking specific anti-oxidants like Pycnogenol, the carotenoid Astaxanthin or Acteyl-L-carnitine (ACL) may be invaluable.

 

  1. Phospholipids:

    natural sources include soybeans, eggs, liver, beef, milk, and vegetables and the cabbage family. Alpha GPC has high choline content with very effective bioavailability. Cytidine 5-diphosphocholine (also known as citicoline or CDP-choline) is a choline/cytadine compound that boasts excellent absorption. Related products include Phosphatidylcholine and Choline often marketed as “lecithin products” – even though lecithin is not a particularly effective delivery system. The brain actually has another main phospholipid, Phosphatidylserine (PS) – that boosts memory and concentration. Since the quantities of PS available from natural sources, including cereal grains like rye, legumes and fruit juices are very small, supplementation of PS could be quite valuable.

 

  1. Vitamin B Complex:

    B Vitamins are said to suppress the amino acid, homocysteine, high levels of which are blamed for brain shrinkage and increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. Vegans and vegetarian diets pose some danger of B12 deficiency, because the main natural sources of B12 (meats and yogurts) have been eliminated from the diet. The biggest problem with vitamin B supplements is that they are generally not well absorbed by the body. All absorption takes place in the small intestine, and as we get older, many people suffer various types of intestinal distress that may result in vitamin B12 deficiency – which can cause a progressive degenerative condition of the spinal cord called Subacute Combined Degeneration (SCD) or a disruption of nerve signals between the spinal cord and different parts of the body called Peripheral Neuropathy. While a causal relationship between vitamin B and those conditions has yet to be firmly established, the relationship between hyperhomocysteinemia and Alzheimer’s disease is more certain – and there is no doubt that vitamin B12 in particular is effective in homocysteine suppression.  Many vitamin B supplements contain cyanocobalamine, in which the B12 is bound to cyanide. Our livers need to convert it to naturally occurring methylcobalamine. Other than giving yourself subcutaneous injections (with a diabetic syringe into the muscle tissue) – the most effective B12 delivery systems are sublingual tablets (which dissolve under the tongue) and skin absorption (via a skin patch). These generally deliver methylcobalamine – so the body doesn’t need to go through the absorption process and your liver doesn’t have to deal with the toxin (cyanide).

  1. Omega-3s:

    – There are three “essential fatty acids” – so named when scientists determined that they are essential to growth in children and animals. Three forms of omega-3 interact with human physiology: Plant-based omega-3s – known as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is shorter-chained than the marine-based omega-3s docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) – which are called “long-chained”.  The shorter chained omega-3s are harder for us to synthesize because our bodies must convert them to long-chained fatty acids and as we get older, our bodies gradually lose the ability to do that efficiently. So EPA and especially DHA are considered the more important and more readily usable forms of omega-3. Omega-3s have been shown to relieve depression and anxiety. Preclinical studies indicate that DHA improves memory, and can slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology in mice.

 

  1. Botanicals:

    A wide category that includes Ginkgo Biloba – the oldest and best known of the traditional medicine treatments. There are a number of other ancient/Ayurvedic medicines believed to have positive effects on brain health. These include Bacopa Monnier (also known as Brahmi) which improves memory and concentration, Mucuna Pruriens (velvet bean) which a mood elevator that eases stress and increases alertness, Kanna – which is a mood elevator and mood stabilizer and Rodeola Rosea – which calms the mind and improves focus. Common herbs said to support mental health include rosemary, tumeric and cayenne.

 

Bonus Category: Minerals:

Lithium salts have a long and notorious reputation as a treatment for mental illness, but the standard form that was used was lithium carbonate – which is poorly absorbed by the body and has a host of undesirable side effects. Lithium orotate is delivered in smaller, more controllable doses and is much more effectively absorbed. Like calcium and potassium, the body actually requires lithium for good health. Believers are certain that lithium orotate rejuvenates brain cells and modulates mood.

 

The list above is a good reference chart for when people come looking for products to promote brain health. Over the coming years, there will be more and more products that combine the ingredients in inspiring and hopefully effective ways.

