Healthy Begins Here

What’s with this Weather?

2011-07-01T17:25:38Z

Tornadoes, fires and floods, oh my! Who knows what’s going on with this crazy weather we’re having? Some may point to climate change, but at Healthy Child Healthy World we stay away from political lightening rods, thank you very much. (Yes, that pun was intended.) For us, it’s all about our kids’ health. And this season’s extreme weather — no matter what the cause — can have some serious consequences.

Last week, thousands of Arizona residents who had evacuated because of the massive Wallow fire returned to their homes, but public health officials warned of continuing hazardous air quality, the Los Angeles Times reported. As late as Monday, tiny particles of charred wood — about 1/25th the width of human hair — still floated in the air. When inhaled, these particles can become lodged deep inside the lungs, proving dangerous especially for young children.

Find out how to protect kids from the environmental impacts of fires, floods and tornadoes at HealthyChild.org.

Time Out for Pesticide Manufacturers

2011-06-29T18:08:10Z

By Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Executive Director/CEO, Healthy Child Healthy World

The jig may be up for Monsanto. A new report from Earth Open Source alleges that regulators knew as early as 1980 that glyphosate, the core chemical component of the company’s best-selling herbicide Roundup®, was linked to birth defects, and that although the European Commission was aware of the information since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

Across the pond, American researchers found that genetically modified crops grown with Roundup® contained organisms linked to animal miscarriages. In February, Purdue University Emeritus Professor Don Huber sent an open letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, urging him to regulate these “Roundup Ready” crops.

For more late-breaking news about pesticides and families, read the rest of this story at Healthy Child Healthy World.

Photo: Stockbyte

Why is Laila Ali Fighting for a Healthy World?

2011-06-27T15:47:50Z

Healthy Child Healthy World

Celebrities are concerned parents, too. That’s the message behind our new Luminary Advisory Board, which counts Laila Ali, Gabrielle Anwar, Amy Brenneman, Laura Dern, Jenna Elfman, Mariel Hemingway, Josie Maran, Kelly Rutherford, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Taylor as members. These concerned parents have joined Healthy Child to inspire small steps to big change.

Each of them brings unique skills and individual stories of why being a part of the Healthy Child movement is important to them. Today, we’d like to share Laila Ali’s. But first, here’s a little about this amazing woman:

Daughter of the legendary Muhammad Ali, the athlete Laila Ali is the founder of the Laila Ali Lifestyle brand (recently earning her a place in Forbes inaugural Celebrity 100) and a champion of health and fitness. Laila also recently partnered with People.com as a regular weekly video blogger, talking about health, wellness, and being a mother. You can view her most recent posting here.

In addition, Laila has launched an extremely popular Get Fit Challenge on her Facebook page, as she endeavors to lose 40 lbs of baby weight, and encourage others to get in shape along with her.

Our newest Luminary Board member lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, former NFL star Curtis Conway, their son, Curtis Jr., and the newest addition to the family, daughter Sydney.

Click through to read what Laila Ali has to say about fighting for a healthier world.

Photo courtesy of Health Child Healthy World

What Are Your Plastic-Free Teething Remedies?

2011-06-24T19:19:27Z

Healthy Child Healthy World

Teething is tough; not only for baby, but also for anyone taking care of the ornery little thing. Instead of stocking up on plastic teethers that may leach risky chemicals into your wee-one’s mouth, Healthy Child recommends opting for safer solutions.

We asked the Healthy Child Healthy World community on Facebook what effective, natural remedies they used and they had some stellar advice! Here are just a few:

Natalie: I used frozen bagels and teething tablets

Erica: Clove oil, diluted 50:50 w/ another edible oil

Jenna: frozen fruit and chamomile tea bags (for the toofless) to nom on.

Sarah: Hazelwood necklaces. I don’t like the amber necklaces because there is no dosage on them – baby just keeps getting the analgesic and I haven’t seen a safe recommendation on them either.

Sonita: I always froze washcloths

Need more ideas? Read the full article at HealthyChild.org.

Photo: iStockphoto

Chemical Regulation and Autism

2011-06-22T16:16:21Z

By Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Executive Director/CEO, Healthy Child Healthy World

Last week, I had the privilege of sitting in on a conference call featuring some of the leaders in autism research and care. The call was part of a series focusing on the effects of chemicals in commerce, hosted by Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, of which Healthy Child Healthy World is a coalition member.

As I listened to the introduction by Safer Chemicals’ National Campaign Director, Andy Ingrejas, I was struck by how little has changed since I first became involved with Healthy Child more than five years ago — and since the organization began, in 1992. Despite all our efforts to raise awareness among parents, industry hasn’t budged: There are still 84,000 chemicals used in commerce, which are supposed to be regulated by the Toxic Chemicals Control Act (TSCA).

Guess how many chemicals have been restricted since TSCA was passed in 1976?

Five.

Yes, you read that right. Five.

Read on to find out how this lack of regulation could be playing a role in the increase in autism rates.

