The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Woodstock Percussion Inc., of Shokan, N.Y., today announced a voluntary recall of Calypso Steel Drums. Hazard: Surface paint on the recalled toy drums contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

Description: The recalled steel drum is made of steel and comes with two wooden drum sticks and a wooden stand. The sides of the drums are painted red. The drum pan is painted black with silver markings to show the location of notes. Each rim is stamped with a #5 or #6. Not all drums stamped with a #5 are affected by this recall. 

Click here, for more information on the recall and on how to return the product.

Health Canada is warning parents not to give cough and cold medication to children under six-years-old.

"Based on (our) review, we have come to the conclusion that these products should not be used in children under the age of six," Dr. Marc Berthiaume of Health Canada told CTV News.

Officials have found very few studies that prove cough and cold products work effectively on children. Meanwhile, the numbers of children harmed by medication overdoses and by rare side effects has risen.

Over the course of a 13-year period, Canadian officials received reports of 164 negative reactions from children who were given cough or cold remedies.

Those reactions included heart problems, hallucinations and convulsions.

More troubling, five deaths have also been linked to various cold and cough products.

In a press release Thursday, Health Canada said it is raising the age limit after having conducted further analysis of available information.

In light of the decision, manufacturers must now show the age warning on all cough and cold medicines for children. They have until fall 2009 to update the labels.

The products must also have "enhanced labelling" for children ages 6 to 12, child resistant packaging, and dosing devices for liquid formulas.

The agency is also reminding parents that the common cold is a viral infection for which there is no cure.

"Symptoms can also be managed using a variety of non-medicinal measures such as adequate rest, increased fluid intake and a comfortable environment with adequate humidity." source

Despite a decade-old voluntary ban in North America, Health Canada tests found three-quarters of soft plastic toys and items for young children for sale in Canada contained toxic chemical additives known to cause reproductive harm in children.

Phthalates, a chemical family used to soften plastic, were present at elevated levels in the department’s sampling of 54 of 72 products for children 3 and under made of the widely used plastic known as polyvinyl chloride. They included soft vinyl toys that are likely to be mouthed, like bath toys, and items designed to help in feeding, sleeping or relaxation.

The levels ranged from 0.2 to 39.9 per cent by weight of the PVC in the products.

All these toys and children’s products with phthalates for sale in Canada have been banned by the European Union since 1999, and will soon be banned in the United States, where a prohibition modelled on Europe’s comes into effect in February.

Health Canada conducted the market survey in the last year to find out whether toys banned in Europe were still readily available in Canada, and "understand what manufacturers are using instead of phthalates," say minutes of a meeting of Health Canada officials released under Access to Information.

The department declined to release further details about brands and retailers.

"What these results mean is that many toys on sale in Canada are illegal to sell in the European Union and George Bush’s government has said that they are too toxic to be on sale in the U.S. as of February. So why do Canadian kids deserve less protection than George Bush is giving to American children?" asked Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence.

Phthalates are not chemically bound to the plastic to which they’re added, so they continuously leach from the products. The process speeds up when young children suck on items like bath toys.

Scientists have long known that large doses of some phthalates can cause cancer, but low-level exposure to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals blocks production of the male sex hormone testosterone.

"It’s not an exaggeration to say this is a crisis for Canadian kids," said Smith, co-author of the forthcoming book Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health.

"The Canadian market is going to be the recipient of an avalanche of nasty, toxic toys that have been rejected by the rest of the industrialized world, starting this Christmas season." To read the full story, click here.

Not that our children should be eating fast food, but if they do, the good news is that Burger King Corp. said it is cutting the amount of sodium in its kids meals and promoting menu combinations with less than 650 calories.

High levels of sodium can lead to higher blood pressure, which is a key ingredient in heart disease and strokes.

We can only hope that other fast food restaurants will follow suit.

For 200 years, chlorine bleach has been the go-to chemical for obliterating germs, but scientists are just beginning to uncover how the caustic stuff kills bacteria and other microbes.

A team of molecular biologists has now revealed part of the process by which bleach eliminates microbes by accident.

Jakob and her team were studying a bacterial protein known as heat shock protein 33 (Hsp33), which acts as a "molecular chaperone," protecting proteins from reactions that could harm them. Hsp33’s role is particularly important when cells are under stress, for example when temperatures rise because of a fever.

"At high temperatures, proteins begin to lose their three-dimensional molecular structure and start to clump together and form large, insoluble aggregates, just like when you boil an egg," said study lead author Jeannette Winter, one of Jakob’s postdoctoral researchers. Like a boiled egg, those proteins can never revert to their previous state, and the stressed cells eventually die.

While using bleach will certainly kill the germs on your kitchen counter or in your tub, it is also hazardous to the environment after it’s washed down the drain, as well as to your health if the room you’re working in isn’t properly ventilated.

