Brian Jenkins

Here are a few interesting articles, in print and off the net, for your perusal.

First, the Journal de Montréal provides three articles on the topic of sexually transmitted infections among Quebecers. All written by Héloise Archambault, these are:

• « Infectons sexuelles explosion des cas » – Nov. 20, 2012
• « Des cours exigés » - Nov. 20, 2012
• « Une Facture de Plus de $88 million » – Nov. 21, 2012

Culled from a report entitled "Rapport intégré: épidémiologie des infections transmissibles sexuellement et par le sang au Québec." the articles present a stark picture of the behaviour of Quebecers.

• The number of cases of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea have tripled over a 15-year period – from 6436 to 19165 for the former and from 555 to 1883 for the latter; and
• The number of cases of Syphilis, thought to be eradicated in the early 90s, has seen a rise up to 636 cases from 9 in 1997.

Also troublesome is that these figures may be an underestimate. Many of these illnesses go undetected as carriers of a disease or infection may not experience any symptom.

Even more troublesome is the absence in these articles of the many other STIs. Five were discussed; in addition to the three already mentioned, both Hepatitis C and HIV were noted. Yet, Wikipedia notes another twelve.

Finally, so goes the number of cases, so goes the teatment costs. Over the past five years, the figures have gone from $61 million to over $88 million.

And as responsible stewards, what are we doing to alleviate the physical pain and reduce the costs? The articles mentioned that several solutions are being considered, though only one was cited – education. Seemingly, the high school sex-ed course discontinued in 2001 is being reconsidered for implimentation.

I pray that abstinence will be part of the new education.

Contraception – Bayer’s Mirena IUD

Another article concerning our sexual mores comes from Stephen Mosher's blog at the Population Research Institute.

"The Mirena IUD is Becoming More Popular - and the Lawsuits are Piling Up" is about the difficulties that the pharmaceutical Bayer is having with its contraception unit. An IUD – intrauterine device, functions in various ways, thwarting the gestational process, including aborting a newly conceived child. Mosher does well in explaining the three ways in which this may occur.

Afterwards, Mosher gets into the business of the lawsuits. He writes: “You know a contraceptive drug or device is in trouble when the lawsuits begin to multiply.”

He lists the many side effects associated with using the device: amenorrhea, intermenstrual bleeding and spotting, abdominal pain, pelvic pain, ovarian cysts, headache, migraines, acne, depression, and mood swings.

He provides a link to a website - The Truth About Mirena, that contains hundreds of testimonies by women who have written detailed accounts of the side effects.

Adoptions in Quebec

For the last article that caught my attention, I return to the Journal de Montréal. In today’s edition the topic of adoption comes up, a topic of much interest to us who often encourage women to give their child up for adoption rather than abort it.

“L’étau se resserre à l’international” graphically presents, the trend among Quebecers who adopt internationally. A bar chart spanning twenty-two years illustrates the diminishment in foreign adoptions by Quebecers - from a high of 977 in 1996 to a low of 339 in 2011.

More revealing, I find, about this downward trend is the following listing of five-year averages:

• 1992 = 718 cases of foreign adoptions
• 1995 = 852
• 1998 = 848
• 2001 = 810
• 2004 = 734
• 2007 = 500
• 2010 = 461

While reading this I couldn’t help but wonder at the similar statistics for adoptions within the province.

These figures were culled from the section within the provincial Ministry of Health and Social Services called Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale.