Top health news of 2017
The stories with the greatest impact on Canadians this past year, as chosen by the CBC News health unit
The health unit at CBC News has chosen these health stories as the ones with the biggest impact on Canadians this past year — and that are likely to continue to affect us into 2018 and beyond.
Opioid crisis
The rising number of overdose deaths in Canada dominated health news headlines in 2017, and there's little indication that fatalities will decline anytime soon.
Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer of Canada, said once all the data are in from all the provinces and territories, she expects the number of overdose deaths to surpass 4,000 by year end — outpacing last year's total of 2,861 opioid-related fatalities. "This is a national health public health crisis," she said recently in an interview.
The increase in deaths is likely the result of fentanyl's continued infiltration of street narcotics. "There is a very toxic drug supply," Tam said.
While the situation was acute in British Columbia and Alberta, no region has been left untouched by the crisis. Recently released court documents revealed the daughter of Newfoundland and Labrador premier Dwight Ball abused opioids while he was running for the province's top job.
Health officials are hopeful that new harm-reduction initiatives, including widening access to the overdose treatment naloxone, will help reduce the number of deaths in 2018.
Pot legalization
While Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, has yet to be sworn into law, 2017 witnessed developments on the road to marijuana legalization that would've seemed surreal just five years ago.
Finance ministers from all the provinces and territories, the de facto pot merchants, descended on Ottawa looking to set a price for dope and for a bigger cut of the take.
Meanwhile, legal weed created some strange bedfellows of all political stripes. Nova Scotia's former NDP premier Darrell Dexter lobbied for the cannabis industry; ex-B.C. Liberal health minister Terry Lake became a vice-president at a medical marijuana company; and former Conservative veterans affair minister Julian Fantino, who once compared legalizing weed to legalizing murder, defended his decision to open a company that connects patients with medical marijuana.
While advocates for recreational pot might be celebrating the prospect of legalized recreational weed, thousands of prescription cannabis patients might end up paying more for their medicine, which will be subject to an additional excise. In 2018, questions about workplace pot policies, retail sales, impaired driving and medical use should become less hazy.
Artificial trans fats ban
This should've been the top health story of 2004, when a majority of members of Parliament heeded the advice of the World Health Organization and followed the lead of Denmark by voting to ban artificial trans fats.
But then politics happened. Four elections and five health ministers later, partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of artificial trans fats, were quietly added to Health Canada's List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods in September.
These oils elevate levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, and lower "good" cholesterol, which raises the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Canadian researchers estimate a ban could prevent 12,000 heart attacks in Canada over 20 years. Partially hydrogenated oils will be prohibited in September 2018.
CRISPR
The powerful gene-editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas9 continued to take on bold new applications in 2017. The ability to cut-and-paste DNA means scientists can edit out genes associated with specific genetic diseases.
It has already been used to make more muscular livestock animals and highly drought-resistant crops. Although work on humans is still in its early stages, U.S. scientists have succeeded in editing the genes of a human embryo to correct a disease-causing mutation. Continued research could lead to potential cures for genetic diseases like Huntington's and sickle cell anemia.
But the pace of change bordered on alarming after revelations that U.S. military researchers are using CRISPR to develop technologies to wipe out disease-carrying insects and eradicate invasive mammals like rodents and rabbits. Understandably, not all scientists are cool with that.
In 2018 there will likely be even more experimental advances, as well as overdue ethics conversations. And maybe Jennifer Lopez's NBC bio-terror drama CRISPR will finally debut on TV.
Assisted dying
2017 was the first full year in which medically assisted dying was legal in Canada. CBC News confirmed 2,500 patients opted to exercise the right to end their lives. The youngest was 27 and the oldest was 101. In most cases they were cancer patients, and approximately half of those assisted deaths took place in hospitals.
Despite the amendments to the Criminal Code, there's still some debate surrounding a patient's right to die, which under the current language is legally permitted only when a competent adult's death is "reasonably foreseeable."
The case of a Toronto woman who wanted to end her suffering from Parkinson's disease highlighted the limits of the legislation. Nancy Vickers, 64, who struggled to walk, breathe and go to the bathroom unassisted, said she wanted to end her life before she became "the drooling vegetable mass that I do sometimes become." But because her death was not imminent, her doctor was advised by his malpractice insurer not to perform the procedure. She finally found a physician willing to help her.
The advocacy group Dying with Dignity said interpreting the law puts the burden on patients who are already overwhelmed by deteriorating health and are not equipped to navigate the medical and legal systems.
Corrections
- An earlier version of the story referred to a skin transplant and an intravenous gene editing procedure as examples of CRISPR. In fact, these were examples of gene therapies that did not use CRISPR/Cas 9 technology.Jan 02, 2018 10:29 AM ET
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
