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This article examines Canada's ammunition dumping program in the mid-1940s and pays special attention to the practical and technical dilemmas that influenced policy making and implementation. A pressing logistical crisis followed the end of the Second World War as crowded armaments depots ran out of storage space for leftover ordnance. In July 1945 a major explosion at the Bedford Magazine in Halifax Harbour heightened public safety concerns and influenced future disposal policies. From a range of imperfect destruction methods, dumping emerged as one of the most efficient alternatives; whenever possible conventional and chemical munitions were submerged. Although the quantities sunk by the Americans, British, and Russians dwarf the amount dumped by Canada, the Canadian dumping program was no less important to the nation's postwar transition or without serious ramifications for Canadians and their coastal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the February 27, 1945 disaster in which the ship S.S. Green Hill Park docked in Vancouver, British Columbia exploded, killing two seamen and six longshoremen and causing damage throughout the city when windows shattered. The World War II incident resulted in a government inquiry and a legal suit involving both the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) Local 501 and the Canadian Seamen's Union (CSU) who argued the tragedy was the result of lack of oversight regarding loading practices and inadequate management of the port.

The article compares the after-effects of an atomic bomb explosion with that of nuclear tests, based on facts and arguments posed at the 1957 international Pugwash conference in Canada. One of the most frequently discussed fact in the conference is that the main causes of radiological injuries in atomic explosions is the setting of radiostrontium. The author points the external radiation of the explosion from the precipitation lying on the ground and the radiation from inside due to the absorption of radiostrontium.

Introduction: We assessed the utility of a battery of neuropsychological, neurocognitive, physiological (balance, ataxia, postural tremor), and neuroimaging measures for studying the effects of blast waves in breachers-a population repeatedly exposed to low-level blast during military training and operations., Materials and Methods: Data were collected from four nonoverlapping samples, in the course of similarly structured 4-day breacher training exercises in successive years involving a combination of indoor and outdoor blast events. In all cases, self-report and neuropsychological measures were administered once at baseline (i.e., 1 day before the start of training). In years 1-2, neurocognitive and physiological measures were administered daily before and after training. In years 3-4, neurocognitive data were collected once at baseline. In Year 4, we introduced 3 modifications to our design. First, in addition to breachers, we also collected data from sex-and age-matched military controls at the same time points. Second, we assessed balance, ataxia, and postural tremor immediately following blast exposure "in the field," enabling us to quantify its acute effects. Third, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired before and after the 4-day training exercise to explore differences between breachers and controls at baseline, as well as possible training-related changes using voxel-based morphometry. These design modifications were made to enable us to test additional hypotheses in the context of the same training exercise., Results: At baseline, scores on the "Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire," "RAND SF-36" (physical functioning, role limitation due to physical health, social functioning, energy/fatigue, general health), and "Short Musculoskeletal Function Questionnaire" distinguished breachers from controls. Also at baseline, the MRI data revealed that there was greater regional gray matter volume in controls compared to breachers in the right superior frontal gyrus. Balance, ataxia, and postural tremor did not exhibit sensitivity to the acute effects of blast in the field, nor did neurocognitive measures to its cumulative or daily effects., Conclusion: Our exploratory results suggest that self-report neuropsychological measures and structural MRI hold promise as sensitive measures for quantifying the long-term, cumulative effects of blast exposure in breachers. We discuss the limitations of our study and the need for prospective longitudinal data for drawing causal inferences regarding the impact of blast exposure on breachers' health and performance., (© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of the Department of National Defence (DND), 2020.)

In July 2013, the derailment of a train caused the death of 47 people and the destruction of Lac-Mégantic's downtown area (Canada). Three years after this event, a population survey was conducted among a representative sample of 800 adults, including 282 men. Several significant differences were observed among respondents of a survey based on their level of exposure to this tragedy, including their physical (changes in physical health) and psychological health (post-traumatic stress disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, psychological distress, signs of depression, consultation of social workers and psychologists) as well as their use of prescribed (anxiolytics and antidepressants) and nonprescribed drugs. Such results can be explained by the nature, magnitude, and cause of the event.

The article emphasizes the need for increased involvement of physicians in British Columbia in efforts to prepare for a major disaster or emergency. It offers a definition of the term "disaster." It relates how the mill explosion in Burns Lake became a disaster and describes the roles of front-line physicians and hospitals. It explains that the lack of involvement of Canadian front-line physicians may be attributed to their lack of disaster management exposure in training and in practice.

A series of experiments was conducted in 2012 at the Defence Research and Development Canada's Suffield Research Centre in Alberta, Canada, during which three radiological dispersal devices were detonated. The detonations released radioactive (140)La into the air, which was then carried by winds and detectable over distances of up to 2 km. The Nuclear Emergency Response group of Natural Resources Canada conducted airborne radiometric surveys shortly following the explosions to map the pattern of radioactivity deposited on the ground. The survey instrument suite was based on large volume NaI(Tl) scintillation gamma radiation detectors, which were situated in a basket mounted exterior to the helicopter and oriented end-to-end to maximize the sensitivity. A standard geophysical data treatment was used to subtract backgrounds and to correct the data to produce counts due to (140)La at the nominal altitude. Sensitivity conversion factors obtained from Monte Carlo simulations were then applied to express the measurements in terms of surface activity concentration in kBq m(-2). Integrated over the survey area, the results indicate that only 20 to 25% of the bomb's original inventory of radioactive material is deposited within a 1.5-km radius of ground zero. These results can be accommodated with a simple model for the RDD behavior and atmospheric dispersion.

We investigated the effects of the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 (SA 111) disaster on a variety of indices of alcohol use among volunteer responders. We retrospectively administered standardized questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to 13 volunteer disaster workers recruited from the community. According to the interview, 54% of the volunteers were exposed to human remains. According to Modified Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms Scale responses, 46% met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. Frequency and severity of PTSD symptoms, but not human remains exposure, per se, were positively correlated with coping-motivated drinking (but not social or mood enhancement drinking) and with alcohol use to forget. The re-experiencing and hyper-arousal PTSD symptom dimensions showed the strongest and most consistent correlations with the alcohol use indices. We discuss ways in which the information gleaned from this sample can be used to improve disaster response planning to minimize the probability of maladaptive coping drinking among volunteers.

We present clinical and laboratory results (including nuclear imaging) obtained over a period of two years in two nonsmoking miners who were exposed to high concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) after a mine explosion. Within 3 wk of the accident, both miners had evidence of severe airways obstruction, hypoxemia, markedly reduced exercise tolerance, ventilation-perfusion mismatch, and evidence of active inflammation as documented by positive gallium lung scan. Serial ventilation-perfusion scans over the first 12 months showed progressive improvement without returning to normal. After the initial recovery, there has been no significant change over the subsequent two years postinjury. Pulmonary function and exercise tests also displayed a similar pattern of initial improvement. We conclude that (1) acute exposure to high concentrations of SO2 results in severe airways obstruction, (2) pulmonary function abnormalities are partially reversible, and (3) most of the improvement occurs within 12 months after the initial injury.