More Canadian youths are turning to unprescribed use of common medicine from serving as a party popper to other non-medical purposes. The drugs, usually filched from the family medicine box, are mixed with alcohol to produce a deadly cocktail.

Aside from the alarming rise in number of young Canadians taking common medicine such as painkillers, equally dangerous is the lack of awareness of the parents that some pills and tablets are already missing and that their children are frequent attendees to weekend parties where deadly combinations of prescription drugs and alcohol go together

While several Canadian provinces had recently passed legislation to prohibit smoking inside cars with children, the federal government had surreptitiously instructed the Canada Border Services Agency to permit Canadian children to bring imported cigarettes and other tobacco products into the country.

The Sun Media quoted a portion of the CBSA memorandum released in late 2007 that, "According to a legal opinion recently obtained by headquarters, federal and provincial laws on tobacco have no provisions to prevent the importation of tobacco products

A federal advisory panel on Wednesday recommended that all children not just those under 5 but over the age of 6 months should be vaccinated for influenza every year. However, infants younger than 6 months and those with serious egg allergies are exempted.

The recommendation, which is expected to be formally adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would be one of the largest expansions in flu vaccination coverage in U.S. history since the 1940s. It would include around 30 million more children eligible for vaccination, although current vaccination rates suggest that only about 7 million would actually receive the shots

Could a mid-twentieth century plaything be the cure for a modern epidemic of obesity among the young? Researchers are testing pogosticks as the newest exercise tool.

Physical therapy researchers at Dalhousie University are using an updated version of the pogo stick with middle school-age students. Already popular in the U.S. researcher Nichelle Hubley is testing a pogo stick workout among 11 10 to 13-year-olds. The kids take part in the six-week study assisted by Flybar, a Calif.-based pogo stick maker

The apparent relaxing effect of smoking is a coping mechanism for young people who may have experienced physical maltreatment or abuse during their younger days. In coming up with that conclusion, a research team from the Duke University Medical Center trailed 15,000 youths between 15 to 22.

The exposure to physical violence need not be a personal assault, it could include witnessing beatings and other forms of body abuses. Such incidents often spurs a young person to start smoking within a year