Category Archives: Health

Powerfully stupid on that smelter

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, June 21st 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Aluminum Smelter PlantIN the face of a court ruling against the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) granting a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) to Alutrint, citizens must wonder why the Patrick Manning Government seems intent proceeding with this multi-billion-dollar project. Justice Mira Dean-Armorer declared that the EMA’s decision was “procedurally irregular, irrational and made without regard to consideration of the cumulative impact of the three related projects the power plant, the aluminium complex (and) the port facility.”
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Food and water before oil and gas

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, May 3rd 2009

The MarketTRINIDADIANS would swear that the world is gripped by “blight”, a toxic mix of negative forces or “spirit lashes” that have us reeling every-which-way. Those who believe in the biblical end-times would counter that God is angry with man, hence the confluence of wars, pestilence, human misery and harsh economic times. Whatever the reasons for the seemingly intractable problems that have engulfed the world, I choose to adopt calypsonian Blakie’s refrain, “Ah never see t’ing so yet!”
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Kelvin ‘Mighty Duke’ Pope Passes Away

The Mighty Duke’s Send-Off – January 22, 2009

TrinidadandTobagoNews.com Reporters
January 14, 2009
Updated: January 15, 2009

One of Calypso’s greatest icons Kelvin ‘Mighty Duke’ Pope passed away earlier today. Mighty Duke, who was diagnosed with myelofibrosis – a serious bone marrow disorder that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells – has succumbed to this illness ending a battle of over four years. His wife Rebecca, one of his sons, Wendell, and Hollis ‘Chalkdust’ Liverpool were at his side when he passed.
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Remembering Jizelle Salandy (Giselle Salandy)

Jizelle Salandy’s Send-Off

TriniView.com Reporters
Event Date: January 07, 2009
Posted: January 10, 2009

Hundreds of people turned up at the St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church in La Romaine to remember and bid farewell to the World Boxing Champion Jizelle Salandy. They came in buses, maxis and cars from all over Trinidad to pay their last respects. Many persons in attendance admitted that they did not know Jizelle personally but her life inspired them in some way.
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Boxing champion Giselle Salandy is dead

TrinidadandTobagoNews.com Reporters
January 04, 2009

Undefeated Trinidad and Tobago boxing champion, Giselle Salandy, died following a vehicular accident on the Beetham Highway, on the outskirts of Port of Spain, this morning, January 4th 2009. The 21 year old boxing sensation succumbed to her injuries at the Port of Spain General Hospital around 8.29 a.m. Reports state that Salandy was driving west into Port of Spain a little before 7 a.m. when she crashed into a concrete pillar upon reaching the National Petroleum (N.P.) overpass just before the Bhagwansingh turnoff. Miss Salandy and other occupant of the Toyota Yaris, national female footballer Tamar Watson were injured and both were rushed to hospital. Most recent reports indicate that Watson suffered two broken legs and is in a critical condition.
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PM Manning: I do not fear death

By Andre Bagoo and Clint Chan Tack
Friday, December 12 2008
newsday.co.tt

PM Patrick ManningPRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning left hurriedly yesterday for Cuba to undergo surgery at the Cimex Hospital in Havana to remove a malignant tumour in his left kidney.

Manning made the startling revelation at the weekly post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, where he was the only minister present.

Hours later, Manning left on board a Panamanian Copa aircraft. He told reporters that all steps have been taken to ensure that the Government functions smoothly until he returns home in early January 2009.
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Smoking gun

Newsday Editorial
Thursday, November 27 2008

SmokingThe Tobacco Bill now being debated in Parliament seems to be a case of using a shotgun to kill a mosquito. And, as with a shotgun, there is the danger of injuring innocent bystanders while the mosquito flies free.

To be sure, smoking leads to major health problems for many people. Heart disease, strokes, and cancer are three of the five leading causes of death in Trinidad and Tobago, and all these diseases have been linked to tobacco use. But, at the heart of this issue is the question of rights, including people’s right to harm themselves. A smoker, after all, chooses to smoke. Since people own their bodies (save in slave cultures) it is therefore their right to do as they please with themselves. In respect to tobacco legislation, two main counter-arguments to this position are generally proffered: first, that advertising persuades people to start and continue smoking; and, secondly, that second-hand smoke is as harmful as smoking itself.
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