In the U.S., over 500,000 children are now taking antipsychotic drugs. Prescriptions are not just growing among teenagers, which is believed to be the developing stage for schizophrenia, but also among tens of thousands of preschoolers. For drugs with little study about their long-term side effects, isn’t it disconcerting how many young children are on antipsychotics?
Some doctors say extreme treatment is needed for some young children in school or daycare. But only some. By prescribing these drugs to younger and younger kids, there are risks to their fast-growing brains and bodies. Interestingly, boys are more likely to be medicated than girls.
Several critics have confirmed my skepticism with the growing prescription rate of antipsychotics. Is it simply easier to medicate — just sedate children — then actually deal with behavioral issues? As we know, doctors get kickbacks for prescribing certain drugs, and pharmaceutical companies would like nothing more than an entire nation dependent on their goods from a young age.
Even if antipsychotics are a good way to help kids with behavioral issues, is it worth risking the development of their growing minds and bodies?
Last week’s recall of half a billion eggs is pushing forward a lot of legislative reform in the way food safety is handled. But in the mean time, parents should keep an eye out to make sure they haven’t purchased any of the recalled brands. Here’s the most up-to-date list of brands with recalled eggs:
You might think it’s impossible to find a skincare line that meets the following requirements: Vegan, no chemicals, cruelty free, no preservatives, unprocessed and raw, no pesticides, no solvents, and even the glass container is recycled. But you’d be wrong! Steffany has found the Anthology Organic Skincare line.
And it’s even pretty inexpensive! And it’s even less expensive with the 25% off coupon code: ecobold25off at AnthologyPlace.com.
As always, you can see more reviews at Steffany’s website EcoBold.
Trampolines: every kid wants one, no parent wants to have it in their backyard. But it begs the question: are they safe? Spoiler alert: they’re not safe at all, even with surrounding safety nets. MomLogic asked pediatrician Dr. Gwenn for her input:
It never fails. In fact, not only can I count on this, so can you: Two kids plus one backyard trampoline equals injury. The injury can be mild to major and can involve one or more kids, but it WILL happen — and often includes sprains, contusions, lacerations, head traumas, spinal traumas, dislocations, bumps, bruises and concussions. Safety nets don’t prevent these from happening; they just prevent your kids from getting injured on the ground.
I don’t think it takes a pediatrician to see that trampolines are a terrible idea. Plus, most kids jump on them for five minutes, and if they don’t get injured, they get bored and never use it again. Then it turns into a giant leaf collector in the fall. Awesome. Thanks, trampoline.
BPA is a hormone-disrupting chemical that seeps into your food and water from plastics and cans. While manufacturers keep reassuring people that BPA is not harmful, new research keeps finding evidence that says otherwise. This morning, a study from Washington State University revealed that even small amounts of BPA have negative effects on the ovaries of female mice.
And the worst part is that the BPA exposure, which only takes 12 hours to affect the formation of eggs, gets passed not only from the mother’s children but to her grandchildren as well.
The research may have just been on mice, but yikes, there’s a reason we test mice first! The best way to avoid BPA exposure is to not use any food or drink containers that have the recycling code #7. Unfortunately, that includes a lot of canned foods and drinks, and while it might be impossible to cut all of those out of your diet, maybe cutting back isn’t such a bad idea.
Tobacco advertising is heavily regulated on TV, and there are movements to cut the amount of smoking out of movies. So what is Big Tobacco going to do to sell cigarettes to kids? Go on YouTube, of course.
Researchers from New Zealand discovered that 163 of the most popular and relevant YouTube videos linked to five big cigarette brands’ websites — Marlboro, L&M, Benson and Hedges, Winston, and Mild Seven. 71% of those were pro-tobacco, compared with the 4% that were anti-tobacco (the rest were neutral).
Tobacco makers “vehemently deny advertising on the internet,” naturally. And unfortunately, there’s no way to verify whether they are directly responsible. But Joe Camel was designed specifically to attract kids to cigarettes, so I’m not holding my breath.
Did you know tobacco companies were advertising to kids on YouTube?
Following yesterday’s massive egg recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is pulling 380,000 lbs. of deli meat off the shelves for fears that it may be contaminated with potentially fatal bacteria. The meat was distributed by Wal-Mart.
How dangerous is the meat? Apparently the bacteria — Listeria monocytogenes — can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but deadly disease. Other side effects are high fever, headaches, neck stiffness, and nausea. So if you purchased deli meat in the past couple months, be sure to check to make sure it’s not one of the recalled brands. Check the list after the jump. Read More
You can buy Four Seasons Natural Soaps at Art Fire, and use the coupon code videopromo for 25% off your order. As always, you can see more green reviews at Steffany’s website EcoBold.
We cover a lot of recalls on Life360 Now! but this is probably the biggest food recall in a very long time: half a billion eggs. And in case you needed reminding how many zeros are in half a billion, it’s this many — 500,000,000.
The FDA is recalling the eggs because it cannot determine the source of a salmonella outbreak that has made over 1,300 sick. According to the FDA, the investigation could takes month to locate the origin of the contamination.
It’s likely that your local grocery store has already removed any potentially infected eggs from the shelves, but it never hurts to make sure. On the label, check the plant number with the Julian Dates (see diagram) against this list from the FDA. And if you can’t check that list at the grocery store, don’t hesitate to ask someone working there just in case.
Steffany takes a look at Sigg’s line of reusable aluminum bottles and gives us a handful of reasons why we should NOT be drinking out of plastic bottles.
Last week’s 
Trampolines: every kid wants one, no parent wants to have it in their backyard. But it begs the question: are they safe? Spoiler alert: they’re not safe at all, even with surrounding safety nets. MomLogic asked pediatrician Dr. Gwenn for her input:
BPA is a hormone-disrupting chemical that seeps into your food and water from plastics and cans. While manufacturers keep reassuring people that BPA is not harmful, new research keeps finding evidence that says otherwise. This morning, a study from Washington State University revealed that even small amounts of BPA have negative effects on the ovaries of female mice.
Tobacco advertising is heavily regulated on TV, and there are movements to cut the amount of smoking out of movies. So what is Big Tobacco going to do to sell cigarettes to kids? Go on YouTube, of course.
Following yesterday’s massive egg recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is pulling 380,000 lbs. of deli meat off the shelves for fears that it may be contaminated with potentially fatal bacteria. The meat was distributed by Wal-Mart.
We cover a lot of recalls on Life360 Now! but this is probably the biggest food recall in a very long time: half a billion eggs. And in case you needed reminding how many zeros are in half a billion, it’s this many — 500,000,000.
