There are approximately 1000 types of bacteria in a healthy adult’s gut ecosystem, the majority of which is composed of phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. As the most dominant phyla in the gut, the ratio between these two groups of bacteria is informative in determining gut health, according to an article published in Age, an international research journal specializing in the biology of aging. A classification-based analysis by researchers at Kyung-Hee University showed that aging is associated with changes in composition of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Specifically, an increase in Firmicutes, and a reduction of Bacteroidetes was observed The Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio has also previously been shown to be increased with obesity, which can lead to health concerns.

“Inflamm-aging,” as coined by researchers, is chronic, low-grade inflammation that occurs during aging and that involves inflammatory network activation and the release of proteins promoting inflammation. Researchers believe that inflamm-aging may be associated with age-related changes in gut microbiota composition.
Proteins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are a major component of the outer membrane of some bacteria, acting as a protective barrier, and their production is boosted by age. Unfortunately, they can also trigger the body’s immune system and cause inflammation. Levels of LPS production in the gut microbiota, and expression levels of inflamm-aging markers such as p16. P16 is a cell-cycle regulator, and is an inductor of senescence, the process of deterioration with age. With age, p16 expression increases in order to suppress stem cell proliferation and tissue regeneration. Results from the study showed that LPS lead to increased p16 expression in the colon of aged mice, along with increased activation of inflammatory markers. These results indicate that aging can accelerate inflamm-aging by inducing p16 expression in mice by increasing LPS levels in gut microbiota.

Such age-related gut microbiota modifications and imbalances are associated with inflamm-aging and immunosenescence, a decline in the functionality of the immune system. By preventing imbalances in the gut, it may be possible to prevent inflamm-aging and senescence, decrease symptoms and diseases related to aging. A study by University of California, Los Angeles researchers published in Cell Reports in 2015 showed bacterial changes in the intestine and leakage of intestinal tracts before death in fruit flies. Antibiotics, which reduce bacterial levels in the intestine, prevented the age-related increase in bacterial levels and improved intestinal function during aging, significantly prolonging the lifespan of 40 day-old flies. The average lifespan of the fly type Drosophila melanogaster is approximately 50-60 days. These suggests that similar results may be possible in humans through minimizing harmful bacteria which multiplies with age, while preventing the loss of healthy bacteria, and improving intestinal functions.
Although the association between gut microbiota and aging is still relatively undefined, studies suggest that certain diets such as those containing whole grain and high fiber content can contribute to maintaining a balanced intestinal flora, help preventing age-related diseases and promote longevity. For individuals over 70 years of age, focusing on restoring balance and preventing disease-causing inflammation may help thwart age-related issues and symptoms. Although researchers continue the search for novel treatments for age-related issues, keeping a healthy gut environment through diet at an individual level by eating pro and prebiotic foods and avoiding foods causing inflammation can also aid in prevention of disease. This could be particularly relevant for some age groups, such as our baby boomers as they ease their way into retirement.

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“Our goal this year was to reach a group of people who would otherwise not get involved,” said McGill Liaison Officer (Harm Reduction) and main organizer of the event Bianca Tétrault, in an interview with The Daily.

According to Tétrault, who cited statistical research, about a third of the McGill student body does not engage in sexual activity, as such the promotion of consent in its broadest terms helps to reach out to a greater number of students. Also, the campaign had a presence both on the downtown and MacDonald campuses to ensure maximum outreach, and events such as the research symposium at the downtown campus were live-streamed at the MacDonald Campus.

Although #ConsentMcGill is only in its second year, its visibility has increased since its launch. Tétrault estimates that the Facebook group and its related events were viewed by three to four times more people than last year. The increased amount of student groups reaching out to the campaign results in more events being added to the agenda, and greater visibility of the campaign.

“Sexual violence is prevalent on college and university campuses. […] We can’t stay silent about it any longer.”

“It truly shocks me how complicated people make this idea of consent to be. […] It’s such a basic concept to grasp. Although there are obviously many different interpretations of this word, for me, consent is an active, sober, and verbal ‘yes,’ not the absence of a ‘no,’” said U0 student Dania Chatila.

U1 student Chelsea Oki-Gillan was enthusiastic about the events on the campaign’s agenda. She was especially interested in the “Trivia Night @ Gert’s” event because “it makes [consent] fun to learn about.” She also pointed out the importance of learning about consent at school by explaining that the first time she was introduced to a concrete definition of consent was in a high school sex education class.

According to Tétrault, the importance of the #ConsentMcGill campaign is twofold. Its first purpose is to help create meaningful conversations regarding consent. “When we come to university, we’re met with a whole bunch of new people, creating new relationships. People are coming from all over […] so how do we create a conversation where people are all on the same page as to what is a respectful, healthy relationship?”