Cleansers with bleach also promote a climate of germophobia in America, some experts have said, noting that you only need to wipe away the germs, not kill them. Using antimicrobial products excessively can contribute to antibiotic resistance by weeding out the weaker germs and leaving only the ones that are harder to kill. Source

LITI VILLAGE, China — Li Xiaokai died of kidney failure on the old wooden bed in the family farmhouse, just before dawn on a drizzly Sept. 10. She is survived by her twin.

Her grandmother wrapped the 9-month-old in a wool blanket. Her father handed the body to village men for burial by a muddy creek. The doctors and family never knew why she got sick. A day later, state media reported that the type of infant formula she drank had been adulterated with an industrial chemical.

Yet the deaths of Xiaokai and at least four other babies are not included in China’s official death toll from its worst food safety scare in years. The Health Ministry’s count stands at only three deaths.

The stories of these uncounted babies suggest that China’s tainted milk scandal has exacted a higher human toll than the government has so far acknowledged. Without an official verdict on the deaths, families worry they will be unable to bring lawsuits and refused compensation.

So far, nobody is suggesting large numbers of deaths are being concealed. But so many months passed before the scandal was exposed that it’s likely more babies fell sick or died than official figures reflect. To read the complete story, click here. Our hearts go out to Li Xiaokai’s family.

In recent months there have been many food items recalled from North American shelves because they have been manufactured in China and contaminated with melamine.  Our children do not have to be exposed to this dangerous chemical. Click here, to read our orginal story about the chocolate coins.

Melamine is an industrial chemical that some Chinese milk-based product manufacturers have added to their product in an attempt to artificially inflate the reading for protein levels. Chronic exposure to the compound can cause a number of health issues including bladder or kidney stones, acute kidney failure, reproductive damage, respiratory irritation and bladder cancer. Melamine has been discovered in a number of Chinese manufactured products that are formulated with milk, including baby formula, ice cream, and chocolate coins.

Chocolate coins exported from China have been the only ones linked to the melamine scandal.

To make sure that you and your family are not exposed to harmful melamine, do your research before you put that chocolate into your mouths.  One company that does provide a guaranty, is the Chocolate Coin Store. 

http://chocolatecoinstore.com

Images in Chocolate (www.gocandy.com), a 15-year-old Houston, TX-based chocolate manufacturer marketing their chocolate coins online at ChocolateCoinStore.com spoke about the recent scare. “This is an isolated case of chocolate coins manufactured in China,” said Tim Dugan, CEO. “Our chocolate coins are made with 100% Belgian Callebaut chocolate and contain absolutely no melamine whatsoever…never have, never will.” On October 8, 2008, Canada’s food inspection agency issued a consumer advisory warning the public not to eat Sherwood Brands’ Pirate’s Gold milk chocolate coins imported from China. “The chocolate coins we produce are of the highest Belgian quality,” stated Dugan, “Only the purest ingredients are included in order to make our chocolate coins with the highest standards possible.”

For US consumers, knowing that your chocolate coins are made with 100% Belgian chocolate should allay any fears regarding its safety. “Our corporate mission has always been to emphasize quality above all else,” said Dugan. “Our decision to use Callebaut chocolate, a 150-year manufacturer and the choice of world-renowned chefs and chocolatiers was an easy one for us. Their commitment to the highest standards in chocolate production is unrivaled.”

Health Canada has ordered thousands of toys and children’s costume jewellery items off store shelves after a Star investigation found they contained dangerously high levels of lead.

One of the items is a baby pacifier that was sold at Everything For a Dollar in Scarborough. Another is a scrapbook charm sold at Dollarama that was so poisonous Health Canada determined a child could die from swallowing the penny-sized bauble.

Health Minister Tony Clement called the Star’s findings "deeply disturbing" and said enforcement of leaded products is not good enough. He pledged to introduce a law to better protect consumers.

The recalled products include:

• An orange mini hockey stick with "Canada" painted on the shaft in black letters. The black paint contained 10 times the legal limit for lead. Health Canada said that since April, 3,240 of the sticks had been distributed to retailers nationwide.

• A jewellery kit bought at west-end toy store Animal Crackers. The kit, billed as "Lead Free," contained a pendant that tested at nearly double the legal limit for lead in children’s jewellery. The necklace clasp tested at 150 times the limit. Health Canada says 5,940 of the kits have been sold across the country since September 2004.

• A pewter scrapbook charm sold at Dollarama that tested at 77 per cent lead. If swallowed, the penny-sized accessory – which has "laugh" engraved on one side – could be fatal. Health Canada said that 11,776 of the items hit Dollarama shelves starting in May 2007.

• A pacifier from the My Baby brand sold in Everything For a Dollar. The orange plastic mouthguard of the pacifier contained more than 10 times the proposed legal limit of lead. Health Canada announced that as a precautionary measure, importer OPC is extending the recall to include My Baby pacifiers with guards of all colours. About 10,000 of the pacifiers were sold from April 2007 to October 2008.

