The Dirt on Kids' Health

Heading Out + Resources

2010-05-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'm heading out on a one year leave of absence, "relaxing" with new twin babies on the way. Please check back here occasionally, as other Dirt Alert staff may use this blog as a spot for updates, and I might even hop back on myself once in awhile. In the meantime, here are some websites to keep you posted on the Dirt Alert program, and the latest children's environmental health news:

TPCHD's Dirt Alert page

WA Department of Ecology's Dirt Alert page

Z Recommends

Healthy Child, Healthy World

EnviroMom

Take good care. :-)

Sunshine on my Shoulders

2010-05-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

There are some hints that summer is on the way, and I was surprised to see I actually had a bit of a tan line around my watch after playing outside for much of last Friday afternoon. If you're getting ready to stock up on this summer's batch of sunscreen, check this out first to be sure you're getting the best protection with the least amount of yucky chemicals, for your kiddos and yourself.

Safer Plastics - Bisphenol A

2010-05-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

By now you've likely heard about Bisphenol-A - or BPA. While you may not know what it is, it's hard not to notice all the baby feeding and teething gear touting itself as "BPA Free" these days - which is a good thing! Why? BPA is a chemical that can disrupt hormones in our bodies, and even very small amounts of it might cause health problems for babies down the road. BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate is the hard, clear plastic that many baby bottles and reusable water bottles were made of until a year or two ago. BPA can leach from these bottles into the liquid you or your baby is drinking. If you've got hand-me-down Avent bottles from a friend's three year old, they've got BPA in them (and if they're yellow or scratched up, it's even more prone to leach out). Leaching increases if bottles are heated (including in the dishwasher), and as they age. These problems could include early onset of puberty, early mammary gland development, decreased testosterone and sperm production, changes in immune system function, and behavioral effects including hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, and impaired learning. To avoid BPA in baby products, don't use polycarbonate bottles or sippy cups, particularly if they are old or scratched. Choose new bottles that are BPA-free, or make sure that your hand-me-down bottles are safe choices. Don't heat foods in any type of plastic. Heat liquids and foods in glass or ceramic and then transfer into plastic when they are cool enough to drink or eat. BPA is also used as a lining in most canned food. To find out which choices are safer, look here or here. To read more about BPA including the latest studies on health effects, check out Our Stolen Future or delve further into the links above.

Farmers' Market Season!

2010-05-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

If you're in the Tacoma area, Farmers' Market season has already begun - my favorite time of year! The Proctor Farmers' Market has been going since late March, and other Tacoma markets are opening soon, including the brand new Sunday South Tacoma Market beginning June 20th. If you're not in this area, check Local Harvest to find a farmers' market near you. Get to know your local farmers, find great local and organic produce, meats, cheeses, and baked goods, take home a bouquet of flowers, dawdle over lunch - such a fun time for the kids, too!

Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit

2010-05-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

We are lucky to have a Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) locally at the University of Washington. The PEHSU offers consultations with pediatricians, toxicologists, and other UW faculty when you need to assess health risks from short and long-term environmental exposures. They also provide education and clinical assistance. Check out their website to learn more about what they do. For consultation and clinical assistance call 1-877-KID-CHEM.

Green Living at the Spring Fair

2010-04-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

If you're heading out to the Puyallup Spring Fair today through Sunday, don't miss the Pierce County Livable Communities Fair in the Centennial Building. Local organizations, agencies, and vendors - including some of our friends from the Healthy Kids and Green Parenting Fair - will be sharing information on green and sustainable living. This should be a great event, and you can enjoy a scone on top of it :-).

A break in the blog

2010-04-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give you readers a heads up that at some point before June, this blog will be going on a bit of a hiatus. Your friendly writer is expecting twins and will be taking a year's leave of absence from the Health Department. Please do check back occasionally, as I expect this will be a space for announcements about the Dirt Alert program from other staff, and I may hop on myself once in a while to post links I think are important.