At the same time, the campaign aims to reduce sexual violence and its traumatizing effects by creating a safe(r) space where students can discuss the issue, as well as their personal experiences. “Sexual violence is prevalent on college and university campuses. […] We can’t stay silent about it any longer.”c

However, Tétrault explains that the #ConsentMcGill campaign, being a discussion platform, is only one part of a larger vision. Other events are run throughout the year and Tétrault hopes #ConsentMcGill can increase their visibility. According to Tétrault, another event, Alcohol 2.0, is in the early stages of planning and should be launched in the coming years. Its goals will be to address the link between alcohol and consent, as well as create clear boundaries for students to follow.

The main area that Tétrault is aiming to augment in upcoming years is support. However, she is also open to other ideas. Tétrault explained that “instead of a top-down approach, [we’re] really working with the student body to see what they want, keeping in mind that this is just a platform for conversation.”

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“Policy should be based on science, not stereotypes,” read the cards distributed near the blood drive by Queer Engineer this year. The cards had information and quotes criticizing the current policy, which states that a man who has had sex with another man in the last five years (as well as a woman who has had sex with an MSM in the last five years) cannot donate blood. The reasoning given by Health Canada for targeting MSM is mainly the fact that HIV is most easily transmitted via anal sex. However, the cards pointed out the fact that in order to donate blood, MSM are forced to abstain from having sex with other men for five years, while for women, both anal and unprotected sex have no restrictions or regulations. The cards also noted that the current policy is outdated and does not take into account the scientific advancements in testing accuracy since 1985.

“Policy should be based on science, not stereotypes.”

Many countries banned MSM from blood donations after the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. To this day, the U.S. maintains the ban. Canada lifted its ban on blood donations from gay men in 2013, though there still is a five-year deferral time during which the donor cannot engage in sexual activities with other men. “Canada is the only major developed country that has a five-year deferral period,” noted a representative from Queer Engineer.

Blood donors must complete a questionnaire with about thirty questions, including what medications the donor has been taking, the countries the donor has been to, and whether the donor is an MSM or has had sex with an MSM. The Héma-Québec website says this last question is based on statistics which indicate that over 10 per cent of gay men have HIV, compared to less than 1 per cent of heterosexual people and lesbian women in Canada.

However, these statistics unnecessarily target gay men, and provide a warped perspective on the issue. For instance, the forms do not ask about condom use when having sex, even though individuals who do not use condoms have an 85 per cent higher chance of contracting HIV than consistent condom users, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is questionable why Health Canada would ignore such important statistics, but focus on data that are specifically and irrationally targeting MSM. This negligence diminishes the credibility of the survey as an objective method aimed at decreasing the likelihood of a blood sample containing HIV.

Another reason often used to justify the policy is the existence of a “window period” early in HIV contraction, when current tests are unable to detect the infection: if contaminated blood is added to the donation pool unknowingly, it has the potential to affect all the people who receive blood from that pool. The window period depends on the method of testing, but generally the window for antibody testing lies anywhere from one to three months – certainly much shorter than the five year deferral period. The current, high-tech method of antigen testing, which detects the virus itself in a blood sample, greatly reduces the window period to as little as a few weeks. Most commonly, two different types of tests will be done on a sample, further reducing the chance of a false negative.

“I think that we need to think in the light of new tests out there, and the fact that we can do RNA tests, DNA tests. […] We then need to re-think these policies in 2015.”

“The best HIV tests out on the market have an accuracy [of] about 99 per cent. The older [antibody-based] tests have 98.5 per cent – about a 1 per cent rate of false negative,” Nitika Pant Pai, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at McGill, told The Daily. Pant Pai noted that in a low-prevalence country like Canada, the probability of infection from donated blood can be even less than in other areas where a larger portion of the population has HIV. The extent of the contamination “depends on how [the blood] is used and how much blood they collect,” Pant Pai said.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, HIV testing errors are mostly attributed to the window period. “The thing with government is that it tries to prevent the possibility of [contamination] happening by banning it; that’s kind of like an all-members response,” Pant Pai said, explaining that while the policy is somewhat understandable, as eliminating even the slightest risk might be seen as “for the greater social good,” it is not a believably intelligent response.

Pant Pai highlighted the fact that people may not take precautions before donating blood, or they may lack the education and knowledge of possible consequences. In order to prevent the minuscule chance of spreading infection, it is important to educate the public on safe sex and regular testing for infection.

In addition, Pant Pai reminds us that it may be time to review our current regulations: “I think that we need to think in the light of new tests out there, and the fact that we can do RNA tests, DNA tests. […] We then need to re-think these policies in 2015.”

Effects of a discriminatory policy

“It’s prejudicial. It’s isolating. It’s taking something about a person, about a group of people who are marginalized, and just [imposing] administrative barriers, administrative marginalization,” said Justin Dauncey-Ripplinger, the administrative coordinator of Queer McGill, about the policy. A representative from Queer Engineer concurred, saying, the policy is discriminatory “since it’s only men who have sex with men, but apparently not men who have anal sex with women,” for example.

Dauncey-Ripplinger shared his personal struggles, saying, “At a high school blood drive, I remembered seeing a box asking, ‘Have you engaged in homosexual sex as a man?’ It instilled this doubt in my mind that I would be looked upon differently.”

