Good morning! This is our daily news roundup with everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning.
Sweat, heavy breathing, warm temperatures and lots of people — the gym is the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive in, which is why wiping equipment down is a normal part of gym etiquette.
But does a quick wipe really eliminate all those germs? CBC’s Marketplace swabbed equipment at several popular national gym chains to find out which surface harbours the most bacteria.
With training and supplies from an accredited laboratory in Mississauga, Ont., Marketplace visited some of the largest for-profit gym chains: three GoodLife Fitness, three Anytime Fitness and three Planet Fitness locations in the Greater Toronto Area.
“Our own microbes are absolutely fine, but the minute that we start touching other people’s microbes, especially if they’re pathogenic, it can lead to infection,” said microbiologist and self-proclaimed “germ guy” Jason Tetro.
While you’re more likely to get sick from someone breathing heavily next to you, there are a few other things lurking at the gym that you should be wary of.
“Staphylococcus aureus is the big one,” said Tetro, who explained that contact could result in a skin infection for those with open sores or cuts. One particular strain of staphylococcus, known as MRSA, is antibiotic-resistant and Health Canada warns that it can be found on gym equipment.
Experts also recommended testing for yeast and mould, which tend to grow in warm, damp environments and can cause various conditions, such as yeast infections and athlete’s foot. Elevated levels could indicate a lack of proper cleaning, as these organisms are harder to kill than most bacteria.
Marketplace also tested for total bacterial count, where elevated levels could indicate how long it’s been since a surface has been cleaned and how effective the process was at removing germs.
At each gym location, after consulting with experts, CBC journalists swabbed five popular pieces of equipment — an elliptical, a barbell, a dumbbell, an exercise mat, a yoga ball — as well as the shower floor, to determine microbial counts.
The germiest piece of equipment Marketplace found was the exercise mat, with almost eight times the amount of bacteria as the yoga ball.
The mats had especially high levels of staphylococcus, which is found on healthy people, but certain types, like MRSA, could cause infections in others. Read the full story here.
(Sgt. Lee Goddard, U.K. Ministry of Defence/The Associated Press)
A British Typhoon aircraft takes off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus for a mission to strike targets in Yemen. The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen late Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said. Read the story here.
Canadian customs officers could soon be posted to U.S. border posts on American soil for the first time, and American officers could be assigned to work from border posts in Canada, CBC News has learned. “It’s a fundamental shift,” said Mark Weber, president of the union that represents Canadian border officers. “You’re working in another country … It’s game-changing.” If approved, the regulations being proposed by the federal government would allow the program to expand to other border crossings across the country. The initiative would start with a two-year pilot project at the tiny border crossing of Covey Hill/Cannon Corners at the border between Quebec and New York State. The pilot project, which could be in place as soon as June, would see Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers move in with their U.S. counterparts at the American border post, about 200 meters from the Canadian post. Under the pilot, the CBSA would provide most of the usual services at the preclearance post in the U.S. but would have to refer any refugee claimants to a different border post located on Canadian soil. Read the full story here.
Terrace Bay is the kind of northwestern Ontario town where everyone knows each other — and if you’re not a union pulp mill worker, chances are you used to be or are at least related to a few. Experts say this is where the best pulp in the world is made. Despite that, the mill owner, Aditya Birla Group, shut the mill down in early January and temporarily laid off 400 workers. It has been a crushing blow that’s left people anxious about the future, reflecting scenes that have played out in mill towns across Canada in recent years, including in British Columbia, northern Ontario and Nova Scotia. There’s no word on when or if the Terrace Bay mill will reopen, if ever, or what the company plans to do — whether that means reopening it when market conditions improve or selling it to another company. In the meantime, it is keeping the pulp just warm enough to stay usable while workers wait to hear if they still have jobs. “Why are we temporarily idling? What’s gonna happen with us?” said Kathy Howe, a shipper in pulp storage. Howe said workers were blindsided by the closure, and questioned why they weren’t given more notice from owners and management. Read the full story here.
Israel today rejected accusations brought by South Africa at the United Nations’ top court in The Hague that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign against the Palestinian population as “grossly distorted.” It called on judges to dismiss South Africa’s request to halt its offensive, saying it would leave it defenceless. On Thursday, South Africa, which filed the lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December, asked judges on Thursday to impose emergency measures ordering Israel to immediately halt the offensive.
With the COP28 climate summit now in the rearview mirror, some researchers say the moment is here when coal consumption in power plants around the world will finally peak before beginning a perpetual fall. For more than a century, coal has been used to produce electricity, and to this day remains the workhorse of the global power sector and a critical part of the world’s economy. Coal is the dirtiest, most-polluting fossil fuel, but it has proven difficult for the world to turn its back on the stalwart source of energy. Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie is forecasting 2024 as the year when the world’s consumption of coal will hit a final inflection point before decreasing. That forecast is largely based on the potential for China’s economy to rebound over the next 12 months, which could drive up the use of coal in the country’s power plants. “Coal just has a lot of staying power,” said Natalie Biggs, head of thermal coal markets at Wood Mackenzie. Forecasters have been wrong about coal before. This isn’t the first time Wood Mackenzie has predicted the world would reach peak coal demand; it made the same forecast in 2013. Read the full story here.
Now here’s some good news to start your Friday: In September 2017, Saskatchewan musician Adrienne Mahoney found herself rushing to the ER, unable to breathe. Then her heart failed. “The last thing I remember is the code getting called and my pants being ripped off. And then I don’t remember anything after that and I woke up in Edmonton about two weeks later,” she said. Mahoney was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome, an inflammation of the blood vessels, and relocated to Edmonton to receive treatment. She received a heart transplant in 2019. Shortly after the transplant, Mahoney started working on a thank you message to the donor and their family, in the form of a song dedicated to them and her health journey. “I couldn’t properly articulate in a letter format a thank you, and so that’s where I turned through what I knew best and it was music,” she said. Read more on this story here.
After more than 30 years, Wayne LaPierre has resigned as leader of the National Rifle Association, amid a civil trial on corruption allegations. Could it be the beginning of the end for America’s most powerful gun lobby group?
Front Burner28:08The downfall of the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre
Cross Country Checkup wants to know: Have you seen coaches and parents cross the line? Have you crossed the line before at your kid’s sporting event?
Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories.
1912: The first issue of The Financial Post is published by John Bayne Maclean, who also founded Maclean’s magazine. The Financial Post is now part of the National Post newspaper.
1976: Mystery writer Dame Agatha Christie dies in Wallingford, England, at age 85.
1977: Karen Kain and Frank Augustyn of the National Ballet, the first Canadian dancers invited to perform with the Bolshoi Ballet, receive a standing ovation in Moscow.
2000: Justice Beverley McLachlin is sworn in as the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