Lead

2010-04-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

We’ve talked a bit about lead in soil from the ASARCO smelter. If you live in a home built before 1978, there are very likely elevated levels of lead around the foundation of your home even if you’re not in our soil safety project area – in the “drip line” where years of leaded exterior paint flaked off into the soil. Other sources of lead that may come to mind are peeling interior paint and the many recalled toys of a couple years ago. Did you know that, even with new laws in the works and in place, there are still frequent recalls for lead in toys and other consumer products? You can sign up here for emails from the Consumer Product Safety Commission alerting you of recalls, as well as search older recalls if you’ve got a product you’re concerned about or you’re looking at purchasing used items. When you think about lead paint, you probably picture children eating paint chips or gnawing on windowsills. Even more likely, when old doors, cabinets, or wood frame windows with lead paint layers “rub”, is the production of fine leaded dust that lands on windowsills, countertops, and floors. Other common lead sources are cheap jewelry (from vending machines, dollar stores, and accessory shops aimed at young girls), imported candies, certain home remedies, and older or imported glazed pottery and dishes.

The Centers for Disease Control considers a blood lead level of 10 µL/dL (micrograms/deciliter) or below to be safe. Higher blood lead levels can cause learning and behavioral problems, damage to the brain and nerves, lower IQ, slow growth, hearing problems and headaches. But, there is no “safe” level of lead in a child’s blood and research has shown that there can be health impacts at levels below 10 µg/dL. Some experts in the field of children’s environmental health think the number should be dropped to 2. Children with high levels of lead in their bodies generally do not look or act sick. Symptoms of lead exposure are appetite loss, abdominal pain, constipation, fatigue, sleeplessness, irritability, and headache. If you have a toddler, chances are they have at least some of these symptoms several times a week, totally unrelated to lead exposure!

You can ask your pediatrician to give your child a blood lead test. Depending on your doctor, this may be a simple finger prick or a venous blood draw.

The Environmental Protection Agency suggests the following ways to keep your child safe from lead:
* Make sure your child eats healthy, low-fat foods high in iron, calcium, and vitamin C. Low levels of these nutrients make a child’s body more likely to absorb lead.
* Always wash hands before eating and after playing outside. Wash children’s hands, bottles, pacifiers, and toys frequently to remove lead dust.
* Do not use imported pottery, which may have lead glaze, to serve or store food.
* Do not eat candies imported from Mexico or use alternative medications like Azarcon or Greta.
* Let tap water run for one minute, or until very cold, before using for the first time in the morning and after you’ve been away for the day. Use only cold water for drinking, cooking, and making baby formula. Older pipes may have lead solder. Water that hasn’t been turned on for several hours, and hot water, is more likely to contain lead from pipes.
* Regularly dust windowsills and other surfaces with a damp cloth, and damp mop floors, to reduce lead dust.
* Take shoes off when entering your home to avoid tracking in lead and other contaminants.

Host a Green Cleaning Party for Earth Week

2010-03-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

We've talked a bit about green cleaning and making your own cleaners. Hopefully you've tried a couple and are liking them? If so, or if you need a good kick start to try some out, spread the green cleaner love a little and host a green cleaning party for Earth Week - April 19th through the 25th! Read more about hosting a party and download party supplies from Women's Voices for the Earth. This is a fun activity for a small to medium sized group, and if you can't host a party during Earth Week, do it another time - add it on to book club or poker night! My only caveat - I've heard from one person that the homemade laundry detergent clogged up her washer, so maybe skip that one. The other green cleaning recipes are simple, cheap, and work well. Have fun!

Infantino Slingrider Recalled

2010-03-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

From The Sling Lending Library:

Infantino has finally recalled more than 1 million of their Slingrider "slings"! The bag-style sling-like devices have finally been pulled from the market. Please read the AP news article for details.

The company will take back your slings and offer you another product (PLEASE no more of their carriers!) in exchange.

Ebay has already pulled the carriers from their site, Amazon hadn't as of this posting and they are still on Craigslist - although some nice person has posted the recall on that site.

If you'd like to print cards to have on hand to pass out to any Slingrider owners you may run into, updated cards (including recall info) can be found here.

Happy, safe babywearing!

Don't miss the Fair this Saturday!

2010-03-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Really folks, you don't want to miss the Healthy Kids and Green Parenting Fair this Saturday, March 20th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the South Park Community Center (4851 South Tacoma Way). In addition to the baby carriers I mentioned below being given away between 11 and noon, there are other prize drawings every 15 minutes throughout the Fair, including cloth diapers, BabyLegs, and a nursing pillow. It's going to be a great event!

Safer Babywearing

2010-03-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has come out with a warning about certain types of baby slings leading to three infant suffocation deaths last year. I first heard the bad news about the popular "bag slings", or any sling that leads infants into a chin-to-chest position, from Tanja of The Sling Lending Library at the first Healthy Kids and Green Parenting Fair, in November of 2008. Don't miss Tanja at this year's Fair, coming up this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the South Park Community Center (4851 South Tacoma Way). In addition to having her full array of slings and carriers and sharing tips and tricks for successful babywearing, she's coordinating a babywearing fashion show at 11 a.m. She'll talk more about the dangers of bag slings and show you the correct ways to carry infants in slings, as well as demonstrate the joys of toddler wearing (and maybe even a preschooler or two!). Don't miss the Fair, and all the better if you can make it for the fashion show. Door prize drawings from 11 to noon include a sling, wrap, pouch, and soft structured baby carrier. If you are lucky enough to win, Tanja can show you how to use your prize! Hope to see you all there.

Healthy Child, Healthy World

2010-03-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Just a quick tip today, to direct you to one of my favorite organizations and websites: Healthy Child, Healthy World. Always a great source of information, including a recent article on the Top Ten Toxic Products You Don't Need and the very cool, interactive Health eHome. Their book is a fantastic baby shower gift, and their new video makes me cry, and is a great one to pass on to your friends. Check it out!

Green Spring Cleaning

2010-02-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

While we’ve got another several weeks before it’s officially spring, the fantastic weather this weekend - and sunshine streaming in through fingerprinted windows - has many of us thinking about freshening up our homes inside and out. When you’re tidying up inside, don’t automatically reach for a spray bottle of store-bought cleaner – they’re full of chemicals that aren’t listed on the labels that can be toxic to your family’s health, and their harmful fumes can aggravate asthma and allergies. To add insult to injury, most cleaners have synthetic fragrances – and hormone disrupting phthalates as fragrance carriers – added to try to mask the chemical smells. Go easier on your family, and your wallet, by cleaning your home with some simple recipes you can mix up yourself. I’ve been cleaning my home for the past several years with nothing more than white vinegar, baking soda, a can of Bon Ami, and a bit of castile soap. For a full library of great “green cleaning” recipes, check out Oregon Metro’s web site. Here are a couple of my favorite mixtures:

All-Purpose Cleaner: Add ½ cup vinegar to between 1 cup and 1 quart of warm water. (I just glug vinegar into my spray bottle about 1/3 of the way up, and then top off with water. I use this for windows, mirrors, bathrooms, counters, spots on the floor…)

Drain Cleaner: Pour ½ cup baking soda down the drain, followed by ½ cup vinegar. Cover the drain and let it sit for 15 minutes. Follow with a kettle full of boiling water. (The vinegar and baking soda make the “volcano” reaction that you might have used for an elementary school science project – fun for your kids to watch!)

If you need to disinfect, spray the area with vinegar, followed by 3% hydrogen peroxide (the kind you’d find at any drugstore), wait a minute or two and wipe clean. Don’t store the vinegar and peroxide in the same spray bottle. This has been tested by a food scientist at Virginia Tech, and when I spoke with her she said it would work as well as any commercial disinfectant. Super cheap too! Read more about the problems with standard disinfectants in the recent report by Women’s Voices for the Earth, Disinfectant Overkill.

Healthy Kids and Green Parenting Fair - Saturday, March 20th

2010-02-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendars and tell your friends about the upcoming Healthy Kids and Green Parenting Fair, sponsored by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. This year's fair will be held on Saturday, March 20th, 2010. It will be in the auditorium at the South Park Community Center (4851 South Tacoma Way) and will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

The fair is a place to learn about protecting your child from toxins in the environment, and to find resources to help you make healthier, greener choices, like safer toys and personal care products, natural yard care, organic foods, cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and babywearing. We will have free lead testing of toys and other consumer products as well as free blood lead testing for children and pregnant or nursing moms. There will be a babywearing fashion show at 11 a.m. and drawings all day for really fantastic door prizes including an organic ERGObaby Carrier, Sleepy Wrap, cloth diapers, Hotsling, BabyLegs, organic cotton baby clothes, and a nursing pillow/cover. Free eco-friendly art supplies for the first 50 kids attending!

Contact Chris Matter-Rinehart for more information at 253-798-6492 or cmatter@tpchd.org. See you there!

How Not to Freak Out!

