How many of these shower gifts contain cancer-causing chemicals?

…and her car seat, and her high chair, the changing table pad, sleep positioner, and your baby carrier and rocking chair. That’s what a report published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found. The chemical, chlorinated Tris, is “prevalent in baby’s products made with polyurethane foam,” the New York Times reports.

The researchers suggest that infants who use the products containing chlorinated Tris “have higher exposure to the chemical than the government recommends,” and the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that the chemical “may pose a significant health risk to consumers.” According to the Times, “more than a third of the 101 baby products that were tested contained chlorinated Tris” and “80 of the products contained chemical flame retardants of some kind, some of which are considered toxic, though legal to use.” Continue reading »

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Now I know why the American Cancer Society stopped using birthday cakes in their "Happy Birthday" ads.

Robert Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.  According to the enormous feature in The New York Times Magazine about his theories, UCSF has one of the best medical schools in the country.  Lustig published his first paper on childhood obesity over a decade ago, and he believes the leading cause of the epidemic is something we all consume every day: sugar.

But not only does Lustig believe that sugar causes obesity and diabetes in children and adults, he goes so far as to describe sugar and high fructose corn syrup as toxic, poisonous and downright evil.  Times scribe Gary Taubes is upfront about the fact that after 10 years of research, he’s in complete agreement with Lustig.  Early in the lengthy piece, Taubes writes, “when you bake your children a birthday cake or give them lemonade on a hot summer day, you may be doing them more harm than good, despite all the love that goes with it.”  Lustig, Taubes and others believe that sugar can even cause cancer. Continue reading »

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Utah Supreme Court rules against parents

It all began in 2003.

Then 12-year-old Parker Jensen’s parents refused chemotherapy for a diagnosed cancer.

Now the Utah Supreme Court has ruled against Parker Jensen and his parents, Daren and Barbara Jensen, who sought to sue University of Utah doctors and state child-protection workers who tried to force them to accept medical treatment.  The court’s unanimous conclusion: The Jensen’s have no basis to sue. Continue reading »

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Can doctors save the fertility of young kids battling cancer?

9-year-old Dylan Hanlon has cancer.  A lump in his chest turned out to be Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer, fortunately caught early.

The prescribed nine months of chemotherapy doctors are using to destroy the cancer may also be destroying his chances of fathering his own children when he grows up. Numerous forms of chemotherapy, high-dose body-wide radiation, radiation aimed at the pelvis and some surgeries can leave patients unable to procreate.

About 10 percent of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer last year were younger than 45, more than 15,000 of them under 20. It’s estimated that roughly half  of younger patients risk either some immediate fertility damage, or for girls the prospect of menopause in their 20s or 30s. It depends on the type of cancer and treatment.  Young adults have options — bank some sperm, freeze embryos or eggs. Children diagnosed before puberty don’t.  Boys don’t produce sperm before puberty, ruling out sperm banking. Girls are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have but those are in an immature state, so egg-freezing isn’t an option. Continue reading »

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Is our future written in the stars?

Astrologers have always determined your zodiac sign, and therefore your astrological forecast, based on the position of the planets at the moment you were born. According to astrological theory, studying the future movements of those planets can help determine your future. 

Today, news channels everywhere are reporting that  astronomers with the Minnesota Planetarium Society are telling us that the moon’s gravitational pull, over time, has created a change in the alignment of the planets that essentially results in a one-month bump in your astrological sign. So, if you’re an Aquarius?  You’re now a Capricorn.  Pisces?  Welcome to the age of Aquarius.

What does it mean?  Instead of being an assertive, independent, analytical thinker, you now have a sensitive, imaginative, intuitive mind? Rebecca over at Babble’s Being Pregnant  blog explains the whole thing in-depth, including some info on what some astrologers believe is the 13^th astrological sign—ophiuchus.

So, what does the future hold?  We parents need to look no further than the little guys running around our households to figure that one out.  And here’s my prediction: Continue reading »

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Chemicals in plastics can harm kids.

A recent scientific study suggests estrogen may be behind rising rates of oral cancer in young women. The hormone helps cancer cells spread, the research team found.

An enzyme, CYP1B1, helps precancerous cells become cancerous and grow more quickly. The enzyme is tied to estrogen, and may account for the spread of cancers. It has also been found to be a factor in lung cancer.

Now, the research team is on the hunt for a dietary supplement or drug that can inhibit this enzyme and slow down or even prevent oral cancers.

Continue reading »

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Elizabeth Edwards at BlogHer in 2007.

The news of Elizabeth Edwards’ death has truly shocked and saddened the nation.  Even while battling breast cancer, Edwards was the driving force behind her estranged husband’s 2008 presidential bid and a great advocate for universal health care.  Most importantly, though, she was the loving mother of three children, along with her son Wade, who died in a car accident in 1996 at 16 years old.  Edwards had been steadily preparing her young children to deal with her passing, but the death of a parent is not something one can prep for, like a test.  At any age, the loss of a parent is a shock to the system that takes years to recover from. Continue reading »

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