Activistas

Kid Safe Chemical Act: A Real Solution

Awhile back we bemoaned our nation's ancient and seriously inadequate toxics law and dreamed of overhauling the clunker.  More recently I ranted about bisphenol-A.  Well, mamas, rather than tossing  more dangerous products and calling for the good folks in DC to think about change, three U.S. Representatives recently introduced a delightfully progressive, comprehensive bill could really and truly help.  And all we have to do is help pass the thing. 

Nothing to it!  'Cause all you need to do for now is know about this excellent bill.  Read about this excellent bill.  Talk about this excellent bill.  And, when it moves, when a vote is on the horizon, let's be at the ready to pick up the phone, send that e-mail, make that in-person meeting to tell the Oregon delegation - loud and clear - how very much this matters to you.  To us.  To all parents everywhere. 

Read all about it.  Environmental Working Group is hard at work on this one, mamas.  Check out its 1-page fact sheet so you know how this bill differs from the ineffective 1976 law we're working from now.  And if you've no time to sit & read (imagine!), you can listen to EWG's Mixed Greens episode on Kid Safe from 6.17.08.  Here's how they describe the situation:

I've long wondered about food dye... you?

Just last week my kids combined water and food coloring in our 4-compartment popsicle maker - one color per compartment.  Great, messy stuff.  Next day we froze it "to see what'll happen," then inevitably they got eaten because, well, they look like popsicles.  I let it go, but was more than a little uncomfortable with them eating food coloring.  "But, Mama, it's for food, it's supposed to be eaten."  Right.  Once again, I am uncomfortable with approved, "safe" products.  And this time, it's not just me.

Check out this recent CBS News short and the call from Center for Science in the Public Interest to ban eight food dyes in all foods because it might cause hyperactivity in kids.  Yeah, the FD&C color listed in so. very. much. of our food.  Nutritional content?  None.  Good lookin'?  Check.  Get rid of it?  Why not?  It's not exactly in the USDA Food Pyramid, mamas. 

FD&C is short for the Federal  Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, hardly a far-reaching piece of legislation.  The FDA's explanation of why we need to dye our food includes this excellent excuse: 'Color is an important property of foods that adds to our enjoyment of eating. Nature teaches is early to expect certain colors in certain foods, and our future acceptance of foods is highly dependent on meeting these expectations.'

rBGH: Is it in your fridge? Do you care?

What's rBGH?  Does recombinant bovine somatotropin sound yummy?   Yes, yet another confusing item on the food label these days.  This one is limited to the dairy case since it's a synthetic hormone that jacks up cow milk production.  I avoid it when I can because I generally avoid any scheme that food manufacturers employ to jack up production and profits.  Call me crazy, but I don't trust 'em.  And for the record I am one of those save-the-animals types, but in this case it actually hits pretty close to home.  Having nursed my children for a total of 4+ years, I know what full breasts feel like, and I know what overfull-got-to-feed-the-baby NOW breasts feel like.  Point being, I empathize. 

So if you're like me and try to keep this recombinant business out of your fridge and your children's bodies, check out this excellent list of rGBH-free products and the local stores that carry them.  It was prepared by the renowned (and local, natch!) Campaign for Safe Food, a project of Oregon chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Do you worry about rGBH?  Can't be bothered?  Think it's no biggie?  Do tell.  My husband might disagree, but I just might be able to pry open my mind.