2010-02-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

In recent weeks we’ve talked about simple ways you can protect your family from arsenic and lead in soil. In upcoming posts, we’ll start learning about some other chemicals and toxins in our environment that can affect children’s health, and talk about relatively easy changes you can make to protect your family.

Please don’t get overwhelmed and feel like you have to make all changes at once. Here are some things to think about:

*Baby steps are a big deal! Every small change you make really does add up to a healthy difference for your family, and often for the planet. One of my favorite blogs is EnviroMom. The two Portland moms who write it are huge subscribers to the baby step approach, and will admit to hardly being “green” before they took a Master Recyclers course a few years ago. Their blog is filled with really easy little changes (Air out your house! Wash and reuse baby wipes! Try growing your own tomatoes!) and some bigger ones too (Reduce your garbage to one can a month!) that demonstrate how baby steps add up, and eventually might even make the bigger changes seem easy.

*Knowledge is power I’m a big believer in sharing as much information as I can with parents so they can make the choices that work best for their families. I work for the government, and I’m telling you that the government is not protecting our children from all of the potential environmental hazards out there. There are some new laws in the works that will help, but at this point it’s still really on us as parents to make the choices that will best protect our kids. We can’t do that without a lot of information.

*Do what works for your family With so much information, you might feel like you need to completely overhaul your life/cupboards/refrigerator/toy box. If that works for you and makes you feel better and you can afford to, go for it. But some of the things we’ll talk about cost more money (replacing plastic storage containers with glass, choosing organic produce, buying new baby bottles), and some take more time (building raised beds for your garden, vacuuming more frequently), and some just won’t work for you or your children (your toddler hates the cloth doll you bought and only wants his ratty old vinyl baby doll). I encourage you, and will encourage you again and again, to not get overwhelmed and to do what works for your family. Make the changes you can now, make more when you’re able, and know that you’re doing your best. Here’s a personal example:

I was off work for about five months after my son was born, and then came back three days a week. He was nursing at home, but would need to have a bottle the days I was at work. When he was born almost four years ago, it was still hard to find baby bottles made without Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical you’ve probably heard about and that we’ll talk about in more detail soon. I was hoping to use glass bottles, but my husband could not get him to drink from one at home. About $100 and a big bag from Babies-R-Us later, we found a bottle he’d drink from. Turns out it wasn’t one that contained BPA, but if it had been that’s what I would have sent him to daycare with. I knew a bottle with BPA wasn’t the best choice for him, but I also knew he needed to drink milk when he was away from me. We were making a lot of other “safer” choices at home that I felt would even things out to some extent.

I hope this blog is a source of information that helps you “even things out” for your family! Soon we’ll start diving in to some of the major chemicals of concern, and I’ve got exciting news to share about an upcoming event where you can learn lots more about making safer, healthy choices for your kiddos.

More Healthy Actions

2010-02-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

This week we’ll finish up our list of Healthy Actions – simple things you and your family can do to reduce contact with arsenic and lead – and other chemicals – in dirt. We’ve already talked about taking off shoes in the house, washing hands with plenty of soap and water, eating a healthy diet, cleaning house, and keeping pets clean. This week we move outside the house.

* Maintain Your Home and Yard Cover bare patches of dirt in your yard with a ground cover like grass, gravel, or wood/mulch product. Even better, choose native plants – they require less watering and maintenance. By covering bare patches that might otherwise be ideal spots for kiddos and pets to dig and play in, you’ll help protect your family from arsenic and lead in two ways – breathing it in while playing in it, and tracking it into the house. A safer choice is to fill a covered sand box with clean play sand.

It’s also important to maintain the painted surfaces of your home. Homes built before 1978 were likely painted with paint containing lead. When lead paint chips or wears away, it becomes a major source of lead, both inside and outside the home. Even if you maintain the paint now, if you live in an older home, there’s a decent chance that at some point lead paint chipped, peeled, or was pressure washed off your home and landed on the dirt around the foundation of your home, contributing to high lead levels in that dirt today. It’s best to discourage children from playing in this “drip line” near the foundation, or to plant low-maintenance plants surrounded by weed fabric and mulch to block access to the dirt.

* Garden Safely Always wear shoes and gloves when gardening or working in the soil and take them off before coming into your home. You can find child-sized gardening gloves, but they can be hard to keep on – try, and be extra-vigilant about hand washing.

