Blog Posts by HealthyChild.org

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Mommy Greenest:

My kids are sick of healthy lunches. They don't want organic soybean butter and Farmer's Market fig jam sandwiches, they want Lunchables: crackers, processed cheese, salty disks that pass for lunch meat and a whole lot of chemicals wrapped up in a plastic box. My son just confessed he's been dumping his organic carrot snacks in the trash (and I thought the ranch dip was decadent). My daughter's been trading her edamame for Twinkies. Forget the organic veggie chips I carefully stowed in wax paper bags-heaven for these children would be to open up their lunch boxes and spy a bright-orange bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

If you haven't been following the Cheetos controversy, last year's NPR exposé found the snack has addictive properties that I'm theorizing might be caused by an excess of red dye number five. Every time Angelina Jolie takes her brood out for a walk, the paparazzi snaps them snacking on the deep-fried, day-glo crunchies. And the

Nothing goes better with summer than soft sand and cool water. Use these tips to make sure you're swimming in safe waters.

• Pick a beach that is tested regularly for cleanliness and that notifies you when it is unsafe to go in the water. Contact your local or state environmental protection office or public health agency. Oftentimes you can do an on-line search of your favorite beach's name with the words "water quality" to find information.
• Wait at least 24 hours after a heavy rainfall before swimming. Heavy rains can stir up polluted sediment and cause sewage systems to overflow into storm drains.
• If possible, choose beaches that are away from urban areas or that have good water circulation.
• Avoid swimming in beach water that is cloudy or smells bad.

• Avoid swimming near storm drains.
• Look for trash and other forms of pollution like oil slicks.
• Check out the surrounding environment. What's adjacent to the water? Farmland or golf courses could mean high

This is an excerpt from our book, Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home

Melina Kanakaredes: Growing up in Akron, Ohio, right in front of a state park, I definitely had an appreciation for nature - playing outside until dark, the streetlights signaling it was time to come in, was one of the formative memories of my youth.

But that deep connection to nature came principally from spending summers in Greece with my grandparents, who were born there, and my extended family. Everyone in our village had a garden, and on Fridays we would pick our own grape leaves and eat them stuffed. I'd swim in the ocean and pull mussels off the rocks, which we'd cook for dinner that night. I'd bring buckets to the man with the cow for milk, and of course we always had locally made olive oil.

My parents referred to our diet as "peasant food," but it was delicious and fresh. I never once heard the word "organic," but we lived it. It just makes so much sense to live

Alex Formuzis,

The Environmental Working Group:

The Interphone Study Group, a 10-year, 13-nation scientific collaboration coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a United Nations agency, has wrapped up its work without determining conclusively whether link exists between cell phone use and head and neck tumors.

But some findings suggest that some heavy users might face increased risk of certain forms of brain cancer.

Kids are a special case - they talk a lot and are more vulnerable

Agency officials and lead investigator Dr. Elisabeth Cardis expressed concern about the undefined but troubling implications of heavy mobile use, particularly by young people.

Cardis announced that "because of concerns about the rapid increase in mobile phone use in young people − who were not covered by Interphone," she will direct a new project, MobiKids, to be funded by the European Union, "to investigate the risk of brain tumors from mobile phone use in

Are bugs bugging you? Don't reach for the DEET just yet. Try these easy tricks to safely prevent pests (and if they still come around, we have four tips to naturally soothe any bites or stings).

Tips to keep bugs from biting:

1. Protect your child by covering that delicate skin with lightweight, long sleeved shirts, long pants and socks. Insects may be attracted to floral prints. Choose light, solid colored fabrics.
2. Mosquitoes are usually most active at dusk and just before dawn. Avoid playing outside during these peak hours.
3. Keep your window and door screens in good repair. When possible keep your child protected indoors or behind mosquito netting.
4. If eating outside, use an outdoor fan to blow away mosquitoes.
5. To reduce mosquito breeding near your home, plant scented geraniums, lemon thyme, marigold, tansy, citrosa plants, sweet basil and/or sassafras.
6. Eliminate common mosquito breeding sites such as sources of standing water (old tires, pools, plastic pots,

Janelle Sorensen, Healthy Child:
I can tell you from first hand experience - heat stroke is no joke. I suffered through heat exhaustion (the precursor to heat stroke, which can be fatal) several summers ago and it was sheer misery. Worse than the worst case of stomach flu I've ever had. Perhaps you can imagine (please don't for too long.) Odd thing is, it was an extremely hot day and I spent most of it sitting idly in front of a fan. Heat injuries can really creep up on you, so please take a moment to understand what heat injuries are, how to recognize them and how to prevent them.

What Are Heat Injuries?
Here are the different types of heat injuries, according to Dr. Alan Greene:

It is important to recognize and treat heat exhaustion immediately.

Heat stroke is very serious. A person's temperature rises over 104 degrees and he or she has an altered mental status. 50 percent of those with heat stroke die from it. There are two types of heat stroke: exertional, with

Lisa Frack, Environmental Working Group:

Pretty much all I knew about sunscreen growing up was that SPF was some measure of how much sunburn protection came out of the bottle. Hard to believe that (way back) in those days the great debate was "6 or 8," not 30 or 50 (or 100!). We even busted out the baby oil on occasion (oh, the teen years!).

In case you, too, wonder exactly what "Sun Protection Factor" does, or how much you need, or whether it's a meaningful measure - and of what, these 4 questions are for you:

1. What does "SPF" really mean?
SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is a measurement of sunburn protection, which is primarily from UVB rays. If your skin would normally burn after 10 minutes in the sun, for example, wearing an SPF 15 sunscreen would theoretically allow you to stay in the sun for 150 minutes (10 x 15) without burning.

This is a rough estimate, however, and your own skin, the type of activity you do in the sun (i.e. one involving water or sweat), and

When I was a kid, my brother had guinea pigs. Fat little guys with stubby little legs that he desperately tried to train to do entertaining things like play soccer with a super ball and sniff out money (he was a little Alex P. Keaton-ish). In my innocent upbringing I would never have imagined conducting tests on our little friends.

But, alas, most toxicological testing relies on our mammalian relatives like my brother's guinea pigs. Using the little guys gives us some assurance about the safety of chemicals we surround ourselves with every day.

Yet, as we've watched with Bisphenol-A in bottles and formaldehyde in baby cribs and a host of other examples, studies are not providing an assurance of safety. And, if safety is not being demonstrated in the lab, but the chemicals are still allowed to be used in everyday products, that means WE have become the guinea pigs.

"Chemicals are everywhere around us, and many are simply not safe," said Richard Denison, Ph.D., Senior