Healthy Child Healthy World

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Green Tip – The Presidents Cancer Panel

May 12, 2010 in Environment, WDAY Green Tip by Wendy Gabriel | 3 comments

by Wendy Gabriel

GREEN TIP: If you haven’t read the latest report from the President’s Cancer Panel click on http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/pcp.htm and go to Annual Report for 2008 – 2009.

The report was published last Thursday and some of the highlights are:

The Panel was particularly concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated. With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.
Most also are unaware that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults.
The American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continually with myriad combinations of these dangerous exposures (to environmental toxins).
Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain nearly 900 active ingredients, many of which are toxic. Many of the solvents, fillers, and other chemicals listed as inert ingredients on pesticide labels also are toxic, but are not required to be tested for their potential to cause chronic diseases such as cancer.
Many known carcinogens first identified through studies of industrial and agricultural occupational exposures have since found their way into soil, air, water and numerous consumer products.
Some toxins have adverse effects not only on those exposed directly (include in utero), but on the offspring of exposed individuals.
The Panel urges the President most strongly to use the power of his office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.

This report echos everything I’ve been writing about for years. I’m feeling extremely hopeful about the President’s Cancer Panel findings in that it opens up this dialogue at a level that should make people sit up and take notice. No longer can we blindly use toxic chemicals around children. I’m also curious to see what the ramifications of this report will be.

Now armed with this information, we need to stand up and demand that safer alternatives be used in our communities. We all deserve to live free of toxic chemicals, especially our children. Contact your school, ask what cleaning products are being used around your children. Contact your park district, ask what kind of pesticides are being used around our children. Let your voice be heard.

A few great resources to help you arm yourself with knowledge (including the aforementioned report):

Healthy Child Healthy World: They are leading a movement that educates parents, supports protective policies, and engages communities to make responsible decisions, simple everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements to create healthy environments where children and families can flourish.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG): Their mission is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. Their number one organizational goal is to protect the most vulnerable segments of the human population—children, babies, and infants in the womb—from health problems attributed to a wide array of toxic contaminants.
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ): see below

My Green Side’s web pick of the week:

The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ)
CHEJ’s overarching goal has consistently been to prevent harm—particularly among vulnerable populations such as children. If a safer process, material or product exists it should be used. They believe that everyone, regardless of income, race, religion, or occupation, has a right to live, work, learn, play and pray in a healthy community.

Editor’s Note: Each Wednesday My Green Side brings Simple Tips for Green Living to The Christopher Gabriel Program. We also highlight a favorite green site each week. You can stream the segment at approximately 1020am (CDT) every Wednesday at WDAY.com.

Tags: Annual Report 2008-2009, Healthy Child Healthy World, Presidents Cancer Panel, The Center for Health Environment & Justice, The Environmental Working Group

Will You Heed The Wake Up Call? (video)

February 8, 2010 in Health, Parenting by Wendy Gabriel | 2 comments

by Wendy Gabriel

Like millions of parents, I had my wake-up call when I was pregnant with my first child. The wake-up intensified when my second daughter had a less then favorable reaction to her Well Baby shots when she was one years old. At that point I began looking at everything that went into, on or around my daughters little bodies. I was horrified at some of the toxins that are prevalent in a baby’s world.

One of the places I’ve found to have incredible and timely information for parents is Healthy Child Healthy World. They are an organization you can depend on to have the health of our children forever present in their minds and hearts:

We’re trying to wake-up as many people as we can to the issue of chemicals in everyday products and get them engaged in our community to vote with their dollars in the marketplace and vote with their voices when push comes to shove with the flurry of bills being introduced to Congress this year.

What’s more important than the health of our children? Wake up!

Tags: Healthy Child Healthy World, toxins, video

Green Tip – Avoid Genetically Modified Ingredients

September 23, 2009 in Environment, WDAY Green Tip by Wendy Gabriel | 5 comments

by Wendy Gabriel

Editor’s Note: Each Wednesday My Green Side brings Simple Tips for Green Living to The Christopher Gabriel Program. We also highlight a different favorite green site each week. You can stream the segment at approximately 1020am (CDT) every Wednesday at WDAY.com.

GREEN TIP: Avoid genetically engineer food.

A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, hence they are also known as transgenic organisms. This process may be called either Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM); they are one and the same.

Source: Institute for Responsible Technology

The hype surrounding GM agriculture was that these new crops would be of increased nutritional value and would increase productivity. They would be able to grow in the desert and feed the worlds hungry. This, however, is not the reality. The only advantage is to the companies selling the seeds.

According to the Institute of Responsible Technology, ”the two main traits that have been added to date are herbicide tolerance and the ability of the plant to produce its own pesticide. These results have no health benefit, only economic benefit.”

Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods and blogger at Huffington Post, writes “Unless we want to wait until more studies are done, risking allergies and immune dysfunction, infertility, infant mortality, or poorer health inherited by the next generation, we will have to opt out of the GM food experiment. Without required labels, it isn’t simple.” And the U.S. doesn’t currently require GM foods to be labeled as such.

Children are especially susceptible to the effects of GM foods.

Top Ten Genetically Engineered Food Crops from Healthy Child Healthy World

• Corn: Our number-one agricultural commodity. In 2000, 79.5 million acres of harvested cropland in the U.S. were corn, 25% of which was genetically engineered. This includes Bt and Roundup Ready corn varieties.

• Soy: The number-two U.S. agricultural commodity. Sixty percent of processed foods contain soy ingredients, and 82% of edible fats and oils consumed in the U.S. are soy-based. In 2000, 54% of the 74.5 million acres of soybeans grown in the U.S. was Roundup Ready soy.

• Potato: Currently, the only GE potato is a Burbank Russet variety, marketed under the name NewLeaf. This Bt-producing plant is lethal to the Colorado potato beetle – and possibly to beneficial insects.

• Tomato: The first GE tomato, the Flavr Savr, was introduced commercially in 1994, but flopped because it proved tasteless. Since then, other varieties, including a cherry tomato, have been genetically engineered to delay ripening and extend shelf life.

• Canola: Of the 15 million acres of canola grown in the U.S. and Canada annually, 35% is GE, mostly for herbicide-resistance.

• Cottonseed Oil: In 2000, 61% of the 15.5 million acres of cotton grown in the U.S. was genetically engineered. Every year, half a million tons of cottonseed oil makes its way into salad dressings, baked goods and snack foods. About 1.4 million tons of cottonseed meal is fed to livestock annually.

• Papaya: More than one third of Hawaiian papayas have been genetically engineered to withstand the papaya ringspot virus. Organic papaya growers in Hawaii worry that the pollen from GE papaya trees will contaminate their crops.

• Radicchio: Currently one variety of radicchio, called Seed Link, has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glufosinate.

• Squash: Several varieties of summer squash have been genetically engineered to resist mosaic viruses. Some scientists are concerned that resistance to the virus may spread to weedy relatives, such as gourds, found in the U.S., creating invasive superweeds.

• Salmon: A company called Aqua Bounty has engineered a salmon with genes from two different fish species so that it grows much more quickly than non-GE salmon. The company now seeks FDA approval to market this fish for human consumption. Escaped into the environment, (which is inevitable on fish farms), the GE fish may be larger and more aggressive, eat more food, and mate more often, though their offspring are less fit to survive in the wild, raising the possibility of wild species extinction. Human health effects are also relatively unknown. Currently, research on transgenic strains of 35 fish species world-wide is underway.

Source: Healthy Child Healthy World

Download the Institute for Responsible Technology’s Non-GMO Shopping Guideto make sure you avoid foods made with genetically modified organisms.

My Green Side’s weekly website pick:

Healthy Child Healthy World
Their mission is to ignite a movement that inspires parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals.

Tags: genetically modified organism, Health, Healthy Child Healthy World, Institute for Responsible Technology, Jeffrey M Smith, The Christopher Gabriel Program

Do You Know a “Mom On A Mission?”

July 30, 2009 in Environment, green by Wendy Gabriel | 1 comment

Our inspirational friends at Healthy Child Healthy World announced their first ever search for a “Mom on a Mission.”

In October 2009, the Healthy Child benefit gala will honor one special and inspiring American woman who is dedicated to creating “healthier and happier environments for children and families.” This amazing woman will be flown to Los Angeles for a luxurious and eco-friendly 2 night stay and be presented with the first ever Healthy Child Healthy World “Mom on a Mission” award.

If you know (or are!) an incredible mom, submit your application today! Here’s what you need to know:

Judging criteria: They are seeking a heart-lifting, true story that both moves and inspires us by sharing a mother’s work to create healthier environments for children and families.

Who is a candidate: Any exceptional mother (currently living in the United States) who seeks to make a difference for the better, generously gives back to others, or overcame adversity with courage.

How to enter: Only ONE nomination per person is allowed. Please enter by sending your “heart-lifting, true story” to award@healthychild.org. Submissions should be no more than 750 words in length.

Deadline for Nominations: August 15, 2009, 11:59pm PST.

Learn more at healthychild.org

Image: Heallthy Child Healthy World

Tags: Healthy Child Healthy World

Green Tip – Green Cleaning

July 8, 2009 in Clean Green, WDAY Green Tip by Wendy Gabriel | 2 comments

by Wendy Gabriel

GREEN TIP: Switch to green cleaning products to improve your health, lessen adverse environmental impacts and save money.

