WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER13,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO NEWS | A
A Quebec pharmacist and blog-
ger who takes on junk science
with cartoons, a sense of fun and
a no-nonsense attitude has won a
prestigious international prize
for science communication.
Olivier Bernard, also known as
“The Pharmafist,” was awarded
the John Maddox Prize on Tues-
day for his work in debunking
myths around the use of vitamin
C to treat cancer.
“It’s important to defend sci-
ence, to stand up to those kind of
threats,” Mr. Bernard said from
London, where he was picking up
the award given by the journal
Nature and the group Sense
About Science.
Mr. Bernard has done pharma-
ceutical research and has been a
working pharmacist since 2004. It
was that experience that pushed
him into science communica-
tion.
“I had so much frustration
working at the pharmacy and
seeing all those beliefs that peo-
ple held about health, about sci-
ence. Things that we know in the
scientific community that are not
true, I saw on a daily basis.
“It’s really hard when you have
to deconstruct those beliefs in or-
der to help people. I thought, is
there any way I could do this on a
bigger scale?”
In 2012, he started a blog called
“The Pharmafist: Bringing life to
science and death to pseudo-sci-
ence.”
The blog presents straight-up
medical research and interviews
with international experts in a
cheeky format replete with car-
toons. It doesn’t dodge big targets
and has done episodes on osteop-
athy and homeopathy (“I can’t
believe we sell homeopathy in
pharmacies,” he said). The blog
grew into a TV show calledAdven-
tures of a Pharmacist.
The lighthearted attitude
helps, Mr. Bernard said.
“People could feel attacked.
But there is a way you can give
people the information without
telling them they’re stupid or
making them feel stupid.”
That didn’t prevent last year’s
fight over an ostensible cancer
treatment involving the injection
of large doses of vitamin C. Al-
though that’s an approved treat-
ment for scurvy, the cancer as-
pect is not recognized in either
the United States or Canada.
Petitions with at least 65,
signatures were demanding Que-
bec approve vitamin C for use by
cancer patients. The issue was
discussed on popular TV shows
and was championed in the Na-
tional Assembly.
Mr. Bernard looked into it.
“Pretty much everything was
wrong in the petition.”
Research was scanty and poor-
ly designed. The injections them-
selves were not risk-free. He pub-
lished what he’d learned.
For months, his site and hisFacebook feed were full of insults,
but “that was okay,” Mr. Bernard
said.
Then, he called out the politic-
ian who supported the petition.
“All hell broke loose. They de-
cided to just crush me.”
He got death threats. His place
of work was publicized and his
employer was asked to fire him.
His wife, an author, faced a boy-
cott of her books. There were de-
mands to cancel his TV show and
his professional accreditation.
Finally, Mr. Bernard wrote a
Facebook post laying out what
was happening. The harassment
stopped, but better still was the
support from Quebec’s science
and medical community.
“There was a massive outcry.
Specialists, oncologists, profes-
sional associations – they all
came forward.”
The petition was rejected.
“It created all this waveof posi-
tive things. Now I’m back to what
Ido.”
Science communication has
never been harder, Mr. Bernard
said.
“It’s very challenging for peo-
ple. Most information about sci-
ence online is, at best, incomplete
and, at worst, completely false.
“That’s the case in climate
change. That’s the case in medi-
cine. People want to have infor-
mation, but they don’t know how
to differentiate between the good
and the bad. And then at the end
of the day, they go with their gut
feeling.
“I don’t like it when people are
being manipulated.”THECANADIANPRESSQuebecpharmacistOlivierBernardstartedablogaboutmedicalresearchin2012,whichlatergrewintoaTV
showcalledAdventuresofaPharmacist.FANNYLAFONTAINE-JACOB/THECANADIANPRESS
Quebecpharmacistwins
prestigiousscienceaward
OlivierBernardreceived
theJohnMaddoxPrize
fordebunkingmyths
aroundtheuseof
vitaminCtotreatcancer
BOBWEBER
Toronto’s board of health wants the Ontario government to
ban the sale of handgun ammunition within the municipal-
ity, and for gun violence in the city to be treated as a public-
health issue.
The proposal that city council ask the province to ban am-
munition was among nine recommendations the board
made at a meeting on Tuesday to help stop shootings.
While only the federalgovernment can mandate a hand-
gun ban, provinces have the power to limit ammunition
sales, according to a Toronto city manager’s report published
in May.
The recommendations also reiterate the city’s call to the
federalgovernment for a ban on handguns, military-style as-
sault rifles and semi-automatic firearms, and urged the City
of Toronto and Statistics Canada to collect better data on
community violence.
City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who is vice-chair of the
board of health, first proposed an ammunition ban in March,- City council has asked the Ontario government for such
a ban several times, most recently in June.
Several of the recommendations would address the pub-
lic-health issues behind gun violence.
“If we don’t get to the root of what causes violence and
despair, we will not be able to get ourselves out of the sit-
uations that we’re in,” Ms. Wong-Tam said before the meet-
ing.
“My concern is to ensure
that people who are vulnera-
ble, at risk or living with men-
tal illness do not have access to
firearms, regardless of whether
they were legally obtained or
not.”
Earlier this year, a Globe and
Mail investigation found that a
ban on military-style assault ri-
fles, a key part of the Liberal
Party’s federal election plat-
form, would do little to curb
gun violence, because hand-
guns are by far the most common type of firearm used in
shootings.
During the health board meeting, firearms industry repre-
sentatives pushed back on the recommended bans.
Alison de Groot, a spokesperson for the Canadian Sporting
Arms and Ammunition Association, a consumer firearms in-
dustry group, told The Globe she was “surprised to see a gov-
ernment body taking such an activist role.”
Ms. de Groot said an ammunition ban would present a
problem. “There is no such thing as handgun ammunition,”
she said. For instance, some types of rifles can use the same
ammunition as some handgun models.
Two of Canada’s largest gun businesses, Al Flaherty’s Out-
door Store, and importer and distributor North Sylva Co., are
in Toronto.
“These two businesses would not be able to be located in
the city of Toronto,” Ms. de Groot said.
Ken Price, a member of Danforth Families for Safe Com-
munities, said in an interview that dealing with gun violence
must be approached much like smoking once was: as a
multidecade public-health endeavour.
Mr. Price’s daughter was among 13 people injured in a
shooting on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue in 2018 that also
killed two people.
“In our situation, I feel like the perpetrator was a margin-
alized person who did not fit in and filled his heart full of
hate,” Mr. Price said.
“I certainly am not going to apologize for his actions, but
reading the police report, you realize this is a guy that
skipped from one agency to another. His story is a little bit
heartbreaking up until the moment he made the choice he
did, which is unforgivable,” he said.
“It’s not just an issue of whether he got the gun,” Mr. Price
added. “It’s what led him to conclude that was the right thing
to do.”
Toronto City Council will consider the health board’s rec-
ommendations on Nov. 26.
Torontohealthboard
callsonQueen’sParkfor
handgunammunitionban
TOMCARDOSO
CRIMEANDJUSTICEREPORTER
TORONTOWhileonlythefederal
governmentcan
mandateahandgun
ban,provinceshave
thepowertolimit
ammunitionsales,
accordingtoaToronto
citymanager’sreport
publishedinMay.