Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay announced Tuesday the payment of $24,000 to all former Canadian soldiers who participated in atomic bomb testing in the 1960s.

About 900 ex-Canadian soldiers will be compensated for taking part in testing the capability of atomic bombs or in cleanup at the Chalk River nuclear plant. MacKay admitted their payment is long overdue

The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration law permitting the use of irradiation on spinach and iceberg lettuce will take some time before it will be practiced widely across the country.

According to David Gombas, senior vice president of the United Fresh Produce Association, the slow adoption to the technique is due to its cost, lack of irradiation facilities, questions over its effectiveness and consumer response to produce zapped by radiation waves

As the number of listeria victims climb up to 29 across Canada, Ontario's Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ministry vowed to redouble its efforts in improving food safety measures across the province.

On top of the measures will be the hiring of additional full-time meat inspectors and permission to irradiate meat to cut bacteria that cause food-borne ailments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday allowed food processors to irradiate fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to kill E. coli and other pathogens.

The use of ionizing radiation will not only eliminate pathogens but also extend shelf life, the FDA said on it website. Under the FDA rule, which takes effect Friday, the packages of irradiated lettuce and spinach, like other irradiated food products, will have to bear the radura logo and one of two statements: "treated with radiation" or "treated by irradiation

Certain commonly used skin creams like moisturizers induced skin cancer in experiments on mice, a study released Thursday said, and experts are checking to see if they might cause growths in people as well.

Allan Conney and colleagues at Rutgers University in New Jersey said they tested four common skin creams on gene-altered hairless mice exposed to heavy doses of cancer-causing UV light