Did you know 25% of chemicals in the cleaning products used in schools are toxic and contribute to poor indoor air quality, smog, cancer, asthma, and other disease? There is a better way to clean. Source: Cleaning for Healthy Schools

According to Janelle Sorensen with Healthy Child Healthy World, “Luckily, safer cleaning products are now widely available and cost effective. As a result, child care centers and schools across the country are switching to green cleaners to improve health, increase staff performance, lessen adverse environmental impacts, reduce potential liabilities, and save money.”

Janelle wrote a fabulous article entitled, “Getting Your Child’s School or Child Care Center to Clean Green.” on the Healthy Child Healthy World’s blog. She gives us the steps on how to get your childcare provider or school to make the switch:

1. Get informed. Use the resources linked here to get up to speed on the benefits of going green and the tools available to help schools and child care centers make the switch. It’s much easier for them to address the “problem” if you have solutions in hand.

2. Talk to someone with the authority to do something. That may be your school’s superintendent, a school board member or the manager of your child care center, or they may direct you straight to whomever is in charge of maintaining the facility.

3. Approach every person you talk to as an ally, not an enemy. Remember the fundamentals of How to Win Friends and Influence People – like not criticizing people, showing appreciation for their work, smiling. Trust me, you will get much farther much faster if you employ kindness, gratitude, and diplomacy. You want to be seen as an invaluable asset, not as an incessant nag.

4. Give people the benefit of the doubt that they are doing their job to the best of their ability. School and child care professionals are typically overworked, underpaid, with a lot to do and inadequate funding to get it done. Make yourself available. Keep asking “what can I do to help?”

Here are some of My Green Side’s favorite green cleaning tips:

Tub and tile cleaner: Use half a lemon with a sprinkle of baking soda on it to scrub your tub and tiles. I also clean my kitchen sink and counter tops using this method.

Oven cleaner: Sprinkle baking soda in your oven and spray it with water, making it into a paste. Let it sit, periodically spraying it when it dries. Then wipe off. Your oven will be sparkling clean without the toxic fumes.

Window cleaner: Fill a spray bottle with water and ¼ cup white vinegar. Use a soft cloth or newspaper to wipe.

Also, check out The Green Guide, it has some great DIY Household Cleaners including this great tip: spraying hydrogen peroxide and vinegar right after one another is just as effective at killing germs as lung-irritating, stream-polluting chlorine bleach.

My Green Side’s weekly website pick:

Green Living Ideas
A great site that provides ideas, tips, and information to help you improve the environmental sustainability of every aspect of your life: home energy, green building and remodeling, cars, food, waste recycling—and everything in between. They’ve assembled the world’s top green living authors and experts to bring you the latest info on green and sustainable living.

Green Living Idea’s editorial voice is driven by founder Sean Daily, and implemented by an amazing staff of regular and guest bloggers.

Tags: green, green cleaning, Healthy Child Healthy World, Janelle Sorensen, non-toxic cleaners, The Christopher Gabriel Program

Four Questions with Janelle Sorensen

May 27, 2009 in Four Questions, Health by Wendy Gabriel | 2 comments

by Wendy Gabriel

Janelle Sorensen is the Senior Editor and Outreach Strategist for Healthy Child Healthy World. She also freelances and volunteers for others trying to make this world a better place (often from a laptop in her living room as her daughters run circles around her).

How do you make your day-to-day life a little greener?

Every day is different. The common theme is consciousness. I try to stop and think about what I’m buying, doing, or eating and the broader impacts it may have on health and the environment. I’m still far from perfect (my thoughts don’t always match my actions), but I’m making progress.

I love the Healthy Child Healthy World mission: to ignite a movement that inspires parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals. What would you tell people about the importance of using non-toxic substances for the health of themselves, their families and the Earth?

Our personal health is intimately connected to the health of our environment. If we create pollution or buy products with toxic ingredients, these contaminants end up in our air, food, and water, which means they end up in us – messing with our hormones, immune systems, reproductive systems, and brains. Every choice we make has an impact. We can make choices that are healthful or harmful. It’s that simple.

What have you found to be your biggest challenge as you create a healthy environment for your own family?

Cost is often a big obstacle. Luckily, we’ve found alternatives that actually save us money like growing our own organic produce and hitting the thrift stores for clothes. Still, sometimes you have to buy new things and typically the greener options are more expensive. If I can’t afford it, I know many others can’t either. I’ve decided the best thing I can do is to help be a part of changing the system so that everyone can create healthy environments for their families. I also try really hard to find the most affordable solutions to share at HealthyChild.org. We do the research so you don’t have to!

Healthy Child Healthy World is such an amazing organization. How can people get involved?

Host a Healthy Home Party, tell your friends and family about HealthyChild.org so they can start living greener, or donate. (The recession is straining our coffers, too!)

For more information about Janelle Sorensen or Healthy Child Healthy World visit their website or follow Janelle on Twitter.

Tags: green, Healthy Child Healthy World, Janelle Sorensen