Grow your produce in raised beds built with arsenic-free materials. Treated wood produced before 2004 contained chromated copper arsenate, a chemical preservative containing chromium, copper, and arsenic – not something you want seeping into your vegetables. New treated wood is safer, but untreated wood is the best choice. We’ve been very happy with our now five year old cedar raised beds, and they are showing no signs of deteriorating. When purchasing soil to fill your raised beds, ask where it came from to make sure you’re getting clean dirt that won’t be contaminated with arsenic or lead!

Arsenic and lead may be in dust and dirt found on the surface of fruits and vegetables – more likely if you are not growing in raised beds filled with clean soil, or if you’ve got bare patches nearby that contaminated dust could be blown over from. There is a slight chance that leafy vegetables, like lettuce or kale, grown in contaminated soil may absorb very small amounts of contaminants. Wash all fruits and vegetables to make sure all dirt is removed from the surface. Use a scrub brush on potatoes, carrots, and other sturdy vegetables and fruits. It’s important to remember to wash all fruits and vegetables, whether home-grown or store-bought, organic or conventional, to remove any bacteria.

Are you wondering if I really don’t ever eat a cherry tomato fresh off the vine? I do, and so does my young son, but I wipe them off on my shirt first – and we definitely don’t eat sandwiches or crackers or any other snacks until we’ve taken a break from gardening and gone back inside to wash our hands well. Next week we’ll talk more about how to make decisions about risks from environmental hazards without getting totally paranoid (and never enjoying a sun-warmed tomato again!), taking baby steps (maybe I should be wiping that tomato with a damp rag or rinsing in a container of clean water in the garden), and making healthy choices that work for you and your family.

Healthy Actions, Continued

2010-01-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

This week we’ll talk about some more Healthy Actions – simple things you and your family can do to reduce contact with arsenic and lead – and other chemicals – in dirt. Last week we covered taking off shoes in the house, washing hands with plenty of soap and water, and eating a healthy diet. This week we’ll go over a couple of cleaning tips, and next week we’ll move outside the house.

*Mop, Dust, and Vacuum People and pets track in dirt or it can enter your home in the form of small dust particles through windows and doors. Dust and dirt settles on carpeting, throw rugs, curtains, and upholstered furniture, as well as windowsills and bookcases. If you’ve established a shoes-off policy, you are ahead of the game here, as you’re definitely stopping a lot of dust and dirt at your door. I can attest from personal experience, though, that even with shoes off you’ve probably still got a lot of dust hanging around the house! Weekly vacuuming with a HEPA-filtered vacuum or extra thick vacuum bags will keep dust levels down in your home. The Dirt Alert program used to recommend vacuuming a few times a week, and if you are one of the lucky ones who manages to do that, kudos! Once a week is much more realistic – though even that can be a struggle if you’ve got a kiddo, like I do, who’s still so bothered by the noise of the vacuum that the weekly task involves having him away from the house or, more recently, the use of a stocking cap and tissues wadded up over his ears. Mopping and dusting are also important tasks, but make sure you always use a damp-mop or a damp dusting cloth. Feather type dusters and dry cloths send more dust out in the air to land somewhere else than they pick up. If you live in the Soil Safety Project Area send me an email at dirtalert@tpchd.org and I’ll send you one of the Dirt Alert Program’s great reusable damp dusting cloths – quite like the Sham-Wow, according to several infomercial watchers I’ve talked to!

One more very important thing to note about dust in your home – by reducing the contact your children have with house dust, you’re not only reducing their exposure to arsenic and lead, but to loads of other chemicals that collect in house dust – toxic flame retardants from furniture and electronics, and pesticides to name a couple. If you’ve got kiddos crawling or playing on the floor, getting dust onto their hands, putting their hands in their mouths…best to keep the dust to a minimum and wash hands often to keep chemicals out of their little bodies.

*Keep Pets Clean Pets walk, roll, and lie down in dirt and soil. When pets come into the house, their fur and paws bring in soil and dust too. Pup can’t kick his shoes off at the door! Brush and bathe your pet regularly and wipe off all excess dirt and mud before your pet comes into the home. It might sound silly, but I’ve got a coworker whose dog knows when he comes inside to stop on the interior doormat, lift his front paws to be wiped, then his back paws. This works best, admittedly, when you’ve got older kiddos who are also well-trained that this needs to happen when pup comes inside, but it doesn’t add a whole lot of extra work, or laundry, to the day. It’s also a good idea to restrict your pet to parts of your home that are free of carpeting and upholstery, and to give pets their own bed in your home.