Many of the more traditional products like Webber Astaxanthi and Royal Red Omega-3 Krill Oil are being marketed as traditional, all-purpose supplements. While they may not be marketed specifically as brain health products, they certainly deliver some benefit. Products like Alterra’s NeurOmega are specifically being marketed as brain health products – created to target memory, attention and focus. And some of the newest brain health formulations like Ascenta Spark and Orgen Braineed combine a number of the ingredients we’ve told you about – and some we haven’t (yet). It’s a changing and growing market niche, so put on your thinking caps and get ready to help your more mature customers in the quests to stay vital and active in our changing world.

 

 

 

 

 

Retail Opportunities – Growing Out of the Changing Landscape

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IHR Magazine
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Shoppers Drug Mart advertises medical marijuana marketing job

by Dale Sproule

On the surface, Canada has a thriving hemp industry – with over twenty large-scale commercial producers currently growing medical marijuana for a customer base of over 35,000 licensed users. And then there are hundreds and hundreds of aspiring “farmers” with dollar signs in their bloodshot eyes – dreaming of getting in early to take advantage of an industry that is clearly poised to become massive.

Health Canada told the Globe and Mail last summer that they were receiving an average of 25 applications a week (an extremely small percentage of which will ever get licenses to become producers) – and they projected that the number of patients using medical marijuana could easily blossom to over 400,000 within the next ten years.

Then again, instead of becoming massive, the “industry” could well just sink back into the rocky ground from which it sprung – a crop blighted by a frosty political climate. The only thing that’s truly certain about the marijuana industry is its uncertainty. The Conservative government has made no secret of their antipathy towards the entire sector and no one can deny the stigma from decades of illegality and bad press, still floating in the air like a haze after a memorable and unruly rock festival.

Medical marijuana producers are continuing to encounter well-documented difficulties marketing their products, with traditional advertising strictly forbidden – as are most other tried and true marketing methods. The industry is heavily regulated and perpetually scrutinized – so even with the experience, facilities, investors, credentials and a winning business plan, a company could end up falling on their face after a single misstep.

Possibly, the smartest companies and savviest investors are the ones who follow the old adage – “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” In fact – the varieties of different baskets being created may surprise and delight you.

 

Building a Market from the Ground Up

Vancouver’s Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. has made a point of diversity from the beginning. It developed what it calls “an innovative GDERS (grow, dry, extract, refine, sell) strategy spanning the entire industry supply chain from seed to sale.” By operating a number of subsidiaries and working with a wide range of partners, it has put itself in a position where failure in any one area is extremely unlikely to bring down the entire company – but where profits coming from several different streams at the same time can funnel inward to help support the rest of the infrastructure.

“At the end of the day, we know that we only have so much bandwidth,” says Abattis CEO, William (Bill) Fleming. “It’s all about understanding what you have now and how you can monetize it. There’s so much shifting sand in the market that you have to be very careful about where you start building your foundations.”

The company’s current subsidiaries and partnerships include:

BioCube provides controlled cannabis cultivation environments for high yield marijuana growing; North American Bioextracts Inc. plans to use proprietary extraction technologies to develop customized THC extract oils and CBD extract oils;

Phytalab performs testing services under Washington State’s Initiative 502;

Instant Payment Systems enables patients to make payments through electronic means

And those are just a few of its many arms. The company also has subsidiaries awaiting approval to become licensed producers under Canada’s new Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (“MMPR”) program.

But with all that going on, Fleming insists “We believe that botanical is the next new wave of pharmacy. Right now within the industry, you look at the big pharmaceutical companies and everything that they’re doing today has been chemically synthesized, so consequently, they haven’t been doing much on the botanical side.”

One of the best things to come out of the softening of the regulatory environment, is the growing body of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical research that is now able to be done on cannibinoids.

“Since cannabis has always been a schedule one drug, there hasn’t been much research and development, because you weren’t permitted to do it,” says Fleming. “Even now, in order to really get in and be compliant for doing research and development and building an intellectual property around a cannabis based type platform you have to ensure that you conform to the regulations and guidelines (in whatever part of the world you’re operating). For example, in Canada if you’re going to do any kind of research and development with cannabis based products, then you need to have a controlled substance license.”

Another of the Abattis subsidiaries – and the one that has been getting the most press for the last six months – is called BioCell Labs Inc. and is involved with research and development of nutraceutical products. They have been developing a line of phytocannabinoid formulas which include ECS Supreme, a functional beverage rich in phytocannabinoids. ECS Supreme is based in Canadian saskatoon berries and contains Abattis’ patented nitric oxide blend. Bio-cell simultaneously introduced seven other condition-specific cannabinoid formulas to address everything from nausea to anxiety to traumatic brain injury.

