I Want This...

Trying to escape news of Swine Flu, I have been looking for an "eco-friendly" (read: formaldehyde-free) nursery rocker. I didn't have one of these when I nursed my son, and as a result, was always trying to find a comfortable position in which to nurse. Most often, I ended up in bed, which is fine. But we just finished up my two-year-old son's new room, moving him out of the nursery and into his big boy room, and I am thinking about the new baby's room. We've got the crib covered--the excellent nontoxic Alpha Crib from Dax Stores, which I've written about before. We have a leftover changing table (Jardine, I think?) which was not a "green" product but which has probably off-gassed more than enough. Now I want that glider I never had.

And of course, I have to find one that is $2,000 and gorgeous. And I want it. Bad. It's the Alberto Winged Glider, part of the very cool Q Collection Junior line. The company makes truly eco-friendly and lung-healthy furniture products for nurseries, and they are priced accordingly. Even their changing tables top $1,000. But they know their stuff. This isn't simply "We use FSC-certified wood (but use formaldeyde-containing glue to put it together!)". It's the whole she-bang.

So I see this gorgeous piece of furniture and now I'm trying to think of all the ways I can make some extra money to make this mine. Even with the fiction prize and two fellowships I recently won (yes, after several drought years, someone finally took pity on me)I can't funnel the money to this purchase; considering the fact that we just learned how much we're going to have to shell out for Hudson's first year at Montessori school, I can safely say this will remain a chair of my dreams. But for anyone out there who can drop $2,000 on a nursery rocker and wants one that is beautiful and truly nontoxic, check out the Alberto Winged Glider. Know that each one is made to order, so you need to order 6-8 weeks in advance. There is also a $200+ delivery fee.

Childhood Obesity Linked to Phthalates: from today's Times

From today's New York Times:

Child Obesity Is Linked to Chemicals in Plastics
By Jennifer 8. Lee
Exposure to chemicals used in plastics may be linked with childhood obesity, according to results from a long-term health study on girls who live in East Harlem and surrounding communities that were presented to community leaders on Thursday by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The chemicals in question are called phthalates, which are used to to make plastics pliable and in personal care products. Phthalates, which are absorbed into the body, are a type of endocrine disruptor — chemicals that affect glands and hormones that regulate many bodily functions. They have raised concerns as possible carcinogens for more than a decade, but attention over their role in obesity is relatively recent.

The research linking endocrine disruptors with obsesity has been growing recently. A number of animals studies have shown that exposing mice to some endocrine disruptors causes them be more obese. Chemicals that have raised concern include Bisphenol A (which is used in plastics) and perfluorooctanoic acid, which is often used to create nonstick surfaces.

However, the East Harlem study, which includes data published in the journal Epidemiology, presents some of the first evidence linking obesity and endocrine disruptors in humans.

The researchers measured exposure to phthalates by looking at the children’s urine. “The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates metabolites in their urine,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai, one of the lead researchers on the study. “It goes up as the children get heavier, but it’s most evident in the heaviest kids.”

This builds upon a larger Mount Sinai research effort called “Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem,” which has looked at various health factors in East Harlem children over the last 10 years, including pesticides, diet and even proximity to bodegas.

About 40 percent of the children in East Harlem are considered either overweight or obese. “When we say children, I’m talking about kindergarten children, we are talking about little kids,” Dr. Landrigan said. “This is a problem that begins early in life.”

The Growing Up Healthy study involves more than 300 children in East Harlem, and an additional 200 or so children in surrounding community.

The phthalate study follows a separate group of about 400 girls in the same communities, who range in age from 9 to 11.

One thing researchers have found is that the levels of phthalates measured in children in both studies are significantly higher than the average levels that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have measured for children across the entire United States.

The findings may presage a new approach to thinking about obesity — drawing environmental factors into a central part of the equation. “Most people think childhood obesity is an imbalance between how much they eat and how much they play,” Dr. Landrigan said.

But he thinks the impact of endocrine disruptors on obesity could be more significant than many people believe. “Most people think it’s marginal,” he said, paling in comparison with diet and exercise.

But he likened it with the impact of lead on a child’s I.Q. “Lead never makes more than 3 or 4 percent difference in margin, but 3 to 5 I.Q. points is a big deal,” he said.

Of course, at this stage, researchers cannot say if the exposure actually causes obesity, simply that it seems to be linked. “Right now it’s a correlation; we don’t know if it’s cause and effect or an accidental finding,” Dr. Landrigan said. “The $64,000 question is, what is causal pathway? Does it go through the thyroid gland? Does it change fat metabolism?”

