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. 

Articles Related to Chemicals, Toxins & Pesticides

Help Protect Children from Toxic Chemicals! Please Join Us for a Children's Environmental Health Policy Day: April 22, 2009
Register Online: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1421/t/8818/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=48277
Parents and other consumers should be informed about potential chemical hazards in toys and other products. Kids should be protected from toxic chemicals. This Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, you have an opportunity to ask your legislators in person to protect Michigan children. We will be working to advance several bills that, if passed, would provide additional protections for the health of our children and the Great Lakes. At this event, you will team up with children's environmental health advocates for meetings with lawmakers to encourage them to protect children from toxics. We will provide you with the information you need ahead of time to make these meetings simple, effective, and interesting. Please join us and a 25 foot rubber ducky to highlight the need to protect our most vulnerable population from toxic chemicals. This event will take place at The State Capitol in Lansing. Need more information? Contact Rob at rob@ecocenter.org.

Lindane Update

HB 4402 (legislation to limit the use of lindane to situations under a physician's supervision in his or her office) was introduced on February 24, 2009 and passed in the House on March 17, 2009. The bill was then referred to the Government Operations and Reform Committee on March 28, 2009. Learn more about lindane or follow the bill online.

WebMD Launches Health eHome

http://www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/default.htm

Explore WebMD's Health eHome to learn how your home can be healthier for you and our environment, to test your knowledge and get personalized results and an action plan, and to learn ways to make your home green and clean.

Study: Flame Retardant Creates Hyperactive Mice
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/flame-retardant-causes-hyper-mice/
A commonly used flame retardant routinely found in people and house dust alters behavior and brain development in mice, causing hyperactivity and adjustment difficulties that worsened with age.

Oregon Senate Votes to Phase Out Fire Retardant, Deca BDE

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/03/oregon_senate_votes_to_phase_o.html

Oregon's Senate voted today to follow the lead of Washington state and Maine in phasing out most uses of a potentially toxic but widely used fire retardant. The Senate passed SB 596 by a vote of 22-8. The bill, opposed by the chemical industry but championed by Willamette Riverkeeper and the Audubon Society of Portland, phases out most uses of decabrominated diphenyl ether, classified as a possible human carcinogen, by Jan. 1, 2011.
 

Updated Shopper's Guide to Pesticides
http://www.foodnews.org/
Announcing a new update to an old favorite: it's the 5th edition of the Environmental Working Group's classic Shopper's Guide to Pesticides, now with the latest government data. This handy guide shows you the fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides, so you know which to always buy organic and which are pretty clean even when conventionally grown. A pocket guide is also available for download from the site.

SC Johnson to Phase Out Phthalates From Products
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/12/ap6158569.html
Consumer products maker SC Johnson & Son Inc. said it plans to phase out phthalates, or chemicals used to soften plastics, from its fragrance products over the next two years.
Last summer, Racine, Wisconsin-based SC Johnson started working with its suppliers to phase out DEP, a common phthalate, from fragrances in its products. SC Johnson makes brands including Windex, Glade, Raid and Ziploc. A federal law, which went into effect last month, has already banned the chemicals from toys. Phthalates can be absorbed through the mouth or skin and interfere with reproductive hormones.

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Articles Related to Lead & Mercury

Book Dealers Told to Get The Lead Out; Libraries Resist Ban on Potentially Toxic Books
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301764.html
Rachel Merrill, mother of three, was holding innocuous-seeming contraband in her hand at an Arlington Goodwill store earlier this month: a 1971 edition of "Little House on the Prairie." This copy of the children's classic had just become illegal to resell because of concerns that some old books contain lead in their ink.
 

(Missouri Commentary) Childhood Exposure to Lead is the Single Most Preventable Environmental Health Condition Facing Our Nation's Children
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/

508FA8AA0760264C86257589007AE39D?OpenDocument
"Despite the vigilant efforts made to eradicate the presence of lead, 24 million homes still have significant lead-based paint hazards today, and approximately 310,000 children have elevated levels of lead in their blood, with a disproportionate number hailing from minority and low-income communities. More than 15 percent of low-income children living in housing built prior to 1946 are lead poisoned. In addition, one in every five African-American children and one in every seven Latino children living in an older home has an elevated lead level."

Lead Scare Devastating Motor Sports Sales
http://www.kidk.com/news/business/42028662.html
Uncertified models like the F-70 from Honda are collecting dust until manufactures certify there isn't any lead paint in them. In the mean time there aren't any youth models out on the Rexburg Motor Sports floor. "Every salesman here has pages of customers waiting to purchase youth bikes for this summer, and we just can't do it yet," said Mike Carlton, a Rexburg Motor Sports Employee.

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Articles Related to Environmental Effects on Development and Learning

No BPA For Baby Bottles In U.S.; 6 Makers Announce Decision on Chemical
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/05/AR2009030503285.html?hpid=sec-health
The six largest manufacturers of baby bottles will stop selling bottles in the United States made with bisphenol A, a controversial chemical widely used in plastics but increasingly linked to a range of health effects. The manufacturers declared their intentions after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, joined by the attorneys general in Connecticut and New Jersey, wrote to the bottle makers and asked them to voluntarily stop using the chemical.

How to Avoid Bisphenol A
Source: Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units

• Do not microwave food or beverages in plastic.

• Do not microwave or heat plastic cling wraps.

• Do not place plastics in the dishwasher.

• If you are using hard polycarbonate plastics (water bottles, baby bottles or sippy cups), do not use for warm or hot liquids.

• Use safe alternatives such as glass.

• Avoid canned foods when possible. (BPA might be used in can linings.)

• Look for labels on products that say "BPA-free."

Group Finds Carcinogens in Kids Bath Products
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-12-formaldehyde_N.htm
Many children's bath products contain chemicals that may cause cancer and skin allergies, according to a report released Thursday by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
Twenty-three of 28 products tested contained formaldehyde, the report says. Formaldehyde — considered a probable carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, — is released as preservatives break down over time in a container.

Scientists Find 'Baffling' Link Between Autism and Vinyl Flooring
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/autism-and-vinyl-flooring
Children who live in homes with vinyl floors, which can emit phthalates, are twice as likely to have autism, according to a new study by Swedish and U.S. researchers. Scientists call the discovery "intriguing and baffling." Experts suspect that genetic and environmental factors combine to cause autism, which has increased dramatically in children over the past 20 years.
 

Birth-control Pills, Low Birth Weight Linked
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/sexual-health/Birth%20control%20pills%20birth%20weight%20linked/1370027/story.html
Women who get pregnant within a few weeks of taking birth-control pills seem much more likely than others to have low birth-weight or premature babies, concludes a new Canadian study that deals with one of the most widely prescribed classes of drugs.

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Other Articles & Resources Related to Children's Health Issues

Subscribe to "Toxic Times"

http://www.mnceh.org/toxictimes/news.php

"Toxic Times" is a weekly recap of the top stories on toxics from the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health.

CHE Partnership Calls

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

You can also listen to previous calls, download documentation and view call blogs at this website.

LDA of Michigan's Healthy Children Project Offering Conference Co-Sponsorships

http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/conf.cosponsorships.pdf

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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Contact & Subscription Information

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

Email us at jackie.igafoteo@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.

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