Canadian diplomat in Cuba suffered hearing loss along with U.S. officials

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Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
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Red Deer AB
Keywords, a closed up building in the tropics is a haven for 'black mold' you know the kind that doesn't hurt anybody, especially Indians in the north.
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Canada reduces presence in Cuba after another diplomat falls mysteriously ill
Canadian Press
Published:
January 30, 2019
Updated:
January 30, 2019 3:49 PM EST
A man walks beside Canada's embassy in Havana, Cuba, April 17, 2018. A 14th Canadian has fallen ill to an unexplained illness in Havana, Cuba, prompting further reductions in embassy staffing in the country.Desmond Boylan / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OTTAWA — A 14th Canadian has fallen ill to an unexplained illness in Havana, Cuba, prompting further reductions in embassy staffing in the country.
This latest case involves a diplomat who arrived in the summer and reported symptoms on Dec. 29 of a mysterious illness that causes problems including nausea, dizziness, headaches and trouble concentrating.
The fact that a recently arrived diplomat reported symptoms underscores the likelihood that the undiagnosed ailment that has afflicted Canadian and American diplomats is still a threat.
Canadian government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that Global Affairs Canada will consider halving its diplomatic presence in the Cuban capital, potentially reducing its representation by eight people from the current 16 serving in the Havana embassy.
The remaining diplomats will deliver full consular services but other programs will have to be adjusted in the coming weeks.
The move follows the downsizing in April that determined that diplomats posted to Cuba would not be accompanied by families and dependents due to the uncertainty.
In November, a 13th Canadian reported symptoms, sparking a new round of medical testing that turned up the next case in December. The November case was the first to be reported since October 2017, officials said.
“These recent confirmed cases demonstrate that these incidents are still ongoing,” said one official.
The RCMP is leading an investigation into the cause of the ailments that have affected both serving diplomats and family members and have also struck several American diplomats in Havana.
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Canadian authorities say they are getting good co-operation from the Cuban government, which is also frustrated by the incidents.
“Overall, we have a multifaceted relationship with Cuba, which is very positive and continues,” said another official.
However, the incidents have aggravated the already strained relations between Cuba and the United States. The Cuban government says the Trump administration is using the issue to roll back new measures instituted by the Obama administration to re-engage with its Caribbean island neighbour after five decades of tensions dating back to the height of the Cold War.
The U.S. withdrew most of its non-essential diplomatic staff in September 2017 but Canada did not.
Officials said the government made assessments based on “evidence” in taking its various decisions to gradually reduce Canada’s diplomatic footprint in Cuba, which hosts an average of one million sun-seeking Canadian tourists annually.
“There is no evidence that Canadian travellers to Cuba are at risk,” Global Affairs Canada said Wednesday, adding that travellers should continue to consult the government’s travel advisories.
Canadian officials say they are co-operating fully with their American counterparts but refused to say whether the fact the Cubans and Americans aren’t getting along is having an effect on the search for the mysterious cause.
Speculation has focused on some kind of acoustic or microwave assault, unknown contaminants and even chirping crickets. Officials have all but ruled out environmental factors — such as toxins in the air, soil or water — and no longer suspect a sonic attack is to blame.
http://torontosun.com/news/national...after-another-diplomat-falls-mysteriously-ill
 

spaminator

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5 diplomats who got sick in Cuba after possible microwave assault file $28M lawsuit against feds
Canadian Press
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 8:32 AM EST
A man walks beside Canada's embassy in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 17, 2018.Desmond Boylan / THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP
OTTAWA — Five Canadian diplomats and their family members who became mysteriously ill while posted to Cuba are suing Ottawa for more than $28 million.
In a statement of claim filed Wednesday in Federal Court, the diplomats say the Canadian government failed to protect them, hid crucial information and downplayed the seriousness of the risks.
Global Affairs Canada acknowledges that nine adults and five children from diplomatic families have developed unusual illnesses in Havana, with symptoms including nausea, dizziness, headaches and trouble concentrating.
Global Affairs has said the government is trying to pinpoint the cause, stressing that the health and safety of diplomatic staff and their families are the priorities.
Speculation has focused on some kind of acoustic or microwave assault, unknown contaminants and even chirping crickets.
Officials have all but ruled out environmental factors, such as toxins in the air, soil or water, and no longer suspect a sonic attack is to blame.
In April, Canada announced that diplomats posted to Cuba would not be accompanied by dependants due to the ongoing uncertainty.
The statement of claim says that not only “were the diplomats prevented from considering the true risks of a Havana posting to their own health, but they were also denied the opportunity to protect their children, and must live with the knowledge that they may never fully recover.”
The allegations have not yet been tested in court.
A doctor is now working full time to provide advice and assistance to those who have continuing symptoms.
In their claim, however, the diplomats say Ottawa has “actively interfered” with their ability to seek appropriate medical care.
The RCMP is leading an investigation into the cause of the ailments, which also struck several American diplomats in Havana.
Canada has been working with the U.S. and Cuban authorities on the baffling puzzle.
http://torontosun.com/news/national...crowave-assault-file-28m-lawsuit-against-feds
 

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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This already is a PROVEN FAKENEWS story!!! The sound is from bugs, damn it!!!!

