We recently installed this cool feature on the blog that lets us see how many people are visiting and tracks how they arrived.  It looks like many people find us via Google searches for accurate information, which I now have uppermost in my mind as I’m writing this.  I keep thinking, “Stop stalling, get to the links!  If you go on and on and try to demonstrate your skill with prose, you’re gonna lose your reader!”  So if you are, like myself, a compulsive Googler looking for facts beyond the fear mongering surrounding the H1N1 vaccine, let’s get some accurate sources up front before I start ranting and raving about the power of the internet to spread dangerous lies. » Continue reading “H1N1 Vaccine Information Resources”

I read about this a while ago and didn’t post a link.  But Science Based Parenting linked to this article today about PCBs in breast milk, so I guess it’s on my brain again.

Apparently a study shows that PCBs can cause developmental abnormalities in rats that are quite similar to autism.  And PCBs do show up in breast milk and are passed on to nursing babies.  This does not mean that nursing necessarily causes autism, but it does mean that more studies should be done on the effect of PCBs on human populations.  Happy reading.

As the weather is getting warmer, I started thinking about freezing some of our bottled water to put in my daughter’s school lunch. If it’s a block of ice in the morning, it can sit in the hot sun for 4 hours and end up nice, slushy, ice-cold water by noon. But I remembered a couple of moms last summer saying that freezing bottled water was unsafe: something about the plastic breaking down and leaking chemical “dioxins” into the water. Their concern, I believe, was set off by e-mail warnings about plastics. » Continue reading “Freezing Bottled Water this Summer”

I’m sure we’ve all seen this study or at least have heard about it by now. It seems to me that all moms are talking about this in some form, and it’s scaring several moms I know.

A recent study showed that children who spend more time in daycare than their non-daycare-attending counterparts tended to act out more by the time they reached kindergarten. (The newscast below says, “went to school,” so I’m assuming that’s kindergarten, but I suppose it could be pre-school.) And apparently, researchers found that the quality of the facility and those who supervise doesn’t matter—it’s the length of time kids spend in daycare that may affect behavior.

What do you think, readers? Have you seen any difference in children you know? Would you attribute the length of time these children spend in a daycare facility or at home to be the primary reason for any major behavioral differences?

By the way, if you can find the text of the study itself, let me know. I did a quick search and came up empty-handed.

Hi skeptical parents, and welcome to the sixth edition of skeptical parent crossing! Sit back and get ready for a healthy dose of parental skepticism as parents like you question common wisdom and other claims. » Continue reading “Skeptical Parent Crossing #6″

Before I went back to work, we knew we would have to buy another car for my husband. Believe it or not, he had been living in Los Angeles with only a bicycle and public transportation for a year. We were sort of proud of that, but having to do daycare drop offs and pick ups put an end to our environmental living.
» Continue reading “Third Hand Smoke–How Much Do I Worry About This One?”

In the comments to “Never Break a Curly Bulb  Part 1 ” so many questions arose, that my response comment turned into a whole blog post!

For starters, catgirl asks “For comparison, how hazardous is a normal light bulb?”

Great question! I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d say the short answer is » Continue reading “Never Break a Curly Bulb Part 2″

I’m in my kids’ bathroom, changing light bulbs. All I have to do is unscrew one, put it down somewhere without breaking it, then screw in the new one. Simple, right? Not for Mrs. Butterfingers over here. I reach up, twist, twist, crash! “Oh, no!!!” I’ve just dropped a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) or, as I like to say “curly bulb”, on the bathroom vanity. It explodes, and glass is everywhere. I panic, think to myself, “What was it I read a few months ago about what you have to do if you break a CFL?” I turn the exhaust fan on, shut the door, and get the hell out of there. “Don’t go in the bathroom!” I shout to the kids. “Why not?” they ask. “Because Mommy broke a light bulb, and it was full of poison!”

Poison?? CFLs are going to save the planet, right? » Continue reading “Never Break a Curly Bulb Part 1″

Nancy McDermott wrote an interesting and enlightening piece about the BPA scare.

Some highlights:

…the story’s grip on the public imagination suggests that there’s more going on here. It is not that the facts are unavailable or that parents and journalists are incapable of grasping them. It’s more that it never occurs to them to be critical. They are blinkered by a mistrust of the fruits of modernity and by deep pessimism about the future.

Well said.

The willingness to assume the worst has a debilitating effect on public discussion. When scientists find nothing in claims about BPA, for instance, it is dismissed as the product of chemical industry manipulation rather than genuine and profound weaknesses with the entire thesis. Large, well-designed studies conducted by independently audited contract labs are suspect because they are ‘industry funded’. Apparently even Harvard University’s Center for Risk Assessment is merely a shill for the chemical industry because their 2000 report on BPA was commissioned by the American Plastics Council. In fact, anyone who dares to be critical of the BPA scare is accused of using the tobacco industry’s ‘delaying tactics’.

I’m sure that many who have found this blog are frustrated, as I am, by the persistence of beliefs in spite of evidence. The dismissal of evidence as corrupt is especially frustrating. » Continue reading “More on Bottles and the Culture of Fear”

I’ve always been a skeptical person, even as a child. When my Dad explained the idea of Santa Claus to me, I pointed out that we didn’t have a fireplace for Santa to enter. Then I did some research and compared my Dad’s handwriting to the sample Santa left next to the cookies, and that was the end of that. As I became an adult, my skepticism continued. When they said eggs were bad for us, I read the fine print. Yes, eggs have 71% of your daily cholesterol intake, but if you eat them in moderation, they provide exceptional nutrition.

All this changed when I had a baby.

» Continue reading “Post from Jennie M.: The Great Baby Bottle Scare of 2008″