Lead can damage the most vulnerable without warning. Experts say sucking on or mouthing a lead-laced toy can cause damage that might not be readily apparent to caregivers or doctors. Possible symptoms of lead poisoning – such as irritability, a drop in IQ and poor school performance – could easily be confused with other ailments. Repeatedly sucking on or swallowing heavily leaded items can bring on a range of symptoms, from prolonged vomiting, diarrhea and cramping to possible death.

Of the seven products the Star featured in its recent investigation, the federal government issued recall notices for five and is in the process of issuing a recall notice for another – a cuddly, China-made husky dog dressed as a Mountie. The Star bought the $20 stuffed toy in a souvenir store in Terminal 3 at Pearson airport. Its belt contained lead.

The government did not recall a Hannah Montana bracelet bought at Wal-Mart. The Star tested the bracelet’s rhinestones using two high-tech methods and found lead at 445 times the legal limit. Health Canada said its test did not reveal lead over the federal limit.  Source

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Carter’s, Inc., of Atlanta, Georgia, are advising parents and caregivers that they have received reports that babies and infants have developed rashes on the upper back after wearing Carter’s clothing with heat-transferred, or “tag-less,” labels.

This advisory applies to Carter’s Fall 2007 product line. The Fall 2007 line utilizes a label on the inside back of the garment that has a raised surface with a solid, rather than a stenciled, background. This advisory does not apply to previous and current product lines, which utilize labels with stenciled backgrounds.

For more information about the recall, click here.

A head-first trip down a water slide might sound exciting but it can cause serious spinal cord injuries, Turkish researchers warn.

In a report in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, Doga Gurkanlar, of Baskent University in Ankara, and his team described neck injuries suffered by four men who were injured on water slides.

Each man had taken a head-first dive down the slide, which in a normal water park consists of a long trough or tube with flowing water that ends in a relatively shallow splashdown pool.

They were hurt when their necks were suddenly bent forward on impact with the pool. Injuries included broken vertebrae and slipped discs in the neck and damage to surrounding nerves.

"It would be wise," Gurkanlar said, "for parks to make the risk of paralyzing injury clear to patrons."

One man treated by the researchers was unable to move his arms after the injury, while another lost movement in all of his limbs. All the men suffered some loss of sensation and movement in the upper limbs, and all required surgery.

Diving into too-shallow water is the most common cause of spinal cord injury reported in medical literature, according to the researchers.

But, they added, spinal injuries of the neck are the most common injuries seen at water parks and most of the injuries are irreversible. More 90 per cent result in quadriplegia, Gurkanlar’s team said.

They suggested water parks put up more signs warning about the dangers of diving head first on water slides.  Source

The nation’s leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases.

To meet the new recommendation of 400 units daily, millions of children will need to take daily vitamin D supplements, the American Academy of Pediatrics said. That includes breast-fed infants — even those who get some formula, too, and many teens who drink little or no milk.

Baby formula contains vitamin D, so infants on formula only generally don’t need supplements. However, the academy recommends breast-feeding for at least the first year of life and breast milk is sometimes deficient.

Most commercially available milk is fortified with vitamin D, but most children and teens don’t drink enough of it — four cups daily would be needed — to meet the new requirement, said Dr. Frank Greer, the report’s co-author.  Vitamin D is sold in drops for young children, capsules and tablets.  Click here, to read the full article.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is a devastating occurrence in which healthy babies under the age of one year die in their sleep without warning. Sometimes referred to as crib death, SIDS is one of the most difficult experiences any parent can go through and the cause of death within the infant is often a mystery to doctors and parents alike.  Pediatricians have found that there are ways to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and one of these preventions is allowing an infant to use a pacifier when he or she is sleeping throughout the first year of life. The use of a pacifier by an infant when sleeping may help to save his or her life and prevent him or her from being a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Source

BELTSVILLE, Md. - Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be sold for young children because they are unproven and can be dangerous, doctors and consumer advocates said on Thursday, despite objections from industry representatives.

Experts urged U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials to ban sales of the products, which take in billions of dollars in annual sales and include versions of Wyeth’s Dimetapp and Procter & Gamble Co’s NyQuil, for children ages two to six.

"Cough and cold medications . . . have not been proven to be effective and they have clear risks. It is time for them to be reevaluated," Dr. Wayne Snodgrass of the University of Texas Medical Branch, said at an FDA meeting to discuss whether the nonprescription remedies should be sold for children.

Parents who smoke cigarettes around their kids in cars and homes beware – second-hand smoke may trigger symptoms of nicotine dependence in children.

The findings are published in the September edition of the journal Addictive Behaviors in a joint study from nine Canadian institutions.