There are over 150 compounds – including at least 85 different cannabinoids – which exhibit a vast range of properties and effects – that can be isolated from cannabis – and only one of them is renowned for its psychoactive properties. “But it’s the THC that is the issue,” Fleming admits, “because one of those 150 compounds just happens to be THC.”

While most of the Abattis/Biocell products are still in development and as yet unavailable to buyers or retailers, it is just one of dozens of Canadian companies with at least one foot in the cannabis patch.

The Marijuana Market is Looking Good

Easton Pharmaceuticals is an established and successful specialty pharmaceutical company that previously owned an FDA approved wound healing drug and currently produces topically-delivered drugs and therapeutic/cosmetic healthcare products focused on cancer and other health issues geared towards female sexual dysfunction, wound healing, pain, motion sickness and other conditions that are all in various stages of development. Easton designs, develops and markets a range of premium therapeutic health care products. Using a proprietary gel formulation, their transdermal delivery system allows for the targeted delivery of active ingredients – vitamins, herbs and homeopathic remedies – through the skin to the underlying tissue. They have products that help with various conditions including: female sexual dysfunction, scars, stretch marks, cellulite and varicose veins.

Easton Pharmaceuticals has ventured into the potentially lucrative medical marijuana industry through an investment into AMFIL Technologies and their groZONE anti-bacterial system and the exclusive option to purchase up to 50% in a medical marijuana grow-op business / facility which has received a letter to build from Health Canada. The company’s gel formulation is thought to be an innovative and unique transdermal delivery system that can in the future be adaptable in the delivery of Cannabidiol extracts.

The push to look better, feel better and live longer healthier lives has helped Easton Pharmaceuticals Inc. execute a distribution and intellectual property agreement for its full range of OTC therapeutic and specialty products with NutraShop Global Stores, Inc. currently serving thousands of trusting online customers looking for Quality Life Wellness Products.

In addition to distributing Easton’s OTC proprietary therapeutic products – including a cosmetic grade anti-aging serum, pain relief gel and a female health product, Nutrashop has acquired rights and access to Easton’s transdermal delivery system and formulations that are to be utilized in new products being jointly developed, one of which includes a new children’s topical product containing exotic active ingredients to treat certain skin conditions.

Hemp is Not the Same as Marijuana

For decades, the stigma of marijuana tightened the regulatory environment across North America to the point where growing hemp for food, fabric or any other purpose became next to impossible. When Robert Rae and Wally Venechuk founded Canada Hemp Foods in 2006 they did some research and discovered that industrial hemp had once been one of the largest and most important crops on the planet. It was only when leaders of competing industries like lumber and plastics decided, as a marketing tactic, to demonize the plant by associating it with its distant cousin, marijuana, that hemp fell out of favour. When laws were enacted to prevent the cultivation and use of marijuana, the same laws applied to industrial hemp despite the fact that it contained no psychotropic substances. Ostensibly, the concern was that growing hemp could conceal a much more nefarious crop being grown on the same land.

But the two men were so enamoured with the healing properties that they had unearthed in hemp that they were ready to run the gauntlet to make their dream happen.

Nine years later, Canada Hemp Foods is expanding their presence in grocery stores and specialty shops with a new distributor for their Canadian hemp hearts and oils products. Dovre Import & Exports, based in Richmond BC. Currently delivering award-winning specialty foods to restaurants, specialty grocers and grocery chains across Western Canada, the distributorship brings Canada Hemp Foods products into a growing list of locations.

“Hemp hearts and oils are a foundational nutritional source of Super Omega-3 and Super Omega-6, are GMO Free and 100% THC free, and offer a rich source of digestible protein, perfect for the vegan diet,” explains Canada Hemp Foods co-founder Robert Rae, who is very happy with the new distributorship. “Not only does this agreement get our products into a wonderful group of stores and specialty shops, it also carries a social return, one of our key values as a company.”

Dovre supports causes such as the Vancouver Union Gospel Mission, Food Banks and the United Way.

Canada Hemp Foods products can be purchased online via their e-commerce store, and full information on the benefits of hemp can be found in the Hemp 101 section.

