By Jesse McLaren - November 24, 2012

The Conservative government is denying chemotherapy to refugees and imposing carcinogenic tar sands on indigenous communities, as part of an oil-driven economy that puts profits above people and the planet. But there are growing movements demanding healthcare and a green future for all.

By Martha Rosenberg - November 21, 2012

Sleeping pills like Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata, and Rozerem have been a gold mine for Pharma because everyone sleeps--or watches TV when they can’t. Ads convey unrealistic expectations for fall-to-sleep time and the pills do not necessarily even work. In FDA documents, one sleeping pill, Rozerem, was no better than a placebo. Still, its sales shot up by 60 percent thanks to TV advertising...

By Jordan Shilton - WSWS

A study published this month from the Scottish government, Long Term Monitoring of Health Inequalities, has laid bare shocking levels of health inequality between rich and poor. The report, which compared data in Scotland with countries across Europe, confirms that in many key areas of health care, nowhere across the continent is this more polarized...Life expectancy is 14 years less for someone living in the poorest areas of the country compared to the most affluent.

Movember- the time of the year, where men try to show they have testicles by growing an ugly flap of hair over their top lip. On top of looking like a greasy douchebag-hipster, pedophile, and/or cop - you are helping to raise funds for a multi-billion dollar black hole of an industry that is notorious for cruel animal testing.

Montreal health workers and migrant justice activists disrupt Conservative Minister Maxime Bernier in Montreal.

By Bruce E. Levine - Z Magazine

By the 1980s...it had become apparent to me that the psychology profession was increasingly about meeting the needs of the “power structure” to maintain the status quo so as to gain social position, prestige, and other rewards for psychologists...Increasingly marginalized was the idea that treatment that consisted of manipulating and medicating alienated people to adjust to this crazy rat race and thus maintain the status quo was a political act — a problematic one for people who cared about democracy.

This is, for me, what it is like to have been the son of a mother who took her own life when I was very young...While I can remember everything that happened, I have spent a lifetime trying to understand why it happened. And I am no longer sure that that is the point.

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"Sadly, every person you ask from the Northern Inuit regions knows someone who has killed themselves...People you know your whole life. You grow and laugh with them and then they are not there anymore because they decide to take their own lives. The numbers are an epidemic, if these numbers existed in southern Canada, it would be a national emergency and there would be measures to address it."

- Terry Audla, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the National Inuit Organization in Canada

By BRUCE E. LEVINE - Counterpunch

Harm reduction is pragmatic and recognizes that there is no single solution for every person. Instead, as the guide states, “Harm reduction accepts where people are at and educates them to make informed choices and calculated trade-offs that reduce risk and increase wellness.” Harm reduction is about providing information, options, resources and support so that people can make choices that fit their situation and who they are.

Fifty-one years and counting! On August 10, 1961, America began spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Operation Ranch Hand waged herbicidal warfare for 10 years.

By Robin Marty and Jodi Jacobson - AlterNet

A pregnant 16-year-old in the Dominican Republic died from complications of leukemia...The young woman was forced to wait nearly three weeks to begin chemotherapy to treat her disease as hospital officials initially refused to treat her fearing it could terminate her pregnancy. In the end she lost her life and the pregnancy, and may have died because of the delay in her treatment.

By Dr. John O'connor - Znet Commentary

So the [Canadian Federal government has] decided to launch an investigation into potential health effects of ... windmills!...However, what about Fort Chipewyan, the community downstream from the tar sands? The oldest settlement in Alberta, and a very traditional Indigenous community...The residents there had spent years trying to bring attention to the changes they'd noticed in the staples of their subsistence...and in the water of the Athabasca River and Lake...These changes were dramatic...

Under the theme "We refuse to cooperate", the Health Justice Collective set up a "collective expression booth" in the Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood, in Montreal, on July 5. Dozens of people from the neighborhood, as well as physicians, nurses, psychologists, students and community activists took part in the action by being photographed holding a sign expressing their commitment to not comply with the IFHP cuts and their opposition to the refugee Exclusion Act.

By Samir Shaheen-Hussain - June 27, 2012

On June 18, physicians and other health care providers carried out a National Day of Action in over a dozen cities across Canada to oppose the Conservatives' cuts to refugee health care. This article is a modified version of the speech delivered to the Montreal rally by pediatrician Samir Shaheen-Hussain.

We are seeking submissions for a zine on being both working class and vegan, to decenter veganism away from the politics of privilege and consumerism.

By Mónica Novoa - Colorlines

Everyday, organizers and advocates across the United States do vital work to help transform people, communities and society. In the midst of working to achieve these transformations, we face formidable challenges, not least of which is taking care of our own selves and encouraging our peers to do the same, so that we have what it takes for the long haul. Many people and organizations around us are already providing great examples of how to make sure this gets done.