Healthy Children Project Monthly e-News

Feel free to let your friends, family and colleagues know about this valuable new resource. Instructions to subscribe or unsubscribe are at the end of this e-newsletter. MI Healthy Children's e-newsletter is part of a collaborative effort with the Learning Disabilities Association of America's Healthy Children Project, the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health website, and the Institute for Children's Environmental Health with support from the Beldon Fund. 

Baby Bottle Brouhaha: Parents, Scientists Question Safety of Commonly Used Plastic
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080325/LIVING/974502396
Polycarbonate has long been a prized plastic for making baby bottles. It's a tough, lightweight, long-lasting material that can withstand high heat, even boiling water. Campers have relied on indestructible polycarbonate bottles from companies for decades. Office water coolers are typically stocked with clear blue polycarbonate jugs. Some consumers, however, have fallen out of love with the bulletproof, clean-looking plastic, typically marked by a No. 7 recycling symbol.

Baby’s Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles
http://www.babystoxicbottle.org
Bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical that is the building block of polycarbonate plastic, has been found to leach out of six major brands of popular baby bottles sold in the United States and Canada. The study, commissioned by a coalition of U.S. and Canadian environmental health organizations, tested plastic baby bottles in the U.S. and Canada, including products made by Avent, Disney/ The First Years, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex, for leaching of bisphenol A. The U.S. bottles were purchased in nine states at major retailers: Babies”R”Us, CVS, Target, Toys”R”Us, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart. Tests found these popular bottle brands leach levels of bisphenol A (5-8 parts per billion) when heated. Laboratory experiments with animals show that exposure to this level of bisphenol A causes a range of adverse effects.

Safer Plastics for Drinking Use

Safest plastics include polypropylene (#5 PP), which is not known to leach harmful substances. Other plastics that are not known to leach are #2 HDPE and #4 LDPE. These plastics are made without toxic additives and are highly recyclable.  Safer bottled water and beverage containers:

• Most 1, 1.5 and 2 liter bottled water containers are made from #1 and #2 plastic

• #4 Brita Fill & Go Water Filtration Bottle

• #2 Rubbermaid Pitchers (colors)

• #5 Rubbermaid Chuggables Bottles

• #5 Rubbermaid Sippin' Sport Bottles

• #5 Rubbermaid Cool Contours "Chug" Style Bottles

• #5 Rubbermaid Water Bottles

CDC: More Tests Needed to Know If Chemical Is Unsafe
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080319/NEWS/803190577/1023
Bisphenol A is a manmade chemical used to make many hard plastic products: reusable food containers, DVDs, helmets and goggles. It's also in the protective linings in food cans and dental sealants. The chemical, known as BPA, also has been used to make polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, the most common type, for about 30 years. The plastics industry and the Food and Drug Administration say the safety of BPA is well established. Critics think it may be harmful and want it banned from food containers.

The Big Burn: Detroit's Waste Problem
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12748
Within the next three months, Detroit must make a monumental decision regarding the 1 billion pounds of waste its residents produce each year. To burn, or not to burn — that is the question. Among the incinerator's most vocal critics are City Council member JoAnn Watson and a coalition of the area's leading environmental groups and activists. They contend that the incinerator isn't just bad business. It's also dangerous, spewing toxic chemicals and dangerous gases that pose a health hazard to the surrounding community, which is primarily poor and black. The way the incinerator opponents see it, Detroit has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a giant leap forward, addressing a serious health problem while at the same time putting us in the company of a growing number of cities and regions that see the green movement as key to economic development.

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Dental Offices Adding to Mercury Problem
http://www.environmentreport.org/story.php3?story_id=3975
Dental offices are producing higher levels than expected of a toxic form of mercury.

WA Senate OKs Nation's Strictest Toy Safety Rules
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/354255_toystory08.html
Despite last-minute intensive lobbying efforts by the toy industry, the state Senate on Friday approved the strictest toy safety rules in the nation with a 40-9 vote. The legislation dramatically reduces the amount of lead, cadmium and plasticizing chemicals called phthalates allowed in children's products made and sold in the state.  Also see "Gregoire Weighs Veto of Toy Ban" and "Gregiore Signs Measure Toughening Restrictions on Toxins in Toys".

How to Buy Safe Toys
The Consumers Union issued these tips (reprinted from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer):

• Do not buy metal jewelry, especially cheap metal jewelry for young children.

• You can test toys for lead by using a home lead test kit.

