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July 13, 2007
California nonsense
I couldn't have said it better myself: "Compared to the actual risks from fetal-alcohol syndrome, childbirth, second-hand smoke, particulates from smog and car pollution (widely correlated with increases in asthma), poor diet (the fastest way to poison your child given the rising numbers of children with diabetes), assault (homicide claimed 33 children aged between 1 and 4 in California in 2004), one could argue that the potential for adverse effects from rubber toys is hardly the most urgent public health issue facing California's children."
That's media watchdog Trevor Butterworth, writing in the Huffington Post, talking about the California bill proposing to ban toys and childcare articles containing phthalates. Our colleagues in California tell us there are some real burning health issues facing the state's children today – adequate insurance coverage, obesity, dental care are among the issues facing legislators. So they propose to ban rubber duckies and swimming pool floaties as their contribution to kid's health? We are told that Governor Schwarzenegger worries about his state's reputation for indulging in trivial nonsense – a bill to ban parents from spanking their children was probably this year's legislative low point. It failed. The phthalates ban should fail too.
Posted by Marian at 12:29 PM | Comments (1)
July 5, 2007
They’re not called urban legends for nothing!
Tap water in San Francisco is excellent -- 85 percent of its drinking water comes from the Yosemite Valley. So it is fair to say that in his decision to deprive city employees of bottled water at work, Mayor Gavin Newsom is not creating a quality crisis. But must he justify his action by claiming it solves a non-existent problem? His Executive Order banning bottled water from city offices warned darkly that phthalates leach out of the bottles and pollute the groundwater. But there aren’t any phthalate plasticizers in plastic water bottles. So In other words, he is protecting his employees from the phthalates that aren’t in plastic water bottles because they might leach into the groundwater that they don’t drink.
Posted by Marian at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)