Cuban crickets, not weapon, heard by ill US diplomats: study

A noise heard by US diplomats in Cuba who suffered mysterious brain injuries came not from technological weapons but local crickets, a new study suggests.

In late 2016, US diplomats in Havana began to report ear pain and other symptoms from a high-frequency noise, leading Washington to withdraw half its embassy staff and to expel Cuban diplomats in retaliation.

But a study by two biologists assessed a purported recording of the noise and said it matched the mating song of the Indies short-tailed cricket found around the Caribbean.
https://phys.org/news/2019-01-cuban-crickets-weapon-heard-ill.html#jCp


Jeez!!! STAY OUT OF THE DISCOS YOU RUM SOAKED FREELOADING Frat tards. Trudie's dad created a country that is just NOW learning the 1950's double naught spy technology.
;)
Which is what trudeau is trying to return Canada to so the cubans can have an even playing field with SOMEONE.
 
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spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Scans show changes to brains of 'injured' Havana U.S. embassy workers
Reuters
Published:
July 23, 2019
Updated:
July 23, 2019 11:39 AM EDT
In this file photo taken on October 3, 2017, the U.S. embassy is viewed in Havana.(YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
Advanced brain scans of U.S. Embassy employees who reported falling ill while serving in Havana revealed significant differences, according to a new study published on Tuesday that does little to resolve the mystery of injuries the Trump administration had characterized as a “sonic attack.”
University of Pennsylvania researchers said symptoms described by the embassy workers may be reflected in their brain scans when compared with those of healthy volunteers.
The difference between the brains of the workers and people in a control group “is pretty jaw-dropping at the moment,” lead researcher Dr. Ragini Verma, a professor of radiology at Penn, told Reuters in a phone interview.
“Most of these patients had a particular type of symptoms and there is a clinical abnormality that is being reflected in an imaging anomaly,” she said.
However, in findings published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Verma and her colleagues said it is not clear if the brain patterns directly translate into meaningful health problems. Initial MRI scans of 21 Havana embassy workers had revealed no abnormalities.
The health problems of more than two dozen workers surfaced in 2016 after the Obama administration reopened the embassy in an effort to improve relations with the Communist island nation. Most of the employees were removed from Cuba in 2017.
Symptoms included headache, ringing in the ears, sleep disturbances, trouble thinking, memory problems, dizziness and balance problems.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Cuba was responsible for what the U.S. State Department called “significant injuries” suffered by the workers. Canadian embassy workers complained of similar mysterious health problems and were also removed from Cuba. Cuban health officials rejected the hypothesis that health attacks and brain damage caused symptoms described by U.S. diplomats.
The Penn team, in an earlier JAMA report, described the injuries experienced by the first 21 diplomats it examined as like a concussion without a blow to the head.
The latest brain scans may provide fresh evidence of some injury, but the study was not without critics and some researchers have questioned whether there was any kind of attack at all.
“Finding evidence of brain change doesn’t provide evidence of brain injury or damage,” said Dr. Jon Stone, a professor of neurology at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study.
Dr. Sergio Della Sala, a professor of human cognitive neuroscience also at the University of Edinburgh, in an email called the study “half baked.”
He noted that 12 of the affected workers who had a history of concussion prior to going to Cuba were included in the analyzes. “In comparison, none of the controls declared previous brain injury. This in itself could cause statistical group differences,” Della Sala said.
When those 12 were omitted, researchers did not calculate whether the differences in the brains of the remaining workers was significant.
Skeptics have raised a host of questions challenging State Department assertions that some unknown weapon had attacked the workers.
For example, the odd sound that some felt may have caused the problems was later identified by insect experts as the mating call of the male Indies short-tailed cricket, which is notorious for its volume.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/scans-show-changes-to-brains-of-injured-havana-u-s-embassy-workers
 

