Blog Posts by HealthyChild.org

healthychildby Margie Kelly, Communications Manager, Healthy Child Healthy World

September has arrived. I've been so caught up with back-to-school preparations for my children that I haven't had a chance to think about much more beyond the chaos in my house: setting new routines, figuring out car pools and bike routes, and helping with homework. It's a hectic time.

But those thoughts vanished after I remembered that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. President Obama set aside the month "to remember the young lives taken too soon, stand with the families facing childhood cancer today, and rededicate ourselves to combating this terrible illness."

Childhood cancer is terrifying. While rates of other types of cancer have leveled off, the incidence of childhood cancer has been rising at a consistent rate over the past few decades. Here are the facts:

• Nearly 11,000 children under age 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2012.
• That means 46 children are diagnosed with

pregnancyDo you remember the moment you first learned you were pregnant? After the shock and awe period passes, pregnancy is the perfect time to commit to eliminating toxic chemicals from your food, home, and personal care products.

Making your daily routines as healthy as possible during pregnancy will make you feel better and will go a long way toward protecting your unborn child from toxic chemicals like BPA, mercury, phthalates and more, all of which have been found in the bodies of pregnant women. Clearing out chemicals from your daily routines now is good practice for creating a healthy home environment for your newborn baby, who will be particularly vulnerable to harmful chemicals found in everyday products.

Over the years, Healthy Child has gathered some excellent pregnancy advice from our experts and friends. Consider these tips for a greener, healthier pregnancy:

Avoid pesticides
A recent scientific study showed a pregnant woman's exposure to pesticides posed risks to a developing

cornBy Gigi Lee Chang, CEO, Healthy Child Healthy World

Healthy Child Healthy World was founded by Nancy and Jim Chuda, two incredible people who lost their 5-year-old daughter to cancer. Nancy and Jim transformed their grief into action twenty years ago by launching this organization to teach parents how to prevent children's exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment.

As CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, I'm inspired by Nancy and Jim and parents everywhere working to make the world a safer, healthier place for children. Healthy Child Healthy World wants every child to have the opportunity to grow-up in a healthy and safe environment free of toxic chemicals.

Childhood cancer. The thought of it sends shivers down my spine, but for thousands of parents a child's cancer diagnosis is an unwelcome reality. Consider these facts:

· The highest incident rate for leukemias is found in children aged 1-4 years old. Leukemias account for 34 percent of childhood cancer incidence
· Cancer is

healthychild.orgby Margie Kelly, Communications Manager, Healthy Child Healthy World

We know a lot about how toxic chemicals hurt kids. Babies are born with more than 200 chemicals in their bodies. Rates of childhood cancer keep rising, while other types of cancer are holding steady or declining. Every ecosystem, person and animal on the planet is contaminated with toxic chemicals. It's not just factories that harbor dangerous chemicals; our couches, lotions, household cleaners, toys, building materials, canned foods and more in our homes are made with chemicals known to harm human health.

We live in a stew of toxic chemicals. There are 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States but only 200 of them have been tested.

How did this happen? One big reason is that the national law that is supposed to protect us from toxic chemicals is a total failure. Passed in 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act has been rendered essentially toothless, with no authority to ensure the safety of

meatby Margie Kelly, Communications Manager, Healthy Child Healthy World

If you're a meat-eater, it's better for your health and the planet to buy antibiotic-free meat and poultry. That might be tough to do, given that 80 percent of the antibiotics in use are fed to animals raised for food to keep them growing faster and to prevent them from getting sick in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

A recent poll released by Consumer Reports found a majority of people polled want more access to antibiotic-free meat. Eighty-six percent of respondents want meat and poultry free from antibiotics to be available in their supermarkets, but only 57 percent were able to find it in their local market. Seventy-two percent of those polled were extremely concerned that the extensive use of antibiotics in animals is creating superbugs that cause illnesses antibiotics can't cure.

It's a legitimate concern because drug resistance is already here.

Bacteria are becoming more resistant to antibiotics, making it

couchby Margie Kelly, Communications Manager, Healthy Child Healthy World

That little white label on your couch indicating that it meets flame retardant standards might have reassured you that you would be protected from fire. But would you feel safe knowing the same label meant your couch contained pounds of toxic flame retardants that studies show harm human health and the environment?

My guess is no.

Virtually every couch in America has been infused with millions of pounds of toxic chemicals due to a little known California regulation that has become the de facto standard for the country, Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117).

After nearly 40 years, the days appear to be numbered for TB 117, thanks to California Governor Jerry Brown's decision to revise the regulation and "find better ways to meet fire safety standards without the use of dangerous chemicals." This one act will have a monumental impact on products such as couches, car seats and other baby products made in the U.S. that contain

Paint Bucketsby Margie Kelly
Communications Manager
Healthy Child Healthy World
www.healthychild.org

There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to improve the look and feel of a room. In the process of making your home beautiful, however, you don't want to contaminate the air you breathe for days or even years by choosing paints that aren't healthy for you or the environment.

A major health concern when painting is the increased presence of volatile organic compounds - or VOCs. VOCs are primarily synthetic compounds emitted by paints, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, vinyl, air fresheners, and more that make your throat hurt or eyes itch; over the long term, they are suspected to cause cancer in humans.

Even when you're not removing or applying paint to your walls, the levels of VOCs in your home average two to five times higher indoors than outdoors, according to the EPA. Painting and stripping off old paint raises the levels of VOCs in your home considerably.

Bottom line: VOCs should

beachby Janelle Sorensen, Healthy Child Advisory Board Member

The dog days of summer have arrived early at Chez Sorensen and my girls are practically living in the pool. I love that they're spending oodles of time outdoors, but we're going through copious amounts of sunscreen and my kids aren't exactly fond of the laborious effort it takes to slather their bodies repeatedly throughout the day.

Being 9 and 12 (almost), there's a lot of surface area to cover and during that time they have ample opinions about how the process could be improved. Their questions this year actually prompted some interesting conversation about sunscreen safety and issues that most people probably don't know, but definitely should.

1. Slathering is safer than spraying.

Of course my daughters would far prefer a quick spray down instead of the lengthy manhandling process I put them through. And, frankly, I would too! But, spraying means breaking down the product into tiny particles, and tiny particles mean easy