Making Organic Meat More Affordable

2011-06-20T15:25:51Z

Healthy Child Healthy World

We’re co-hosting an “Easy Organic Living” community group on Baby Center and one of the hot topics among the moms there is organic meat — specifically, how to buy it on a budget. We invited frugal mom Valerie Deneen to offer some expert advice and here’s what she recommends:

For deals on organic meats, here are a few tips to keep in mind…

Local Farmers Market — If you are having a hard time finding organic meat at your local grocery stores, you may have better luck at your local farmers market. If you’re looking for deals in your area, I would start here.

Manager’s Special — Ask the butcher at your grocery store about the mark-down schedule for the organic meats. This has proven to be very helpful for our family. For instance, usually the day before the sell-by date, they may be marking down the meats to half-price!

Learn more practical tips for making organic meat more affordable by checking out the rest of this article at HealthyChild.org.

Dr. David Orr’s New Parenting Rules

2011-06-17T18:08:48Z

Our guest blogger is Dr. David Orr, professor of environmental studies, Oberlin College, author of The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture and Human Intention.

What will our children’s children’s children likely think about present child-raising practices? If they have the inclination and wherewithal, they will likely wonder about the depth of our affection for our children and our competence as parents. They will find it remarkable that we:

risked the future of all children with both nuclear weapons and climate change.

exposed our children to poisons that undermined their physical, mental, and reproductive health.

immersed our children in the artificial world of television, entertainment, and virtual reality, apparently without much thought to the toll that counterfeit reality would exact on their humanity.

removed our children from direct contact with animals, farms, forests, and wild places causing a kind of “nature deficit disorder,” an incalculable loss of both spirit and competence.

What can we do to improve parenting? Most important, we must protect children and childhood, which means changing our priorities. As a society, that means such things as fewer shopping malls and more parks; less television and more family time; fewer roads and more trails. It means no child left behind…in every way. It means we must understand how to prepare them to live and flourish in the post-fossil fuel world. They need to know about solar energy, growing food, shelter, community building, and health. We must prepare them not only to survive in that new world but also to repair it. We should aim to foster and encourage physical stamina, clarity of mind, and commitment to each other and to preserve their common humanity.

That goal requires that we, parents and teachers, foster a sense of hope along with the competence to act faithfully. Hope and competence include old and durable standards of decency, compassion, and foresight but now extended to all life for as far out as we can imagine. But hope grows out of the practical necessities to:

love our children thoughtfully and consistently.
slow the velocity of life by eating together, playing together, reading together, working together.
eat well, which means mostly local, organic, and unprocessed foods.
engage the natural world — more accurately, to enjoy a love affair with it. The natural world is not an abstration…yet.

What parenting rules would you add?

Act now to create a better world for our children and theirs! Please watch and share our new video, ‘Sound the Alarm.’

Taken from Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home. Reprinted by arrangement with Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright (c) 2009 by Healthy Child Healthy World. To read more from Dr. Orr and many others, pick up your copy of our book, today.

Can You Live With Less Plastic?

2011-06-15T18:21:11Z

By Janelle Sorensen

Have you ever stopped to consider how many plastic products you use each day? Susan Freinkel did and so she counted them. Well, actually her original intention was to go a day without touching anything plastic. That effort stopped as quickly as it had started, as she crawled out of bed and wandered to the bathroom in the morning: the toilet seat was plastic.

So, she revised her plan and wrote down everything she touched that was plastic. Her total for one day? 196.
As she writes in her new book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, “I’d never thought of myself as having a particularly plastic-filled life. I live in a house that’s nearly a hundred years old. I like natural fabrics, old furniture, food cooked from scratch. I would have said my home harbors less plastic than the average American’s — mainly for aesthetic reasons, not political ones. Was I kidding myself?”

The ubiquity of plastics in her life led her to wonder what it really was, where it came from, and the health and environmental impacts. The resulting book is a fascinating journey into the history and possible future of a material she poignantly says has become “the skeleton, the connective tissue, and the slippery skin of modern life.”

“Plastic transformed the modern world as powerfully as the atomic bomb,” Freinkel writes. “But now, we’re starting to see the fall out — from the massive swirls of plastic debris in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to the rising rates of chronic illnesses — diabetes, heart disease, asthma, infertility and other ailments, that researchers are tracking back to chemicals contained in plastics – -and now in us as well.”

Still, Freinkel recognizes plastics aren’t all bad and they are quite an amazing feat of human ingenuity. “But that infatuation has passed into a deep dependence that is not always healthy for the planet or ourselves,” she says.

Can you live with less? Do you know which ones are safer? Here are some starter tips for being wise with plastics:

Buy and store food in glass, ceramic or stainless steel containers. If using plastic storage containers, make sure hot food items have cooled before placing them in the container. And keep in mind that fatty and acidic foods promote leaching, so you may want to, at the very least, choose glass for those types of foods. Make the transition to glass storage free and easy by re-using salsa and spaghetti sauce jars for storing leftovers!

