Written by Meg Kissinger, Milwuakee Journal Sentinel
Sunday, 14 February 2010
EPA's tough talk goes silent after lobbyist meeting
Eight days after chemical industry lobbyists met with Obama administration officials, federal regulators delayed action on including bisphenol A in a new effort to better regulate dangerous chemicals.
The move is drawing suspicion, considering how the head of the Environmental Protection Agency had been talking tough in one speech after another last fall about the need to protect the public from such chemicals, particularly BPA.
But when the agency's list came out Dec. 30, identifying four chemicals that would face stricter labeling and reporting requirements, BPA was not among them.
While other agencies and governmental bodies are moving to restrict BPA's use because of concerns about its links to health problems, including cancer, the EPA now says it won't develop a tougher regulatory plan for the chemical for at least two years.
Critics say the Dec. 22 meeting might have been why BPA was dropped from the top of the agency's list.
White House notes about the meeting show how the American Chemistry Council aggressively pleaded its case that BPA should not be flagged for greater regulation.
Lobbyists for the trade group presented a group of studies - most of which the industry paid for - that downplayed the risks of the chemical. They complained that the EPA's plan to designate certain chemicals as a "chemical of concern," prompting tougher scrutiny, will hurt their profits.
And they asked the government for preferential treatment - to give them notice of any action before letting the public know.
Babies are born pre-polluted with 100’s of toxic chemicals.
Our broken toxics law is failing them.
We need your help to change that.
EWG tested the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborn babies and found nearly 300 chemicals, including BPA, fire retardants, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides that were banned more than 30 years ago.
Speak up for change. Our kids deserve it.
The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would require that all chemicals be proven safe for children before they can be sold. But lawmakers in Washington need to know that you want them to reform our broken toxics law.
Please Click HERE to sign this petition to demand that Congress take action to make chemicals in consumer products kid-safe.
California moves to list BPA as reproductive toxin
Written by Siel Ju, Mother Nature Network
Monday, 15 February 2010
California takes a step towards officially listing BPA as a reproductive toxicant.
New studies linking health problems like cancer and impotence to bisphenol A (BPA) — a chemical used in everything from baby bottles to soup cans — seems to come out every week. Government action on regulating BPA, however, has been coming only at a crawl. Only last month did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration express “some concern” about BPA’s effects on babies — while declining to regulate the chemical.
California has a law — a.k.a. Proposition 65 — that puts chemicals found to be a carcinogen or reproductive toxicant by an authoritative scientific body on a list. If BPA is put on that list, products containing BPA could be forced to carry labels or language disclosing that their products are made with a potentially harmful chemical. “In many cases, manufacturers have chosen to remove Prop. 65 chemicals from their products rather than label them,” notes a press release from Breast Cancer Fund, an environmental health nonprofit that’s been fighting for BPA bans in the U.S.
So far, Cal-EPA has said BPA, “appears to meet the criteria for listing as known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity” — though BPA hasn’t officially been labeled a reproductive toxicant yet. Want California to lead the way toward BPA bans? The Cal-EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is currently taking public comments about whether or not BPA should be listed as a reproductive toxicant. Send your comment by 5 p.m. on Tues., April 13, 2010, to
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.
Case Study: Breech Pregnancy Correction with Chiropractic Confirmed on Ultrasound
Written by Christine Anderson, D.C., D.I.C.C.P., D. HOM.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
There are chiropractors who have bee doing the Webster Technique effectively for many years in the Los Angeles area. If you would like the name of any of one of them, please contact me. The earlier you can begin treatment the more effective it can be, although it is never too late to meet with the appropriate doctor. I have sent many of my clients with breech presentation to chiropractors for such treatment and they have been extremely happy with the outcome of their experiences.
—Leslye Adelman
A research article published on February 2, 2010 in the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health, documented the case study of a pregnant woman whose breech pregnancy was corrected with chiropractic care. This case study involved a 35 year old woman who was pregnant with her third child. She had recently been to her OBGYN for an ultrasound, which showed the male fetus to be in a breech position.
The woman, now in her 31st week of pregnancy, had also been experiencing pain in her pelvis just 2 weeks earlier. Because of this pain she was forced to discontinue her daily exercise regimen which included running three miles per day. She described the pain as more of a pressure in her pelvis as opposed to a pain. In addition, the woman reported that she had gained more weight with this pregnancy than with either of her two previous pregnancies and she was experiencing heartburn and acid reflux.
The woman went for a chiropractic examination after having done some research on the Internet where she found some information about breech pregnancies being helped with specific forms of chiropractic care. Her examination showed some postural irregularities indicating some spinal involvement. In addition, bilateral surface temperature measurements and surface EMG tests also showed asymmetry indicating spinal involvement.
A Wake-Up Story is a must-see video for every parent and anyone that cares about the health and development of children. Watch it. Share it. Join the movement. www.Awakeupstory.org.
Written by Dr. Joseph Mercola, The Huffington Post
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Babies are born at considerable risk nowadays due to the toxic load of their mothers. If a baby is exposed to numerous toxic compounds in utero, changes may occur that either directly cause cancer, or lengthen the period of sensitivity to carcinogens, therefore making the child more susceptible to cancer, and other diseases, later in life.
