Yellow duckies and other killers

[Guest guest]

The parts of the article that struck home was Canada was taking in

active roll in contamination in schools, be it from mold, pesticides

and now they are trying to have all " scents " banned from schools.

Yellow duckies and other killers

Globe and Mail - Canada*

MARGARET WENTE

mwente@...

June 10, 2008

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/GAM.20080610.COWENT10/TP

Story/TPComment

It's hard to be a good mother these days. Deadly perils lurk

everywhere. Take that yellow bathtub ducky, contaminated with a

dangerous substance known as BPA.

" People are scared and don't want to buy plastic, " Tina s,

owner of a children's store, told the Toronto Star. She has banished

plastic ducks. But her children (now teenagers) used to play with

them. Although the teens appear healthy, " I do worry, " she said.

Mothers across Canada have been prostrated by the plastics scare.

Some have banished all plastics from kitchens, and are storing food

in Mason jars. Others, wary of toxic linings in cans, have returned

to soaking beans. " It's a drag, " admits one.

A mother's worries never end. If the little tykes survive long

enough to go to school, they might wind up in a portable classroom,

where toxic mould will get them. " When kids are sitting there

scratching and they can't concentrate on their little test, it just

breaks your heart, " said one teacher, who is similarly afflicted.

Fortunately, pesticides are now banned in all progressive

jurisdictions. But there's still perfume. " Exposure can result in

illness, absence from work and even hospitalization, " warns a note

sent home with students who attend Toronto's public schools. The

school board's Scented Products Awareness Program urges people not

only to can the Chanel No. 5, but to stop using scented deodorants,

shampoos, and fabric softeners.

School is the source of countless hazards, so thank goodness it's

almost out. Or, maybe not. Remember when summer was a carefree time?

Not now. Now we know the dangers that lurk underfoot and high above.

Take the sun. Very bad. Conscientious moms are obliged to swaddle

tots from head to foot in hats, sunglasses, and SP 50+ to protect

them from the killer rays. And just in case you think it's safe to

let your kid run barefoot in the park, don't do it! Experts say the

grass is teeming with invisible bacteria, parasites and fungi. Rusty

nails can give you tetanus, and a certain type of virus can give you

plantar warts. " It resides in the grass and earth, you pick it up

and it festers in your shoes, " a dermatologist warned readers of The

New York Times. As another doctor cautions, " When you go barefoot,

you are exposing yourself beyond what you really need to. "

In fact, a walk in the park really does rank higher on the risk-o-

meter than plastic baby bottles, plastic bath toys, plastic water

bottles, and other products deemed a health hazard by the current

round of chemophobia. Dr. Whelan is president of the

American Council on Science and Health, an independent group devoted

to accuracy in health reporting. She points out that both BPA and

phthalates have been studied intensively for decades. There are no

studies - none - that show any link between these substances and

harm to people. The basis for the claims of danger are all from

studies done on rats, and they don't predict human risk.

Why, then, do mothers (and fathers, but it's mostly mothers) get so

spooked? I'll tell you why. They are programmed to be vigilant.

That's how they kept their babies from being gobbled up by sabre-

tooth tigers (or slashed by shards of broken Mason jars). The more

vigilant they were, the more likely were their children to survive.

Even so, until very recent times, disease and mishap killed off many

of them.

Today, almost all those dangers are gone - eradicated by what's

generally known as progress. But maternal vigilance remains as

strong as ever. So now we fix on the invisible - toxic spores from

mould, death-rays from the sun, or poisons in the manmade objects

all around us. We forget how negligent our own parents were. They

gave us naked sunbaths and let us suck on plastic duckies and roll

around on pesticide-drenched lawns. It's astonishing how ignorant

they were, and how many of us managed to grow up.