Pesticide study needs volunteers
SASKATOON (Staff) – Researchers at Saskatchewan’s Centre for Agricultural Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan are still looking for volunteers for a study on the effects of pesticides.
After recruiting 55 men exposed to pesticides, researchers are now looking for control volunteers. These must be men living in an urban area where exposure to pesticide is low, less than 10 hours a year. These “controls” are then matched with the age and smoking history of the other volunteers for comparison, said Dr. Alice Gibson who co-ordinates the study.
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Prompted by a smaller study of its kind in Minnesota, Gibson hopes the Saskatchewan study will show whether people exposed to pesticides have an increased risk of rare cancers, particularly lymphoma.
Gibson said about 23 urban volunteers are still needed before final blood samples are taken from the 55 pesticide-exposed volunteers in January 1996.
When researchers receive the final results of DNA testing done in the United States, Gibson hopes they find a way to measure the amount of exposure a person has had to pesticide and determine safe levels of exposure.
Peace women organize
SASKATOON (Staff) – “Farm Women: We are diversified” is the theme of the 1995 Peace Region farm women’s conference to be held Nov. 16 -17 in Peace River, Alta.
Keynote speaker Hilary Brown will talk about opening one’s mind to create the future. Other sessions include rejuvenating the yard, livestock management, dealing with stress, family communication, self-defence, retiring wealthy, home improvement and self-image.
The conference fee of $50 should be sent to the Farm Women’s Conference Committee, Provincial Building, 1501 – 10320-99 St., Grande Prairie, Alta., T8V 6J4.
Poster winners named
REGINA (Staff) – Allison Weekes, a student at St. Gabriel School in Biggar, Sask., is the grand prize winner in a provincial farm safety poster contest.
Her poster, “Stop To Think-You Could Sink,” dealt with the hazards of flowing grain and the importance of teaching children to stay away from grain bins and the back of grain trucks.
Twelve other winners in six hazard categories were chosen from more than 1,700 entries. The contest was open to students from kindergarten to Grade 9 and sponsored by the provincial labor department’s Occupational Health and Safety Division.
The winning entries will be featured in the 1996 Farm Safety Calendar, to be published this fall to mark the 10th anniversary of the Saskatchewan Farm Safety Program.
Donation helps Dief Centre
SASKATOON (Staff) – The Diefenbaker Centre at the University of Saskatchewan received a large donation to expand its school group programs.
Mable Charity Wilce Child left the centre $750,000 in memory of her parents, Charles John Parker and Rebecca Wilce Dewdney. Child specified in her will that the money be used for educational programming. Her donation will help the Diefenbaker Centre continue nine educational programs for schoolchildren.
Child and her family moved to Saskatoon in 1912. She got her teaching certificate and taught in Cadillac, Sask., until she moved to Vancouver in 1937.
An illustrated farm life
SASKATOON (Staff) – Donna Prosko was afraid her children aged 3 and 6 didn’t understand the dangers of living on a farm. So the Rose Valley, Sask., mother put together a coloring/story book to teach them about safety.
Called Farming Today with Fun and Safety the book illustrates farm work like seeding, haying and calving along with fun activities like bike riding and snowmobiling. The pages can be torn out and posted in the danger areas.
“I really believe parents have to be involved with farm safety education because every farmyard is unique to that particular farm family,” said Prosko, who does a safety walkabout with her three children every May.
Prosko has already sold 1,000 copies of the book released this spring. To get a copy, send $5 plus $2 shipping and handling to Heart of the Prairie Publishing, Box 383, Rose Valley, Sask., S0E 1M0.
