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. 

Toys Tested For Toxic Materials

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/08/toys_tested_for_toxic_material.html

Legislators and staffers had a chance to bring their children's toys to the Capitol in Lansing on August 8th for a high-tech analysis to see whether they contain certain toxic materials.

Reports About Plastic Contaminants Raise Parents' Concerns
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/sfl-flrxbottle0902nbsep02,0,7531300.story
Days after Jamie and Kurt Rhodes had their first baby, Annabelle, they heard a news report last month about a new study saying clear plastic baby bottles can leach a harmful chemical into the liquid.
 

Household Hazards: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products
http://www.womenandenvironment.org/campaignsandprograms/SafeCleaning/ExecSumm
The many types and brands of cleaning products available on store shelves is staggering. In most cases, when we choose a cleaning product, we are primarily concerned with whether or not it will do the job, going on the assumption that if a product is sold in the grocery store, it must be safe for use in our homes. This report questions that assumption.

Chapel Hill Bisphenol A Expert Panel Consensus Statement
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-0803chapelhillconsensus.html
Thirty-eight of the world's leading scientific experts on bisphenol A have warned policymakers of potential adverse health effects of exposure to the widespread plastic. They conclude that average levels in people are above those that cause harm to animals in laboratory experiments. And they calculate that average serum levels in people can only be explained by assuming that exposures today are above the level that EPA considers safe.

Lindane: Listen to "Issues on the Environment"

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wemu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1134911

WEMU's "Issues on the Environment" recently included an interview between host David Fair and State Rep. Ted Hammon on lindane.
 

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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Safe and Sound Toys
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083001483.html
All 6-year-old Audrey Ashdown wanted for Christmas was an Easy-Bake Oven. She used the toy exactly once -- to bake a little cake -- before Hasbro recalled about 1 million of the ovens manufactured since May 2006. In the months leading up to the recall, 77 children were burned, including one burn so serious it resulted in the partial amputation of a 5-year-old's finger. Audrey's mother, Capitol Hill resident Jill Cashen, took away the oven as soon as she heard about the recall. A few months later, Cashen found herself once again playing the anti-Santa: Audrey's favorite birthday gift, a collection of Mattel's Polly Pocket dolls, was recalled for posing a choking hazard.

Practical Tips on How to Get the Lead Out

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0819deardorffdoneaug19,0,870727.column

Even before Mattel recalled more than 19 million Chinese-made toys last week, I wasn't sure what was safe for my little teether's mouth. Plastic was out, because until we know more about the effects of their chemicals, I didn't want him gnawing on softened products that contain phthalates. And last week, a federal panel ruled the compound used to make hard polycarbonate plastic -- bisphenol-A -- could pose a risk to the brain development of fetuses, infants, babies and older children. So I gave him wooden toys. But now I worry that I've got a closet full of brightly painted wooden objects that might contain lead paint, even if they haven't been officially recalled. Should I just throw everything out to be safe?

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Chemicals Compromising Our Children
http://www.env-health.org/IMG/pdf/18June07_final_Briefneuro_for_EU.pdf

A briefing entitled "Chemicals Compromising Our Children" has been prepared by HEAL as part of their Chemicals Health Monitor project. The briefing summarizes the main adverse effects of chemical exposure on children's health - and particularly on their developing brains at fetal stage, and their cost implications in EU terms.

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Learn About Green Chemistry

http://www.mnceh.org/campaigns.green.php

Green Chemistry is an innovative scientific movement aimed at replacing toxic chemicals with safe materials. It provides an overarching set of principles for chemists and others to develop products, processes and services that curb pollution, waste, and energy consumption. You can download additional information and fact sheets from Clean Production Action online at http://www.cleanproduction.org/Green.php.
 

Upcoming Events: September and October CHE Partnership Calls
Tuesday, September 11 on the Faroes Island Consensus Statement and Thursday, October 11 on Nanotechnology and Medicine. These calls will last one hour and will be recorded for documentation purposes. For more information about these calls, visit: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/partnership_calls/.

Upcoming Event: ACMH 2007 Conference: Success One Day At a Time: Fostering Your Family’s Mental Health

Dates/Location: October 15-16, 2007 at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan

Contact: For more information contact the ACMH office at 1-888-226-4543 (parent line) or download the brochure and registration form here.

Upcoming Event: Annual LDA of Michigan Conference "On the Road to Success"
Dates: October 22-23, 2007
Location: Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Description: On Monday: David A. Sousa, Ph.D. speaking on "How the Brain Learns: Translating Brain Research into Classroom Practice" and on Tuesday: Paul Sanchez speaking on “Growing Up and Living with a Learning Disability”. Paul rode his bicycle solo for 10,000 miles around the United States to raise awareness of learning disabilities and now has 8 wishes.

For More Information: Download the conference brochure and registration form (PDF).

Upcoming Event: NADD 24th Annual Conference & Exhibit Show

Dates: October 24 - 26, 2007

Location: Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown in Atlanta, Georgia

Description: The conference will include presentations related to promotion of wellness, prevention of illness, common symptomology in physical and psychiatric disorders, environmental health, interdisciplinary collaboration, cross systems collaboration, Autism Spectrum Disorders and family issues, and skill building.

Contact: For more information, visit http://www.thenadd.org/pages/conferences/24th/index.shtml or contact Conference Assistant Brenda Reuss at 800-331-5362 or breuss@thenadd.org.

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The Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan is pleased to offer grants to 501(C) 3 non-profit organizations located in Michigan for educational programs/events/materials which will help inform key stakeholders of the existing and emerging science linking certain chemical exposures to learning, behavioral, and developmental disabilities. Priority will be given projects which target families and disability groups and/or promote action towards creating a healthier environment for all children. Grantees will be responsible for submitting a final project report, documentation of all expenditures, and copies of materials produced. Maximum award $400. Click here to download an application (PDF).

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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

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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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