Crossing Borders, Boundaries and the Ts on All the Contracts

Just a few short months ago, Naturally Splendid announced strengthened relationships with Full Spectrum Laboratories (FSL) and Boreal Technologies, with a recent application to the U.S. Patent Office for co-ownership of HempOmega™ patents that will give Naturally Splendid their own omega technology.

VP of Operations, Bryan Carson states, “We are most fortunate that the technologies developed by Boreal Technologies, are multi-dimensional in that the omega extraction and formulation technology is similar to the cannabinoid extraction and formulation technology. This allows Naturally Splendid to penetrate the lucrative global omega market (estimated at $35 billion annually) where there are no regulatory issues, while the regulatory environment for cannabinoid technologies and products continues to evolve.”

Naturally Splendid’s 100% owned NATERA™ line of hemp-based superfood products includes natural and flavored shelled hemp seeds as well as natural and flavored hemp protein powders and is carried nationwide by leading health food distributors and a network of retail stores across Canada.

Naturally Splendid has an exclusive sales agreement to market and distribute, in North America, the full complement of patent pending, plant-based omega products created by Boreal Technologies including HempOmega™, H2Omega™, FlaxOmega™, CanolaOmega™ and ChiaOmega™. They have also signed an agreement with Alberta’s Food Science and Technology Center to develop pet superfoods fortified with HempOmega™. But these weren’t the only opportunities to emerge from the recently acquired access to FSL technologies.

Naturally Splendid CEO Craig Goodwin reports, “One of the opportunities in front of us is the potential to biosynthetically produce pharmaceutical grade cannabinoids without having to grow a single plant – thus potentially lowering the cost of production significantly, creating a competitive advantage over traditional extraction and formulation technologies. This technology may be applied in the development of food, beverage and nutraceutical/cosmetic products and eventually for pharmaceutical applications.”

Katie Schmitt, who came to Naturally Splendid through Boreal Technologies, will be directly involved in the transfer of technological expertise obtained under the agreement from FSL and implementation of commercialization strategies. She says, “FSL has filed a patent application covering the organic and enzymatic synthesis of cannabinoids. This technology will allow for industrial scale production of cannabinoids catalyzed from Cannbigerolic acid (CBGa) without the requirement to grow large quantities of plants. The process mimics the natural synthesis that occurs in the plant’s bio-pathway. Cannabinoids produced in the bioreactor are pharmaceutical grade purity and devoid of by-products and impurities. The largest advantages with this technology over existing methods of cannabinoid production (natural and synthetic) are: its low price per unit manufacturing costs (potentially 1/10th to 1/3rd the cost of existing methods); its ability to produce a diversity of products from a single manufacturing line; and commercial scalability. It also creates access to lesser known cannabinoids for research and analysis of their potential therapeutic applications.

NSP will identify licensed partners in legal jurisdictions that it can collaborate with to develop safe and efficacious cannabinoid therapies utilizing this technology. Potential therapeutic applications include: analgesic to relieve pain; antibacterial to slow bacterial growth; anti-inflammatory to reduce inflammation systemically; and anti-proliferative – which may inhibit cancer cell growth through apoptosis.

 

All Fats are Not the Same

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All Fats are Not the Same

By Dale Sproule

Imagine an inch thick T-bone steak the size of a dinner plate. Now try to imagine eating the whole thing in a single sitting. Sounds incomprehensible to me now, but as a teenager growing up in Alberta in the 70s, that was a typical Saturday dinner. How was that even possible?

Aaron Skelton, a slender young man with a ready smile, explains. “With most beef these days, you wouldn’t do it because you’d feel so full and boated. But that’s the corn in the beef. The feed for almost all cattle these days is concentrated dried corn – a huge energy source – but nutritionally void. But if the beef is grass fed, the fats are in balance, there are more nutrients and your body can absorb them quickly. It’s much easier to digest.”

As VP, Brands and Business Development at Greenspace Brands, Skelton is clearly not as young as he looks (a natural perk – one supposes – of eating well). With over 10 years experience coming up through the ranks in the health food category at Loblaws, he has a keen awareness of consumer preferences as well as changing health and dietary trends. That insight is apparent as he explains, how “truths” once held by science are now being challenged – like fats causing cholesterol, which ultimately leads to heart attacks.

