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 Toiletries Linked to Chemical Risk
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-03-baby-lotion_N.htm
Parents who use baby powder, lotion or shampoo on their infants may unknowingly expose their children to controversial chemicals with hormone-like effects, a study shows. Researchers found the chemicals — called phthalates — in the urine of all 163 babies tested, according to the study in today's Pediatrics.
 

Methane Latest Toxin Discovered at Michigan Park
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080202/

METRO01/802020345/1410/METRO01
Methane gas has been discovered under Central City Park, adding to myriad toxins that have closed the once-popular park built atop a former dump. The discovery of methane comes along with high levels of lead, arsenic and other toxins in the soil of the park off Ford between Wayne and Newburgh.
 

Head-lice Drug Promotions Halted
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080131/1a_bottomstrip31_dom.art.htm
The sole U.S. maker of an insecticide-based treatment for head lice has stopped promoting the product after a sharply worded warning from the Food and Drug Administration that its marketing misled consumers by downplaying the rare, but serious, risks of the treatments.

Lindane Maker Says FDA May OK Revamped Marketing
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri_licefeb01,0,7073331.story
Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc. pulled promotional materials for Lindane Shampoo from Web sites and destroyed copies of a newsletter for school nurses after receiving a warning letter in December from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying the materials were misleading. The shampoo contains lindane, a pesticide that was banned for agricultural use in 2006 but remains an FDA-approved second-line therapy when other remedies fail. The FDA's letter said Morton Grove's promotional materials downplayed "significant risks" while encouraging wider use with fewer precautions than recommended under labeling. The agency asked for a plan to correct the misleading messages.

Michigan Campaign for Smoke-Free Air Update

The Campaign for Smokefree Air (CSA) is supporting Senate Bills 109 and 110 and House Bill 4163. If passed, these bills will ensure that Michigan residents can enjoy clean, smokefree air when at work or dining out. On December 5, 2007, the Michigan House of Representatives passed House Bill 4163 by a 56-46 margin. The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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Lurking Lead: Nonprofit Finds Big Problems in Kids' Products
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_8156820
The danger sat silent in a tube of diaper rash ointment, awaiting its application to a baby's chaffed and broken skin. Mixed with the protective zinc and soothing aloe lurked lead, a potent neurotoxin, particularly to the very, very young. The discovery came five years ago from the Center for Environmental Health, or CEH, a small Oakland nonprofit that, on a hunch, had several tubes of the ointment tested. Four of the 16 ointments contained at least four times the contamination California regulators deem acceptable.
 

Kalamazoo County Michigan to Enforce Lead Rules
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/01/kalamazoo_county_to_enforce_le.html
If doing the right thing isn't incentive enough, landlords who don't take steps to protect children from lead poisoning could now find themselves in jail. Anyone in Kalamazoo County who knowingly rents lead-contaminated homes to a family with a child 6 or younger could now face criminal charges.

Dust, Air, Water Sources of Lead
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ga_85zk5c0qGS2Df4qxxiEcFWX0gD8UEBV2O0
The dangers of lead in some toys are well-known, but there are plenty of other ways people can be exposed to the metal. Young children are especially at risk of harm because their bodies are growing quickly. They can suffer damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and other problems.

Baltimore Jury Awards $6 Million in Lead Poisoning Case
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.lead24jan24,0,6505583.story
A Baltimore jury ordered an apartment management company to pay $6 million to an 8-year-old boy after determining that he suffered brain damage at his home as a result of exposure to lead-based paint.

Mercury-autism Debate Rages On
http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/307394.html
A University of Kentucky chemist still thinks that a mercury-containing preservative in children's vaccines is behind rising rates of autism in youngsters, despite a recent California report that seems to dismiss the theory.
 

Studies Link Other Ills to Mercury, Too
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23sbox.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
In the past few years, several studies have concluded that elevated mercury levels may be associated not only with neurological problems but with cardiovascular disease among adults as well.

Biggest and Best Tuna Tend to Have Most Mercury
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/25/healthscience/tuna.php
In a survey conducted by New Jersey researchers for The New York Times that was published this week, laboratory tests found high concentrations of mercury in a sampling of tuna used in sushi in New York City restaurants, some so high that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could legally remove them from the market because mercury concentrations exceeded 1 part per million.

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Medical Approaches in Autism: Clinical Implications of Environmental Toxicology for Children's Neurodevelopment in Autism
When: February 8, 2007 from 8am - 5pm
Where: UCSF Laurel Heights Conference Center, San Francisco, California
For more information: Contact the NPART Symposium Coordinator or RSVP via the event registration page at https://www.eventville.com/catalog/eventregistration1.asp?eventid=1002917.

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Upcoming CHE Partnership Calls

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

Learning Disabilities Association 45th Annual International Conference
Wednesday through Saturday, February 27 - March 1, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois
Discover the latest in learning disability research, learn effective teaching techniques and strategies, hear from leading experts in the learning disability field, network with colleagues and make new friends, learn about critical policy issues, earn graduate and/or continuing education credits and much more. For more information, visit: http://www.ldaamerica.org/conference/index.asp

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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Call toll free at 888-597-7809 or 517-485-8160

Email us at info@ldaofmichigan.org

Write to us at 200 Museum Dr. Ste. 101, Lansing, Michigan 48933

To subscribe to the Healthy Children Project e-Newsletter, send a blank email to healthychildrenproject-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
 
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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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