Dauncey-Ripplinger disclosed that his fear, which stemmed from the categorization of sexual orientation he faced in his youth, continued to persist during his teenage years. He also remarked that he has felt discriminated against during his blood donation procedure: “[When I donate blood] immediately the tone of the discussion changes.”

“I can’t do [the blood donation] for a decision that is not the government’s responsibility to police.”

After the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, many countries banned queer men from donating blood because it was believed the outbreak originated amongst the gay community in the U.S., though now it is known that HIV was contracted by humans from chimpanzees in West-Central Africa. In the eighties, little was known about AIDS in health institutions and people blamed homosexuality as the caused of the disease, leading to the ban.

Even so, countries have been slow to lift their bans on blood donations from queer men. The UK lifted its ban in 2011, and both it and Australia still require men to go one year without sex with another man before they can donate blood. While there have been some considerations to relax the restrictions since last year, many people are frustrated at the slow progress.

“Canada isn’t doing enough,” said Dauncey-Ripplinger. He claimed that the government implementing regulations that physically bar MSM contradicts the idea of Canada as an accepting country. In comparison to the U.S., he remarked that Canada has been in the forefront of lawmaking that ensures equality for sexual orientation and same-sex marriage, and it is disappointing to see that Canada has been unable to step away from such prejudiced “mental ideologies” as restricting MSM from fair blood donation practices.

Dauncey-Ripplinger hopes to see the regulations change soon: “I would like to be able to walk past the Héma-Québec truck right outside of McConnell Engineering […] and then [not] have to do a double take on myself, and be like, just kidding, I can’t do [the blood donation] for a decision that is not the government’s responsibility to police.”

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The project focuses on recent actions of the Conservative government and various issues surrounding immigration, including the exploitation of temporary foreign workers, family reunification, and deportation.

The report includes many key findings. For instance, it found that between 2006 and 2014, 87,317 migrants were jailed without charge. It also found that there have been 111 new immigration policies since 2002; the majority of the policies are ministerial instructions from the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and thus require no parliamentary approval.

“We only value [immigrants] if we can exploit them.”

“This is not a new thing. It’s not going to go away any time soon, not unless we act. It’s about actually challenging the legislation that creates this difficulty in people getting over here. It’s talking to our families, our friends, and our co-workers about the refugee plight and really creating awareness about what’s happening globally,” said Sozan Savehilaghi, a member of No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, in an interview with The Daily.

“We only value [immigrants] if we can exploit them,” added Savehilaghi.

Savehilaghi further stated that the series of legislations created in the past nine years have resulted in less permanent residents with fewer secure statuses, juxtaposed with an incredible increase in temporary migrant workers who can have their status taken away at a moment’s notice.

“These are workers who have been legislated to be paid less,” said Savehilaghi, pointing out that a foreign worker’s immigration status is wholly dependent on their employer, often leading to the worker’s exploitation. Workers are also forced to work more without overtime benefits.

“The government is really bulking up on the temporary foreign workers.”

“The government is really bulking up on the temporary foreign workers.”

Omar Chu, one of the co-authors of the report, cited spousal sponsorship as another form of exploitation. “With spousal sponsorship, [the migrant’s] sponsorship is contingent on them staying with their spouse, which puts many women at risk [of] having to stay in abusive relationships because of fear of [deportation].”

Apart from key fact findings, the project also includes graphic images, and several videos with titles such as “We are the silent slaves,” “I am not a terrorist,” “The whole process was hell,” and “The Canadian government killed my parents.”

Refugee system

The multimedia report also sheds light on Canada’s treatment of refugees.

Since photos of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned while trying to reach Europe, were released on the internet on September 2, Canada’s immigration system has come under scrutiny. The criticism of the system’s slow and inadequate refugee process was intensified when it was revealed that Kurdi’s family had previously applied for asylum in Canada.

Various Canadian parties including the Liberals, Conservatives, and the New Democratic Party (NDP) have made pledges promising more refugees entry into Canada in the face of the upcoming elections.

“[Politicians] only think about numbers and commit to [bringing]over a certain number of Syrian refugees. But that ignores refugees that are coming from all over the world. And the policy changes that have been made over the past nine years […] need to be reversed. [They] are causing huge harm to people out in the world,” said Chu.

“When these legislations were passed, none of the political parties actually stood against any of them.”

“[Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s] only response to the refugee crisis was to continue to bomb Syria, which is absolutely ridiculous. Because it’s actually these kinds of policies, where we are engaged in military operations abroad, that are destroying infrastructure, destroying [homes], and creating a culture of fear and subjugation in the areas where people are living,” stated Savehilaghi. “When these legislations were passed, none of the political parties actually stood against any of them,” noted Savehilaghi.

According to the report, the Conservative government set $15 million towards stripping refugee status off of 875 applications annually.

“It’s quite unfortunate that it had to take the death of children and [a] fatality that is quite high profile for us to become aware. But here we are. We are aware now,” Savehilaghi said.

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