• Be careful of toys with magnets. Don't buy toys with magnetic parts that are small enough to be swallowed.

• If you find loose, small magnets anywhere around the house, track down the source. Immediately take the product and any of its other magnetic components away from your child and contact the manufacturer and the Consumer Product Safety Commission at http://cpsc.gov.

• Avoid no-name products and be careful of toys bought at dollar stores, street fairs, vending machines, thrift stores or yard sales.

• Look for the age rating on toy packages and buy only age-appropriate toys for your child.

• Use common sense; some toys may be inappropriate for your toddlers and babies.

Oakland, CA Lab: Some "Hannah Montana" Products Test High for Lead
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-032108hannah-montana-lead,1,7159811.story
An independent laboratory reports that some of Disney's "Hannah Montana" children's products sold at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys 'R Us are contaminated with high levels of lead. The Center for Environmental Health said it bought 28 Hannah Montana products from retailers and online, and found nine with high levels of lead. The center tests children's products, from lunch boxes to baby bibs. Disney denies these allegations/findings.

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Great Lakes Danger Zones?
http://www.publicintegrity.org/GreatLakes/index.htm
For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.

CA Public Health Risk Seen as Parents Reject Vaccines
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/us/21vaccine.html
In a highly unusual outbreak of measles in San Diego, California last month, 12 children fell ill; nine of them had not been inoculated against the virus because their parents objected, and the other three were too young to receive vaccines

MI Letter to the Editor: Lawmakers Must Restrict Lice Formula

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/OPINION01/803210328/1007/OPINION
Morton Grove Pharmaceutical's continued assault on the nonprofit, Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center is designed to shroud the facts about the lindane it continues to profit from ("Drug firm defends itself against misinformation," March 13). Morton Grove was not awarded a single dime from its multimillion-dollar harassment lawsuit against the Ecology Center; nor did the Ecology Center "retract" any statements about the controversial chemical lindane as asserted by Morton Grove. Pending state legislation would require any treatment for head lice and scabies using lindane be done under the supervision of a physician. Lindane can cause a range of adverse health effects. Lindane's use has been banned in over 50 countries and California and is no longer used in the U.S. in agriculture or the military or for livestock or pets. State legislators need to put children first and support proposed common-sense lindane restrictions. Published in The Detroit News, March 21, 2008 and submitted by Lana Pollack , President, Michigan Environmental Council, Lansing

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Fact Sheets from the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health

Lindane: http://www.mnceh.org/documents/mnceh-lindane-03-10.pdf

PBDEs: http://www.mnceh.org/documents/DECAfactsheet-03-10.pdf

About the Network: http://www.mnceh.org/documents/MNCEH%20Flyer.01.16.pdf

Wheeze 'Link' to Baby Milk Powder in Some Factory Workers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7304976.stm
Only people who deal with large quantities of powder are at risk. Prolonged exposure to baby milk powder increases the risk of breathing problems, including wheezing and breathlessness, a study has found. It looked at 170 Thai factory workers who made the powder, but the team from University of Birmingham says the risk could also apply to nannies. According to the study, mothers and babies are safe, because they have relatively little exposure. But the study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, says at-risk workers should be monitored.
 

Upcoming CHE Partnership Calls

http://www.healthandenvironment.org/news/calls

LDA of Michigan's Healthy Children Project Offering Conference Co-Sponsorships

http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/conf.cosponsorships.pdf

Several years ago LDA of Michigan joined as a LDA Healthy Children Project (HCP) state partner. The HCP project is dedicated to helping families learn about existing and emerging science linking certain chemical exposures to learning, behavioral, and developmental disabilities. LDA would now like to partner with other organizations to help inform families throughout Michigan about toxic substances in the environment, how they may impact children’s health, and to find out how they may join with others to make a difference in protecting the health of our children. Specifically, LDA would like to co-sponsor up to three (3) statewide conferences of 501(c)3 non-profit organizations which are dedicated to children’s health issues and family memberships. Those selected will receive $500 from the LDA HCP to help support their overall conference. To learn more, download the PDF information sheet and Microsoft Word application form.

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For more information on The Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan's Healthy Children Project visit http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/healthychild.htm.

 
For more information on The Healthy Children Project visit http://www.healthychildrenproject.org/index.html.

 
For more information on the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, coordinated by the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health visit http://www.iceh.org/LDDI.html. To join the the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI), please complete the form at http://www.iceh.org/LDDImembers.html.

 
For more information on The Beldon Fund visit http://www.beldon.org/.

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