Next week we’ll move out into the yard. Talk to you then!

Healthy Actions

2010-01-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, arsenic and lead contaminate the dirt in many areas of Pierce County. If you’re not a local reader, stick with us – the simple steps I’m going to suggest are good for protecting your kids and yourself from a host of other chemicals – the pesticides on your neighbor’s lawn, for example, and bacteria from pet waste. We call them Healthy Actions – simple things you and your family can do to reduce contact with arsenic and lead (and other chemicals) in dirt. Even relatively small changes can help everyone to reduce their risk of contact with harmful chemicals. This week let’s cover three:

* Take off your shoes Dust, dirt, and chemicals are tracked into your home on shoes. Leave your shoes at the door to greatly reduce levels of chemicals in your home. Provide a shoe rack, basket, or designated area for shoes near your door. If your guests see a pile of shoes by the door they are likely to take off their shoes too! If you aren’t ready to move to a shoes-off policy, use a sturdy “wipe-off” mat at the door, and really use it. The Dirt Alert program has two styles of door hangers that remind your family and encourage your guests to remove shoes. If you’re in the Soil Safety Project Area and you’d like one, send me an email at dirtalert@tpchd.org.

* Wash hands with plenty of soap and water It is never too early to get your kids into the habit of washing hands with plenty of soap and water. Always wash hands well before eating and after playing or working outside. Use a scrub brush to clean dirt out from under your fingernails. Hand sanitizer DOES NOT remove arsenic, lead, and other chemicals from hands, and should only be used to kill germs when soap and water is not available. In addition to washing dirt off hands, wash children’s toys, bedding, and pacifiers frequently, and wash heavily soiled clothing separately from other laundry.

* Eat a healthy diet Iron, calcium, and vitamin C help to decrease the amount of lead our bodies absorb. Your family should eat foods rich with these nutrients, like broccoli, spinach, potatoes, dairy products and citrus fruits.

Even these small, simple changes (okay, maybe simple except for getting your kids to eat spinach ;-) can make a big difference in protecting your family from chemicals. More Healthy Actions next week!

Healthy Holidays?

2010-01-14T07:28:00.000-08:00

If you’re like my family, even though you tried not to go “overboard” with gifts this holiday season, there are lots of new toys and doodads around your house. How do you know if they’re safe and healthy for your kids to play with? Here are a few web sites that can help you find out:
* www.cpsc.gov (or click here to get straight to the toys) lets you check to see if any of the new toys and games in your house have been recalled for safety reasons. Recently recalled toys include snap beads, workshop sets, and pirate action figures. You can also sign up for email notifications of recalled toys and children’s products at www.recalls.gov.
* www.HealthyToys.org has test results for loads of toys and children’s products that haven’t been recalled but might still have unsafe levels of chemicals that can harm kids. Chemicals tested include lead, mercury, and brominated flame retardants, among others. See this page for more in-depth information on the chemicals tested for and why they are worrisome (we’ll talk more about these chemicals in the coming months). This website also lets you nominate products for testing, and even check if there’s lead in a toy by sending a text message.
* www.zrecsguide.com lists well over 1,000 children’s products in its Guide to Safer Children’s Products. The guide is skewed towards baby products, so it’s a great spot to check on infant and toddler toys, baby bottles, and the like. A great one for expectant parents!
Bookmark these web sites, and others as we cover them, so you can check them out next year before gift-giving season arrives.

Recall on organic baby food - sold at local Target stores

2010-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

Just in case you've got some pouches of HappyBaby or HappyTot organic food in your pantry (purchased only at Target stores in the following locations: Redmond, Issaquah, Northgate Way Seattle, and Marysville), thought you should know:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 13, 2010 - New York – Nurture, Inc., is voluntarily recalling selected varieties and date codes of HAPPYTOT Stage 4 and HAPPYBABY Stage 1 and Stage 2 pouch meals with date codes expiring between November 2010 and January 2011. These products are being recalled due to a packaging defect that potentially could cause the pouches to swell or leak. Swollen or leaking pouches could indicate that the products may contain bacteria that could potentially cause illness.