spaminator

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Neurotoxin may have caused diplomats’ illness in Cuba: Study
Reuters
Published:
September 19, 2019
Updated:
September 19, 2019 7:39 PM EDT
This file photo shows the U.S. embassy in Havana taken on Oct. 3, 2017. (YAMIL LAGEYAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
HAVANA — Fumigation against mosquitoes in Cuba and not “sonic attacks” may have caused some 40 U.S. and Canadian diplomats and family members in Havana to fall ill, according to a new study commissioned by the Canadian government.
The incidents took place from late 2016 into 2018, causing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to charge that diplomats were attacked by some sort of secret weapon. Canada has refrained from such charges.
The United States in 2017 reduced its embassy staff to a minimum and Canada followed more recently, citing the incidents and the danger posed to staff from what has become known as the “Havana Syndrome.”
Various scientific studies have yet to identify the cause of the diplomats’ cognitive ailments, ranging from dizziness and blurred vision to memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Scans show changes to brains of ‘injured’ Havana U.S. embassy workers
5 diplomats who got sick in Cuba after possible microwave assault file $28M lawsuit against feds
Canada reduces presence in Cuba after another diplomat falls mysteriously ill
The Canadian study by a team of researchers affiliated with the Brain Repair Centre at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Health Authority studied Canadian victims and even the brain of a pet dog after its demise in Canada.
The study was the first to include diplomats for whom there was baseline medical testing from before their postings in Havana, so as to better compare with the tests from afterwards. Canada started implementing the practice after diplomats first started complaining of sickness.
The researchers said they had detected different levels of brain damage in an area that causes symptoms reported by the diplomats and which is susceptible to neurotoxins. They then concluded that cholinesterase, a key enzyme required for the proper functioning of the nervous system, was being blocked there.
Some pesticides work by inhibiting cholinesterase, the report said, and during the 2016-2018 period when diplomats became ill normal fumigation in Cuba was stepped up due to the Zika epidemic in the Caribbean.
The report said the diplomats’ illnesses coincided with increased fumigation in and around residences where they lived. One of the authors of the study, Professor Alon Friedman, clarified in an email to Reuters that both Canadian and Cuban authorities were fumigating.
“We report the clinical, imaging and biochemical evidence consistent with the hypothesis of over-exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors as the cause of brain injury,” the study concluded, while cautioning that other causes could not be ruled out and more study was needed.
Friedman said it was not clear whether the broader Cuban population was affected by the fumigation and if not, why, but his team was planning a further study on this together with Cuban scientists.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/neurotoxin-may-have-caused-diplomats-illness-in-cuba-study
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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They just happen to spray for their mosquitos with discount Novichok that the Russians have them such a good deal on.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Former Supreme Court judge tabbed to help settle several 'Havana Syndrome' claims
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Jim Bronskill
Publishing date:Nov 11, 2022 • 22 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

OTTAWA — Former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell will mediate claims against the federal government from nine family members of Canadian diplomats who suffered unexplained ailments in Cuba.


The development is a step toward resolving some elements of a Federal Court action filed in 2019 by diplomats and dependants — now numbering 18 plaintiffs — who seek millions of dollars in damages from the Canadian government after becoming mysteriously ill while posted to Havana.


They have reported difficulties since 2017, including headaches, loss of memory, inability to concentrate, cognitive and vision problems, noise sensitivity, dizziness, nausea, sleep disturbances, mood changes and nosebleeds.

As of July last year, Global Affairs Canada said 15 Canadians had received a confirmed working diagnosis of “acquired brain injury.”

The parties have agreed to the appointment of Cromwell, who served eight years on the top court, as mediator at a session slated to take place in late February or early March next year.


The move follows direction from the Federal Court in early October on next steps in the case.

Paul Miller and John Phillips, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to The Canadian Press that they appreciate the government agreeing to proceed with mediation for the claims of seven children and two spouses who suffered traumatic brain injuries while in Cuba.

“Our families have been waiting a long time to have this matter dealt with. They continue to suffer from the injuries they received during their time in Cuba, which have had a direct and significant impact on their lives, the children, their childhoods and education,” Miller and Phillips said.

“We expect the government to come to the table with meaningful proposals, and implore the government to expand the mediation to include the full complement of government staff that also suffered severe injuries in Havana.”


The diplomats say the Canadian government failed to protect them, hid crucial information and downplayed the seriousness of the risks. The government has denied wrongdoing and negligence.

Canadian and U.S. investigations have not pinpointed a cause of many of the ailments, with theories ranging from targeted sonic attacks by an adversary to pesticide spraying.

Global Affairs Canada declined to answer specific questions about the planned mediation.

The department said in an emailed response that it maintains a strict security protocol to respond immediately to any unusual events or health symptoms affecting Canadian diplomats.

“Global Affairs Canada continues to monitor the health and safety of its diplomatic staff posted in Havana. We also continue to investigate all potential causes of the unknown health symptoms. For privacy and security reasons, we cannot comment on the specifics of the ongoing investigations, individual cases, nor on specific security measures.”

The department said it would not comment further given that the matter is before the courts.

Several U.S. personnel who worked in Cuba have reported similar health issues, commonly known as Havana Syndrome. More recently, there have been reports of symptoms among U.S. personnel in locales including Washington, Austria and China.

In October last year, Global Affairs issued a message to all staff around the world, outlining the symptoms and how to report concerns.

The RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have sent similar messages to their staff, the department says.