"Increased exposure to second-hand smoke, both in cars and homes, was associated with an increased likelihood of children reporting nicotine dependence symptoms, even though these children had never smoked," says Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin, senior author of the study, a professor at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and a researcher at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal.  Click here, to read the full story.

Personally, I have lost too many people to cancer to ever dream of picking up a cigarette.  If you smoke, visit the cancer ward at your local hospital, it might get you thinking!

It’s hard to keep your cool when your child is burning up. Before you panic, remember: a fever is not an illness. It’s usually just a sign that your child’s immune system is fighting off a bacterial or viral infection. Most of the bugs that cause a fever — such as a cold, the flu, a stomach virus — aren’t dangerous and are treatable at home.

Check your child’s other symptoms. How she acts and feels is usually a better indicator of how sick she is. (In fact, if your child has a high fever that doesn’t mean she’s sicker than if she has a low-grade one.) "If your child is lethargic, irritable, has a sore throat, ear or stomach pain, or pain when she urinates, call your doctor. (Can’t find any obvious source of infection? That also warrants a call.) And always get help immediately if you have a feverish baby under 3 months old, no matter what her symptoms are. Infants that young are more susceptible to certain types of infections, so your pediatrician needs to rule out serious illnesses right away. Source

When 4-year-old Riley Jackson started having behavior problems in preschool, his teacher suggested he get checked for lead poisoning. His mother, Maija, was stunned when the blood test showed that Riley’s lead level was indeed very high — and she frantically tried to pinpoint the cause. The Jacksons’ Baltimore home, built in 1980, showed no traces of the poison, and Riley’s older brother was lead-free too. But Riley loved to put jewelry and small toys in his mouth — and his parents finally discovered that there was lead in one of his favorite beaded chain necklaces.

Lead is one of the biggest environmental hazards for kids. More than 310,000 American children ages 6 and under have been diagnosed with lead poisoning, which can cause lasting learning and behavior problems. And as the Jacksons learned, your child could be at risk even if there’s no lead paint in your home. In the past few years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has increased its testing of kids’ jewelry, toys, and even products like sidewalk chalk — and recalls have skyrocketed. The dangerous products were almost all manufactured in China and India, where safety oversight is lax. This year alone, the CPSC has issued 27 different lead-related recalls for kids’ products, including 1.5 million Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys in June, and 17 jewelry recalls. Leaded jewelry is particularly dangerous because kids tend to put it in their mouth. In fact, a 4-year-old boy in Minnesota died of lead poisoning last year after swallowing a charm, which Reebok gave away with some of its sneakers. Source

Doctors in Prince Edward Island want the provincial government to ban the sale of caffeine-laden energy drinks to kids.

Caffeine not only causes behavioural problems in children, said Dr. Bill Scantlebury, the president of the P.E.I. Medical Society. They also pose serious health risks, too.  Many energy drinks contain more caffeine than the recommended daily limit for adults, Scantlebury said.  "We see kids, youth and some athletes drinking two or three of these before an event, believing they’re going to get more energy out of it," Scantlebury told CTV.  "But they’re really putting themselves at risk for some heart rhythm disturbances and blood pressure issues." Energy drinks are positioned in stores next to candy in an attempt to attract younger consumers, Scantlebury said. "It’s just like what cigarette companies did years ago. They know if they get them hooked early they’ll have them hooked for life."  Source

U.S. researchers want warning labels put on the cans so that people will know what they are consuming.  Some cans can contain six to fourteen times the caffeine than one can of soda!  What do you think?  Should the government step in?

The controversy over bisphenol A, the widely used chemical that makes plastic baby bottles and other food containers shatter-resistant, continues to grow.

Despite government assurances that low levels of the synthetic material don’t harm humans, consumer groups and parents worry that BPA can leach out of plastic and become toxic, especially to babies. And a new study, released today, looked at urine samples in Americans and found that the higher the level of BPA, the more likely they were to have diabetes, heart disease and certain liver problems.

Children later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis had far lower levels of vitamin D than other youngsters, Canadian researchers reported yesterday in studies showing more links between the "sunshine" vitamin and disease. These were the first studies to show the effects in children, although others have shown that adults who live in northern latitudes, who get less sun exposure, may have a higher risk of MS.

They also support a growing body of studies linking low vitamin D levels with disease, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and tuberculosis.

Vitamin D, produced by the body when skin is exposed to sunlight, and also found in fatty fish, is added to other foods in many countries. Evidence suggests it helps lower blood pressure and boost the immune system. Several studies presented at a meeting on MS in Montreal showed that children had low levels of vitamin D when they began to show evidence of the disease.

The next step is to see if giving vitamin D supplements prevents MS or helps relieve symptoms,  To read full story, click here.

Children given acetaminophen during the first year of life to reduce fever are more likely to develop asthma later on, a new study finds.