“The science that’s coming out now is saying completely the opposite. You need fats – the trick is – the quality of the fats. When you look at omega and the benefits that omega has on brain function inflammation – those all need to be discussed when you talk about fats – so it’s not a single entity that you can just say you need a certain per cent of, you have to talk about the quality of it and that’s when we get to talk about how animals are fed and what the effect of that feed is on the products.

Their modest office in the basement of a heritage house in downtown Toronto feels more like a farmhouse than an urban space. There’s natural brick and rustic signage, plus a small kitchen, whose refrigerator is undoubtedly chock full of things like grass fed milk, butter and beef – after all, these are Canada’s two new gurus of grass-fed food.

They may seem new, but they’ve been around for awhile, says Matthew von Teichman, the founder and CEO of Greenspace Brands. “Our original brand was Life Choices Natural Foods. It’s been around for 13 years now.”

With a kind of Matthew-Perry-guy-next-door affability that makes him feel like an old friend that you just met, von Teichman seems genuinely excited to explain the evolution of his company. “The Life Choices brand started off as a frozen food company, but it’s morphed into a clean meat company – so it’s now kind of the Applegate of Canada. Better sourced meat and just fewer ingredients basically. Familiar family favourites – but healthier versions with simple ingredients. We have a breaded line that includes chicken nuggets and fish sticks and stuff like that. We have frozen burgers. We have Life Choices Fresh Hot Dogs.”

“Ideally, we should be drinking milk and eating meat and vegetables right off the farm. The gold standard is to cook, but that’s not realistic for everybody – at least not all the time. When the parents are both working and don’t have time to cook –we provide the next best option, it’s an excellent product – great sourced meat that’s as minimally processed as possible. When you’re pushed and you can’t make the best choice because of time, commitment whatever it happens to be … that’s what Life Choices is there for – so you can make the best choice possible. “

“Every product we have, adds Skelton, “is antibiotic and hormone free.”

Recent viral videos have helped galvanize the growing trend against the horrors of factory farming – and that in itself is a good enough reason to buy only free-range meat – but there are a lot more reasons to switch than simply feeling bad for the cows and pigs.

“People are more inquisitive about what they’re eating,” says von Teichman. “There’s always a cost.”

Sometimes the cost is moral, like giving yourself permission yourself to not think about pigs raised in tiny pens as you eat your bacon. There’s most definitely a nutritional cost – when you opt for corn-fed meat over pasture-raised, free-range meats. Beef from Greenspace’s Grandview Farms has been tested by U of T nutritionists, and shown to be 300 per cent healthier than commodity beef, with an Omega 6 to 3 ratio of 4.9:1.  But usually, the cost is purely monetary – because meat that is more delicious, healthy and well marbled for tenderness will almost certainly be more expensive (although all their products are less expensive than “organic”).

Greenspace Brands are seeing evidence everyday that people would rather pay the monetary costs than the moral or nutritional ones. This was most obvious when they launched their Rolling Meadow Dairy products. The grass-fed milk is sourced from just a handful of farms (mostly Mennonite) in Southern Ontario.

 

“The higher fat skus tend to sell better,” says Skelton. “Even better than the lower fat – which is contrary to what you see in conventional milk. Our customers seem to know that it’s the quality of calories that count – that all calories aren’t the same.”

“The Grass-fed butter is probably the biggest hit we’ve launched,” says von Teichman.

Skelton becomes quite animated illustrating his delight at the consumer reaction. “Grass fed butter is crazy. It’s a crazy market. People will kill each other to go get it in the stores. Grass-fed butter is part of that diet – the bulletproof diet – it speaks to the fact that people are opening their eyes to quality fats.

The Bulletproof Diet, which counts Oprah Winfrey among its fans, advocates putting a tablespoon of grass fed butter in your coffee. You blend it with coconut oil (or specially formulated substitutes to create a kind of creamy, fatty caffeinated beverage. One Bulletproof diet page (Nextshark) claims: The short-chain fatty acid Butyrate, once thought to be bad for you, has been linked to preventing neurodegenerative diseases, increased energy expenditure, and is also anti-inflammatory, further preventing heart disease.)

Greenspace Brands has grown to encompass so many product lines that touching on all of them is a challenge, like Holistic Choice – the only non-rendered, antibiotic free, hormone free pet food line that’s Canadian made.