The National Children’s Study, which will follow 100,000 children from across the country from birth to age 21, will look more broadly at endocrine disruptors and other issues.

“Some of the clues that come out of East Harlem will actually be pursued in the larger one,” Dr. Landrigan said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Landrigan advised people to reduce their exposure to phthalates as a precautionary measure. “You can’t avoid them completely, but you can certainly reduce their exposure,” he said.

It’s somewhat difficult to do, since many things do not contain labels identifying phthalates, and in the case of perfumes they can simply be labeled as “fragrance.”

Phthalates are found in certain personal care products (like nail polish and cosmetics), though recent regulation has encouraged companies to reduce or eliminate them.

They are also found in common everyday objects, including vinyl siding, toys and pacifiers. A number of environmental Web sites, including The Daily Green, have advised certain strategies, including learning to recognize the abbreviations for certain common phthalates and to prefer certain kinds of recyclable plastics over others.

Parabens in...: Toddler Toothpaste and Eye Makeup Remover

I am continually amazed to discover how many products contain parabens. I ran out of eye makeup remover ages ago and had pregnancy brain and couldn't remember to pick it up at the store the last few times I was there. Besides, I reasoned that I don't get myself together to the point where I actually get to apply my makeup most days, so it didn't seem pressing. But on a recent shopping trip to Target, I finally remembered to peruse the aisles. Literally every single eye makeup remover I picked up--Cover Girl, L'oreal, Physicians Formula, etc.--contained parabens and one even contained diazodinyl urea. Why? After circling the aisles in increasing desperation, I finally spotted an Almay brand--Almay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover--that was paraben free. I snatched it up. Comparable in price to the other eye makeup removers, this one contains no parabens and no urea, but the packaging doesn't advertise this.

Then I was looking for a toddler toothpaste for my son. We have little to no fluoride in our water because of a filtration system I put in place for that reason, and he's just about over the Jason/Earth's Best non-fluoride toothpaste. Toothbrushing is serious toddler business now, and he wants to move up from the farm league. So I perused the offerings at Target. Again, the paraben spectre reared its ridiculous head. Orajel's Toddler Training Toothpaste--in all flavors--contains parabens. And by the way, can we talk about the complete uselessness of flavoring toddler toothpastes with variations like "Berry Blast," "Bubble Burst," "Fruit Splash," and "Tooty Fruity"? Isn't the goal to get them to spit the toothpaste out, not ingest it like liquid sugar? But I digress. From the Orajel website, here is the list of inactive ingredients:

Inactive ingredients purified water, sorbitol, propylene glycol, glycerin, carboxymethylcellulose sodium, flavor, citric acid, methylparaben, potassium sorbate, sodium saccharin, propylparaben

.

I'm annoyed.

Just to reiterate, parabens mimic estrogen. This is a problem for many reasons. An example, a study published in 2004 (Darbre, in the Journal of Applied Toxicology) detected parabens in breast tumors. They can disrupt the endocrine system, and the jury is still out on how they affect fetuses and infants. But bear in mind that any chemical that affects an adult typically affects, to a greater degree, smaller people like children and babies. Parabens are found in the urine of most people, according to a CDC report.

Lesson: read the labels of everything. Reject anything that contains a paraben: butylparaben, methylparaben, etc, etc. Even if it means looking around the store for longer than you'd like to, or even postponing a purchase to buy it online.

Rocket Fuel in Formula: Part Deux

NOTE: Links below, including one that allows you to find out if perchlorate has been detected in your water:

The CDC reported last month (quietly, it seems) that scientists there found perchlorate or rocket fuel in several brands of formula, in levels that "could" exceed levels that are safe for adults. While this is terrible news, it is not exactly surprising. As I reported last year, percholorate is found in water supplies across the country and, as a result, in a lot of food. Much of this is due to contamination from defense contracting sites (which, incidentally, many of these contractors flatly refuse to clean up). Large amounts of the chemical can affect thyroid function but no long term studies have been done on the effects of ingestion over long periods of time or in babies. Note that this study did not assess the risks of Perchlorate, however. It merely showed that the chemical was present in baby formula.

What's even more useful (sarcasm intended) is that the author sof the study refused to disclose which formula brands contained the chemical. They only went so far as to say that it was cow milk-based formulas that contained the highest amount of perc.