Do not heat plastics — not even if they say they are microwave safe.

Avoid using plastics for food and beverages that aren’t identified on the packaging.

Recycle, re-purpose or discard plastic bottles and food storage containers that are worn, scratched, or cannot be identified. Scratches become breeding grounds for bacteria and potential gateways for leaching. You can extend the life of your plastics by washing them by hand with a mild soap.

If you have any plastic furnishings that emit a noticeable odor, find safer replacements or bring outdoors to off-gas.

Invest in reusable bags, reusable water bottles, and reusable containers you can keep with you for take-out food and beverages. Single-use, disposable products are some of the most egregious sources of plastic pollution.

What are your tips?

Learn more:

Can You Hear Me Now?

2011-06-13T16:29:15Z

New Research Shows Kids and Cell Phones Don’t Mix

By Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced this week that cell phone radiation might cause an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use. Research has also identified an association between cell phone use and salivary gland tumors and, also acoustic neuroma, a tumor of the nerve that links the ear to the brain. The reason? Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields — which ping from phone to satellite to phone to ear — that the IARC is now calling “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

Which is why I’m encouraging my 12-year-old son to text.

Oh, please don’t give me grief for getting my kid a cell phone. Although I was reluctant for so many reasons, electronically equipping my son after he entered middle school last year changed our lives. Not only are we reassured that he can reach us at all times, but with two other kids to carpool around, pick ups are infinitely easier when I can text him to come outside rather than schlepping the others inside the gates.

The main reason for reluctance was my vague understanding that cell phones can be dangerous — especially for kids because their lifetime exposure to cell phones will be greater than adults, and because, despite what you might think about your thick-headed tween, their skulls are thinner and less protective than ours.

Now, apparently, my fears are justified. According to recent studies, more than four billion people have cell phones and half of those users are under the age of 20. Long-term cell phone use significantly increases brain tumor risk. And those who began using cell phones as teens have four-to-five greater risk or developing malignant brain tumors.

Scary stuff.

According to a recent article on Healthy Child Healthy World, France and India have banned cell phone use for kids under the age of 16 and the United Kingdom and Israel for those under 12. Still, I doubt that the U.S. will move to ban cell phone any time soon. So I’m encouraging my son to follow these guidelines, developed for teens by the non-profit Teens Turning Green [www.teensturninggreen.org].

1. USE A HEAD SET: Using a speaker, hands-free device, or earphones when talking on a cell phone distances it from the body and head and minimizes exposure to radiation.

2. DON’T CARRY A CELL PHONE ON YOUR BODY: Even when they’re not in use, cell phones emit radiation.

3. BEWARE OF A WEAK SIGNAL: When a cell phone is in standby mode or when the signal strength is weak or blocked, exposure to radiation increases. Limit your use at this time.

4. KEEP PHONES AWAY FROM CHILDREN: Studies consistently show that children are especially vulnerable to the effects of cell phone radiation. Generally, the younger the child, the more at risk he or she is.

5. DON’T LEAVE A CELL PHONE ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND: You may be sleeping, but your cell phone is busy at work emitting radiation. Charge phones outside of your bedroom.

Can you hear me now?

Imported Seafood Could Be Contaminated With Feces

2011-06-15T18:05:00Z

By Janelle Sorensen

Americans are eating more crap than ever before. And, I mean that both figuratively AND literally. We are increasingly relying on imported foods from less developed countries — primarily because it’s cheaper — where sanitation standards are lax and feces contamination is common.

Seafood and fresh produce are of particular concern. A recent statement issued by the American Society for Microbiology pointed out that most of the cases of contamination involving imported food in the U.S. are related to exposure to fecal matter.

And it’s no wonder when you consider some of the farming practices. For example, according to coverage in The Vancouver Sun, “in Thailand, chicken coops with as many as 20,000 birds are often suspended in rows above ponds used for farming shrimp and fish. The sea life feeds on the chicken waste that falls in the water.”

Ew.

The article also states “food producers in China regularly use untreated human and animal waste for feeding farmed fish meant for eating and for fertilizing land to grow produce.”

Ew. Ew.

And, our under-funded FDA cannot possibly monitor everything coming across the border, so buyer beware.

If that’s not enough to compel you start finding food that’s grown closer to home, consider these facts:

The average mouthful of food travels 1,400 miles from the farm to our plates.

Food from local farms is fresher and closer to ripeness, has used less energy for transport and is less likely to have been treated with post-harvest pesticides.

Buying local products also supports regional farmers and preserves farmland.

Local is simply better for us and better for the planet.

I challenge you to make at least one meal in the coming week that’s made with as many local ingredients as you can find. If you’ve never tried before, it may sound difficult, but it’s actually pretty easy and fun (especially if you get your kids involved)!

Get started by using these tools:

Eat Local created by the Natural Resources Defense Council
The Eat Well Guide
Eat Healthy (enter a specific ingredient into the search box to find delicious recipes)

Once you’ve tried it, come back to this blog and share your experience and what you made in the comments!