Skelton says, “Our goal coming into the market was to simply do pet food better. And now we’re raising the bar – using human grade, certified meat. And we’re going to use MSC certified fish – not like the leftovers from the fishing expedition. Putting this great food into a kibbled product and making it accessible to consumers.”

And they never did get around to talking about their Aussie Style Yamba Yogourt – which is made with Canadian grass-fed milk and sweetened with honey – it even comes in double serving containers so it’s easy to mix with granola.

So where do you find these Greenspace Brands?

The anchor brand, Life Choices, is in about 600 stores. Rolling Meadow is in about 200, Holistic Choice is easier to find in Loblaws than in pet food stores – but it’s in about 350 stores altogether. Grandview Farms Meats are becoming more and more well-known and popular. With Canada’s growing awareness of quality fats and growing appetite for grass-fed, this is a green space that may never stop growing.

 

 

 

 

New Cancer Care Program and Facilities in Northern Florida

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The risk of cancer increases almost exponentially with age. And Florida has the largest population of retirees in America. Clearly – it’s the perfect nexus for cancer treatment and research.

Baptist Health and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have signed a partnership agreement designed to transform oncology care in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.

The institutions have agreed to create a joint cancer program to enhance patient access to MD Anderson’s treatment protocols and translational research. Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center is anticipated to open in the fall of 2015, providing a single destination for highly coordinated, multidisciplinary cancer care for adults in the region.

Initially, the program will be housed in the Baptist Outpatient Center, on the campus of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, where the Hill Breast Center is currently located. This temporary home will be replaced by a new cancer care building which will begin the design and build process in the coming months, with an expected opening date of 2017. This dedicated facility will be designed to serve a full continuum of cancer care needs, from screening and diagnosis to treatment and survivorship.

Baptist Health and MD Anderson are working together to recruit a dedicated team of medical oncologists and other medical and surgical experts to join the existing cancer care staff. The goal is to replicate the MD Anderson model of care, so that cancer patients and their families receive the highest level of care close to home.

“The final approval of this agreement brings us one step closer toward the realization of our partnership with an international leader in cancer care,” said Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health. “We look forward to bringing Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center to operational and clinical reality over the coming months.”

As part of the agreement, Baptist Health will become a partner member of MD Anderson Cancer Network®, the institution’s program to elevate the quality of cancer care in communities throughout the nation and world. This means the Baptist Health cancer program will be operationally and clinically integrated with MD Anderson, so that patients at Baptist MD Anderson will benefit from the same full range of multidisciplinary care options as available in Houston, including access to ongoing cancer research and select clinical trials.

Based in Houston, MD Anderson is the largest freestanding cancer center in the world. Since its inception in 1941, nearly one million patients have sought the innovative cancer care and prevention services that have made MD Anderson so widely respected. The institution consistently has been ranked as one of the top two hospitals for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” survey. MD Anderson also ranks first in the total amount of grant dollars from the National Cancer Institute. MD Anderson employs more than 20,000 people, including more than 1,800 physicians and scientists.

Baptist Health includes five hospitals with 1,129-licensed beds, 1,644 medical staff and more than 250 outpatient facilities throughout North Florida and South Georgia. Baptist Jacksonville and Baptist South are ranked among America’s Best Regional Hospitals for cancer by U.S. News & World Report and Baptist Cancer Institute is one of the region’s leading providers of cancer prevention, screening, diagnostic and treatment services. All four of Baptist Health’s adult hospitals have NAPBC-accredited breast centers, including Hill Breast Center, which is the only dedicated breast center of its size in the region.

Causes of Dementia: White Matter Disease

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Memory and language problems, difficulty performing everyday tasks – when we think of dementia, we default to Alzheimer’s, but its far from the only form of dementia that can cause problems of this nature. But most of these brain problems have several things in common: their causes are not well understood and good treatments are not readily available – if any treatments are available at all.

At the Toronto Western Research Institute’s Krembil Neuroscience Centre (TWRI is one the principal research institutes of the University Health Network of academic teaching hospitals associated with the University of Toronto), researchers have made a discovery that may lead to effective treatment for more than one form of dementia. Our brains have thin layers of grey matter on the outside, but inside, they are filled with white matter consisting of at least 100,000 kilometres of nerve fibres that connect grey matter with the spinal cord and the rest of the body.

