Can a Rubber Ducky Poison You???

From MomsRising . . .

In a staggering announcement this past weekend, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated there's now officially cause for "concern" about toxic Bisphenol-A (BPA) in food and beverage containers, but they stopped short of banning BPA from products children and pregnant and nursing women use everyday.¹

It's not enough to just announce "concern." We already know BPA is dangerous, and we know there are safer alternatives. It's time for Congress to take this issue to the next level to keep our kids safe.

Urge your U.S. Senators today to co-sponsor and support the Ban Poisonous Additives Act that will ban BPA from food and beverage containers.

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=97

Bisephenol-A (BPA) is one of the most pervasive chemicals in our modern lives. You've probably heard by now about BPA in baby bottles, but did you know it's also in most can linings and in many reusable food and beverage containers? With 2 billion pounds of BPA produced annually in the US, it's no wonder that 93% of Americans have detectable levels of BPA in their bodies. (Effects of BPA exposure can include breast cancer, infertility, prostate cancer, early onset puberty, ADHD, and obesity. Children, whose brains and organs are constantly developing, are particularly at risk and absorb BPA at much higher rates than their parents. Early exposure puts children at risk for adult diseases later in life, including breast cancer and Alzheimer's.) ²

The Ban Poisonous Additives Act (also known as the BPA Act) sponsored by Senator Feinstein would ban BPA from reusable food and beverage containers and prohibit the creation of new food and beverage containers containing BPA.

With your help, we could permanently take BPA out of baby bottles, infant formula tins, and the countless food and beverage containers we use everyday.

This bill is a sensible measure that could fix a real problem -- and fix it quickly. That's why we've made it our goal to get Senators from both parties, and from every region of the country, lining up to co-sponsor this bill in January. With your help, we can make that happen. After all, the health and safety of our children comes first to us, and it should come first to our elected officials as well!

Ask your Senators to stand up for safe food for our kids by co-sponsoring the Ban Poisonous Additives (BPA) Act!

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=972

We already know there are plenty of safer alternatives to using BPA in containers. In fact, there are many stores, as well as states, which have acknowledged the human health risks of BPA exposure and have already banished BPA from their shelves. Last year, six of the largest manufacturers of baby bottles, including Playtex and Gerber, pledged to stop using in BPA in their products. In addition, Kmart, CVS, Wal-Mart and several other prominent corporations have banned the sale of baby bottles containing BPA at their stores. Further, Canada has restricted BPA, and Minnesota, Connecticut, Chicago, and three New York counties have already successfully banned BPA from kids' products. In all, more than 30 states and localities in the US are considering legislation to regulate BPA this year.

With all the progress we've made in the last few months getting the spotlight on this important issue, the timing coudn't be better for national change. Federal action is needed right now to protect everyone in the country from BPA, and we need your help to make that happen.

Don't forget to take a moment right now to urge your Senators to Co-Sponsor the BPA Act Today, and then forward this message on to your friends:

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=972

Together, we can help make this a safer, healthier country for families across America.

P.S. Turning the traditional New Year's resolution for a healthier lifestyle on its head, activists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie (Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things) went on a BPA-laced diet for a week, soaking their systems in a host of canned foods, all poured into plastic containers and heated in the microwave. In this fascinating new book they chronicle their experiments and show how quickly their bodies absorb and react to exposure to toxic chemicals. The results are staggering: when they tested their blood following the diet experiment, their BPA levels were seven and a half times higher! ³ Unfortunately, we don't have to take such drastic measures to introduce BPA into our diets. BPA continues to lurk in our foods, in our drinks, and in our homes. We can change our eating habits in any number of ways, but without this legislation, BPA exposure will still be a diet constant. *Don't forget to send your letter to Congress today asking them to co-sponsor the Ban Poisonous Additives Act .

Footnotes:

1 The New York Times, FDA Concerned about Substance in Food Packaging & New FDA Recommendations on BPA

² The Breast Cancer Fund BPA information

3 O Magazine Book Review and Washington Post Book Review for Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

Massage for Pediatric Oncology (Cancer)

Massage for Children with Cancer | Pediatric Oncology Massage

Pediatric Oncology Massage requires specific skills to adapt massage and nurturing touch techniques suited for the child’s specific cancer treatment and treatment plan.

Healthcare professionals including massage therapists who wish to provide massage for pediatric oncology patients should consider specific specialized training in this area. The comprehensive Touch Therapy for Liddle Kidz with Cancer (Massage for Children with Cancer) Course for massage therapists and healthcare professionals provides educational and professional training to those who wish to enhance their skills. Through this advanced training, participants learn to provide massage therapy, nurturing touch techniques and touch therapy for children who have been diagnosed with Cancer.


read more

Spanking Decreases IQ

New research demonstrates what many of us could guess . . .

Being spanked as a child is linked to having a lower IQ, according to a study presented today at the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego.

The relationship between spanking and intelligence is found in children around the world, said the lead author of the study, University of New Hampshire professor Murray Straus. Children in the United States who were spanked had lower IQs -- by 2.8 to 5 points -- than those who were not spanked, Straus found.

Straus studied 806 children ages 2 to 4 and 704 ages 5 to 9. Both groups were retested four years later. How often parents spanked influenced IQ score. "The more spanking, the slower the development of the child's mental ability," Straus said in a news release. "But even small amounts of spanking made a difference."

Straus and his colleagues looked at corporal punishment practices in 32 countries by surveying 17,404 university students. The analysis found a lower average IQ in nations in which spanking was more prevalent. The strongest link between corporal punishment and IQ was for those whose parents continued to use corporal punishment even when they were teenagers.

"It is ... time for the United States to begin making the advantages of not spanking a public health and child welfare focus, and eventually enact federal no-spanking legislation," he said.

How would spanking impact intelligence? Straus suggests that the chronic stress created by regular spanking creates post-traumatic stress symptoms in children. PTSD is linked to lower IQ. Economic status also underlies both spanking practices and IQ, Straus said, a leading researcher on corporal punishment. His studies were funded, in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Another study found that many poor children are spanked at ages as young as 1 and that the practice is tied to more aggressive behavior by age 2 and delayed social-emotional development by age 3.