If you feed your baby formula, don't panic. While I am a proponent of breastfeeding and believe it vastly superior to formula feeding, I am a realist. Not everyone can or wants to do it. If you are a formula feeding mom or dad, don't stop feeding your baby formula because of this report. He/she needs it if not breastfeeding, and the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks at this point. We simply don't know enough to make any informed decisions, such as which formula brands are the culprits. As an aside, I've seen several self-righteous blog postings by breastfeeding moms who say, 'whew, this is why I'm glad I breastfeed!' Sadly, breastfeeding does not keep our children safe from this chemical. If you drink water, you probably have perc in your system and that is probably excreted into your breastmilk. This was a sad realization I had when I was breastfeeding my son--although, luckily, the Tap Water Quality database indicates that the water I drink in my city is not contaminated by perchlorate. Nothing gets you on the bandwagon quicker than realizing that even breastmilk isn't pristine because of the industrial waste and exposure we are forced ot live with. This is why everyone--absolutely everyone--has a stake in getting this shit out of our groundwater.

My single biggest piece of advice, at this time, when it comes to perchlorate (and use the search field on this site to search for my earlier post on this chemical) is to get some kind of water filtration system. If you mix your baby formula with filtered water you will drastically cut back on the amount of perchlorate your baby is exposed to if you live in one of the parts of the country that has this problem. We have a Culligan system that costs $30 a month.

More information from the Organic Consumers Association on perchlorate contamination of our water and food supply. I also want to draw your attention to the inability or unwillingness of local and federal legislators to do anything about this issue. Only Diane Feinstein of California has had the balls to propose any kind of legislation that would force clean-up of these sites. Rest assured, though, that the media attention on this issue will suddenly make legislators very...attentive...to this issue. It would help, though, to send letters to your local and federal legislators. It's always important to write your local representatives because, as we've seen with BPA, sometimes the state governments and even municipal governments, take action before the sluggish federal monster awakens.

Finally, look up your state's exposure to perchlorate in the water supply at the National Tap Water Database. In Minnesota, for example, the cities of Moorhead and Minneapolis had perchlorate contamination of their water supplies. Click on "Find Your Water Company" to see the report on your city's water supply. You might have to search for perchlorate. For my city, for example, it was down in a long list of chemicals "tested for but not detected."

The (Pregnant) Compromises

Some of you who regularly follow my blog may have noticed that my postings have been scarce since January. There is a reason: I'm pregnant. And while I had morning sickness with my first baby, the first trimester of this pregnancy has been a different ballgame. The morning sickness rendered me mummy-like--totally useless and just taking up space. I had all-day morning sickness which became more debilitating as the day wore on. The fatigue was unlike any fatigue I've ever known.

Throughout these difficult 12 weeks, I did not gain a pound. In fact, I lost a few. And not because I wasn't eating. I tried to continue eating the various foods--healthy, organic, all the sorts of things I ate when I wasn't pregnant and which have become an integral part of my life, but the very thought of these foods soon became vomit-inducing. I couldn't bear to cook and couldn't bear to have my husband cook. The smell of cooking food was enough to drive me to my bed. My mom took to making casseroles for us, but she had to cook them at her house. Soon my diet consisted of Kettle potato chips, Dilly Bars, and, to my great shame (having read Fast Food Nation), McDonalds. I literally could not bear anything else. The insistent drumbeat urging me into the drive through was impossible to ignore. And this is exactly the kind of food I steer clear from--non-organic milk, meat that is likely NOT antibiotic and hormone-free, etc. But I ate there. And I ate there a lot. It was the only thing I could keep down, and as soon as I had that first French fry in my mouth, I had the relief a heroin addict must feel when that needle goes in his arm. My husband, who, if given the choice between a McDonalds extra value meal and a bowl of earthworms might actually choose the worms, was, I'm sure, horrified. But: care? I didn't.

Luckily, now at fourteen weeks, these cravings have disappeared and I can cook again. However, the whole situation made me think about my whole you-must-do-this-during-pregnancy ethos. While I was able to follow most of my own rules: no paraben-containing body lotions or cosmetics, no phthalate-containing personal products, organic milk only, organic fruit, and so on, when the going got really rough, I did what I had to do. And this, to me, is an excellent illustration of the principle of doing what you can. Many people have e-mailed me since I started this blog saying they are overwhelmed by all the toxins (toxicants) they have to avoid, the cost of organic foods, the cost of safe baby products, and so on. My response is always to do your honest best with the resources you have. The short-term goal is to minimize exposure. We don't have to be, and we can't, be perfect.