The emergence of technologies like CT and MRI scanning in the 1980s, have enabled doctors to see that that the white matter of the brain commonly tends to degenerate as we get older. More than half of the population show signs of this degeneration (which makes the white tissue spongy) by age 60.
While this change was originally considered simply a fact of aging, medical experts have realized that large areas of white matter disease contributes greatly to the development of dementia.

Neuroradiologist, Dr. Daniel Mandell, from the Joint Department of Medical Imaging (JDMI) at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, led a team of researchers in a search for the causes white matter disease. This led them to look into the repeated occurrence of tiny, undiagnosed strokes While such strokes would cause an unnoticable loss of brain function on its own, they might actually accumulate over the years, eventually causing enough damage to cause dementia.

The team tested their theory on a group of 57 to 79 patients who had histories of moderate-to-severe white matter disease and without any evidence of previous strokes. By taking MRI scans of their brains every week for 16 weeks, the researchers saw many new, micro strokes in the white matter. These strokes presented no obvious stroke symptoms like weakness or interference with vision or speech.

Investigators were surprised to see strokes occurring in most of study participants. “But even more interesting,” said Mandell, “we noticed that over the course of the study, the damage from these tiny strokes became indistinguishable from the participants’ existing white matter disease.

“If the study participants had only had two MRIs, once at the beginning of the study and again 16 weeks later, it would have been impossible to tell that their worsening white matter disease was caused by strokes.”

Published in the journal Annals of Neurology, Dr. Mandell’s research gives us important new insights into the understanding of dementia and the aging brain.

Edmonton Fights Toxic Mosquito Spraying Near Homes and Parks

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New details emerged last week after a Canadian volunteer group, Pesticide Free Alberta (PFA), received records from the City of Edmonton regarding ground and aerial application of Dursban 2.5, a restricted insecticide (in both Canada and the US), in close proximity to residential areas to kill off mosquito larvae. The coordinator of PFA, Sheryl McCumsey, fought for months for the data to be released.

Health Canada does not recommend using Dursban in areas where children will be exposed, such as homes, parks, school grounds or playing fields, but the City of Edmonton justifies the use of the product by its label language, citing that it can be used in industrial areas. These areas often end up bordering residential neighborhoods and natural lands, such as parks.

The active ingredient in Dursban is chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxic insecticide that has been linked to many detrimental health and environmental effects, such as endocrine disruption, reproductive and birth effects, toxicity to birds, bees and aquatic wildlife.In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Dow AgroSciences restricted the sale and use of most home, lawn and garden product due to its health risks for children. However, it is still used agriculturally and for mosquito management.

After the City of Winnipeg voted to phase out Dursban in 2005, Edmonton spent $79, 600 on the city’s remaining supply. As for phasing out the toxic chemical in Edmonton, “someone has to be the last person to use it,” said David Aitken, branch manager for community standards. “It’s about increasing livability in Edmonton so we can enjoy our summers.”

However, there are many options that don’t involve the use of dangerous pesticides in order to manage mosquitos and “increase livability to enjoy summers.” The city of Calgary, Alberta has been using a bacterial product for the last 15 years that is environmentally friendly and specific just to mosquitos. Winnipeg followed suit, using the same product to manage their mosquitos after Dursban was phased out.

In Sarasota County, Florida, their mosquito control has been breeding mosquito-eating fish, called Gambusia Holbrooki, the first of their kind in the state. These fish feed off of mosquito larvae, so if there is a problem area with mosquitos, the fish are brought out to manage them. The mosquito control technicians are also equipped with high tech tools that emit powerful sound waves that cause mosquito larvae to explode.

In 2012, one county in New Jersey began using 10,000 tiny shrimp-like crustaceans to eat through mosquito larvae in the county’s swamps. The crustaceans, known as copepods, are cousins to crayfish and water fleas, and do not get much bigger than two millimeters. They are voracious predators of mosquito larvae.

Toxic chemicals like chlorpyrifos should never be part of a responsible mosquito management program. Beyond Pesticides can provide alternatives. For more information on safe and effective mosquito management strategies, see Beyond Pesticides’ page on Mosquitoes and Insect Borne Diseases, or contact us at info@Beyondpesticides.org

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