A group of twelve medical journals worldwide is weighing a proposal that would require a drug trial to be listed at its start in a public database or registry, as a prerequisite to its results being considered for publication. This move is to counter an industry practice of only publishing study results that are favourable to the company's product. If successful, the database would offer information on all studies using a particular product, whether such studies were sponsored by the manufacturer, a hospital or an independent research organization.

In the 1990s, two randomized clinical trials started in Scandinavia, addressing whether HRT is safe for women with a previous breast cancer. After a media follow-up of over two years, it was found that 26 of the women on HRT had a breast cancer recurrence, as compared to only seven of the women not on HRT. It was decided that the study posed an unacceptable risk and it was terminated in December of 2003.

BCAM members, Maychai Brown and Suzanne Ferland, attended "Le Cancer, une priorité... agissons ensemble," a forum organized in April by the Coalition priorité cancer au Qué bec to investigate the high cancer mortality rate in Quebec. Participants identified the problems: waiting lists, lack of services in remote areas, and the lack of coordination of cancer services from diagnosis to post-treatment. A solution put forward by many was the creation of a central agency, an idea reinforced by Directors of cancer agencies in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta who spoke about the benefits of centralizing services. The Quebec Minister of Health, Dr. Philippe Couillard, rejected this idea and, instead, promised ten million dollars to create medical teams to stay with patients throughout their treatment. For more info, visit www. coalition cancer.com

Friends, relatives, and dragon boat teammates of former BCAM board member Joy Laverdure met at the Olympic Basin on Île Notre-Dame on May 8th to plant a tree in her memory. Joy's daughters, Livia and Erika, and her husband, Gilles, read a poem celebrating Joy's acceptance of people, her adventurousness, and her vitality. The City of Montreal has plans to create a garden surrounding the weeping blue spruce overlooking the water in honour of the dragon boaters.