No illness has been reported. The products were sold at less than 300 retail locations nationwide.

Potentially affected varieties include:

Green bean, pear & peas, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00127 9;
Sweet potato, carrot, apple & cinnamon, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00128 6;
Spinach, mango & pear, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00129 3;
Butternut squash & apple, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00130 9;
Banana, peach, coconut & prunes, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00131 6;
Banana, peach & mango, NET WT. 4.22 OZ. (120g), UPC 8 52697 00132 3
Mango, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00134 7
Spinach Mango Pear, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00139 2
Apricot Sweet Potato, NET WT. 3.5 OZ. (99g), UPC 8 52697 00136 1

The above meals are packaged in plastic pouches with plastic caps.

To determine if a specific product is part of this voluntary recall, consumers should examine product packaging for expiration date codes between November 2010 and January 2011. These dates are printed as the first seven characters of a 15-character string, as illustrated in the accompanying illustration.

Less than half of one percent of the products sold to date is affected by this packaging defect; no other products sold by the company are affected. As standard practice for Nurture, all products sold are sent to a laboratory for food safety testing prior to market release and no harmful bacteria have been detected in damaged packages to date.

One consumer complaint was received regarding swollen and leaking pouches, and no illnesses have been reported. The company has worked quickly with the manufacturer to identify the cause of the malfunction and the issue has been resolved.

"We are committed to ensuring our organic foods are not only delicious, convenient, and as healthy as possible, but also delivered in the highest quality, dependable package for our youngest consumers," says Shazi Visram, Nurture, Inc.'s Founder and CEO. "As a mother-to-be expecting my first child to arrive any day now, I know firsthand how critical it is for parents to have complete confidence in the foods they serve their children. We stand behind our mission to provide only the very best, which is why we have taken the measure to voluntarily recall these products."

Nurture has worked with the contract manufacturer and the US Food and Drug Administration to resolve the matter.

While no illness has been reported, consumers who have purchased affected products should not consume or serve any swollen or leaky pouches and may return them to their place of purchase for a full refund or contact Nurture Inc directly for a full refund or exchange. Consumers with questions and would like more detailed information are encouraged to contact Nurture, Inc. at 212-374-2779, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The Dirt on Kids' Health

2010-01-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the blog! This first post will give you an idea of why we’re starting The Dirt on Kids’ Health. Local readers have likely heard of the ASARCO copper smelter. It operated in Ruston, Washington for almost 100 years before closing in 1986. Seven years later the “stack” was imploded. Built in 1917, the 562 foot tall smoke stack spewed lead and arsenic as byproducts of the copper smelting process. This lead and arsenic was carried by the wind and deposited on the ground throughout Pierce and King Counties and even into the northern portion of Thurston County (check out maps here). The Pierce County Communities most affected are Ruston, North and West Tacoma, Northeast Tacoma, University Place, Fircrest, Lakewood , Steilacoom, and parts of Gig Harbor, Fox Island, Anderson Island, Fort Lewis, and Dupont. Lead and arsenic remain in the dirt in these areas, and exposure poses health risks - especially for young children.

* Lead is linked to developmental disabilities in children and can lower I.Q.
* Arsenic can contribute to cancer later in life and may also contribute to heart disease.

Contaminated dust can be inhaled and is eaten when it gets on food, hands, or anything we put into our mouths. Kids under the age of 6 are at the greatest risk because they still put lots of things in their mouths and may not always remember to wash their hands before eating.

Scary, huh? None of us want our kids or ourselves exposed to toxins. But not quite as scary when you find out there are a lot of really simple things you can do to greatly reduce your family’s contact with arsenic and lead contaminated dirt. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s Dirt Alert program works with parents and childcare providers to help you protect kids from contaminated dirt by taking some simple steps we call Healthy Actions. We’ll go into these Healthy Actions in the weeks coming up, or you can visit our website right now to learn more.

What else can you expect to find here in The Dirt? Besides information on the Dirt Alert program and ways you can specifically protect your family from arsenic and lead contaminated dirt, we’ll cover lots of other ways you can protect your kids from toxins in our environment – from safer water bottle choices, to greener (and cheaper!) ways to clean your house, from the best art supplies for kiddos, to ideas for family outings to your local farmers’ market. Check in with us once a week or so, and if you have specific questions about the Dirt Alert Program, drop me a line at dirtalert@tpchd.org.