An EWG study is the first to detect BPA in umbilical cord blood, which is a very concerning finding considering this chemical has been linked to endocrine system disruption, reproductive and cardiovascular system abnormalities, diabetes and more at very low levels.
However, it is not the first to show just how extensive a chemical cocktail newborn babies are being exposed to.
Exposure to Nearly 300 Toxic Chemicals ... Before Birth
Generation 2 crib recall: Stop using your crib now, CPSC warns
Written by David Grant, The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday, 09 February 2010
US consumer watchdog orders a recall on half a million Generation 2 cribs.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urges parents and caregivers to stop using these cribs immediately and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIX THESE CRIBS.
All Generation 2 Worldwide and “ChildESIGNS” drop-side cribs, an estimated half a million units, are being recalled by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) after three infants died of suffocation after being trapped between the mattress and a broken side panel. A further hazard is posed by the potential for the mattress to separate from its underlying support, creating a space that could trap toddlers.
In addition to the three fatalities, the CPSC reported 20 incidents involving the crib's drop side and eight involving problems with the mattress.
Parents are advised to stop using their cribs immediately, the CPSC says in a press release. While previous incidents, like the November 2009 recall of 2.1 million Stork Craft cribs, have included the promise of a safety-repair kit for affected cribs, no kit will be forthcoming from Generation 2 because the company went out of business in 2005.
The CPSC did not return calls seeking comment.
Instead, consumers are directed to contact the retailer from whom they purchased the crib in order to obtain a refund, a replacement crib, or store credit. The CPSC asks consumers to "report any difficulties in obtaining a remedy from their place of purchase." The CPSC's recall hotline can be reached at (800) 638-2772.
(Editors Note: For more information about the free Text4BAby service, be sure to visit Text4Baby.org.)
Expectant mothers are getting a new tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy: pregnancy tips sent directly to their cell phones.
The so-called text4baby campaign is the first free, health education program in the U.S. to harness the reach of mobile phones, according to its sponsors, which include Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, WellPoint and CareFirst BlueCross and Blue Shield. Wireless carriers including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have agreed to waive all fees for receiving the texts.
Organizers say texting is an effective means of delivering wellness tips because 90 percent of people in the U.S. have cell phones.
"Especially if you start talking about low-income people, cell phones are the indispensable tool for reaching them and engaging them about their health," said Paul Meyer, president of Voxiva, a company which operates health texting programs in Africa, Latin America and India.
Studies in those countries have shown that periodic texts can reduce smoking and other unhealthy behaviors in pregnant mothers.
Meyer said the U.S. program, run by Voxiva, will be the largest health-related texting program ever undertaken.
Under the new service, mothers-to-be who text "BABY" to 511411 will receive weekly text messages, timed to their due date or their baby's birth date. The messages, which have been vetted by government and nonprofit health experts, deal with nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention, among other topics. The messages will continue through the baby's first birthday.
Pediatrician Dr. Darshak Sanghavi discusses new research that suggests a chemical in the brain may be linked to an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Written by Nancy Snyderman, M.D. -- NBC Nightly News
Tuesday, 02 February 2010
A campaign to encourage putting infants to sleep on their backs has lowered the number of SIDS cases, but new research may answer some bigger questions on what causes the syndrome. NBC's Nancy Snyderman reports.
Low production of serotonin in the brainstem a likely cause for SIDS
Written by James Newton, Childrens Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School
Tuesday, 02 February 2010
Doctors closing in on mysterious cause of death in infants
Taking the next step in more than 20 years of research, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have linked sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) with low production of serotonin in the brainstem, based on a comparison of brainstem samples from infants dying of SIDS compared to brainstems of infants dying from other, known causes.
The findings, published in the Feb. 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, may give a concrete approach to identifying babies at risk for SIDS, the leading cause of death for infants between 1 and 12 months old in the United States.
In the brainstem, serotonin helps regulate some of the body's involuntary actions, such as breathing, heart rate and blood pressure during sleep. The researchers, led by Children's neuropathologist Hannah Kinney, MD, believe that a low serotonin level impairs the function of the brainstem circuits that regulate these activities, putting a baby at risk for sudden death from stresses such as rebreathing carbon dioxide when sleeping in the face down position.
The future goal of this work is to devise a test to identify infants with a serotonin brainstem defect early, and to develop preventive treatments that would correct the serotonin deficiency.
n 2006, Kinney and colleagues showed that SIDS is associated with abnormalities in the number of cells and receptors related to serotonin in the brainstem, but it wasn't clear whether SIDS may be caused by overproduction or underproduction of the chemical.
Eight days after chemical industry lobbyists met with Obama administration officials, federal regulators delayed action on including bisphenol A in a new effort to better regulate dangerous chemicals.
.jpg "California moves to list BPA as reproductive toxin")
New studies linking health problems like cancer and impotence to bisphenol A (BPA) — a chemical used in everything from baby bottles to soup cans — seems to come out every week. Government action on regulating BPA, however, has been coming only at a crawl. Only last month did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration express 
Babies are born at considerable risk nowadays due to the toxic load of their mothers. If a baby is exposed to numerous toxic compounds in utero, changes may occur that either directly cause cancer, or lengthen the period of sensitivity to carcinogens, therefore making the child more susceptible to cancer, and other diseases, later in life.
(Editors Note: For more information about the free Text4BAby service, be sure to visit 
