(Photo by Jessica Carbone McKinney)
by Donna M. Carbone
I don’t know how each of you starts your day but, for me, it’s
usually two cups of coffee, lovingly prepared by my husband, and a blueberry
muffin which I eat while watching the morning news. Some days the news gives me
agita. For the non-Italians among us, agita
is heartburn… really, really bad heartburn. Thursday, May 24th was a
bad heartburn day!
Two medical reports on
Fox 29 WFLX were responsible for the gnawing in my stomach. The first had to do
with increased obesity in children born by caesarean section. The second
focused on the danger to children who gain access to the new cleaning “pods” offered
by certain manufacturers.
As to the
first report, Brazilian researchers claimed to have found a connection
between overweight babies and C-sections. The consensus was that vaginal births
provided healthy bacteria, which helped to avoid obesity in later life. Please
remember those last three words… later in life. Let’s look at the criteria used
to reach that conclusion.
Initial
findings were based on interviews with individuals born by C-section. The
oldest person surveyed was age 23. Twenty-three is not “later in life.” As much
as I hate to admit it, I am later in life. Twenty-three is a body still under
construction. Returning to the research…
Scientists
found a 9% to 16% higher likelihood of obesity in c-section births compared
to 7% to 10% with vaginal births. When you realize how shortsighted they were
in limiting the age range of their subjects, it is no surprise to learn that
the data they relied on never accounted for life circumstances -- such as income,
weight at birth, education, heredity and bad habits like smoking and alcohol
consumption. Once those factors were taken into consideration, the research
proved to be completely false.
Unfortunately,
the new evidence was not reported although it was readily available. As a
result women who heard the broadcast and who are candidates for a caesarean
birth will now have something else to worry about… unnecessarily. Being
pregnant is rife with all kinds of perils. Why would a responsible news agency
intentionally make moms-to-be feel guilty about something they can’t control?
American
Journalist Russell Baker said, “An educated person is one who has learned
that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very
often false, misleading,
fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong.”
The use of
the word dead in Mr. Baker’s quote truly concerns me. I would hate to think
that women faced with birthing decisions would make the wrong choice based on
mendacious information and, thereby, put their own lives and that of their
babies at risk.
On to the
second story, which shined a spotlight on brightly packaged cleaning
products and the danger said products are to children who play with them. My
first reaction was, “Seriously. Is this report really necessary? Have we not
learned yet to keep dangerous products out of the reach of children?”
A
2001 UCLA report stated that unintentional accidents were
the leading cause of death in children over the age of 1. Injuries to children
for the years 1987 – 1995 averaged 246,000 annually. Although it is a commonly
held belief that accidents just happen, that isn’t the case. The UCLA report
noted that most injuries are not random and unavoidable. They are the result of
choices made by parents, supervising adults and society. For example, guardians
make choices about whether to place containers of hazardous materials where
children can reach them.
Let’s be
honest. The purpose of creative marketing is to sell. The obligation of
parents is now and always has been to protect their offspring. The two agendas
are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Dangerous
chemicals need to be kept securely away from small children whether they
are packaged in plain brown wrapping or a bright circus motif. There are as
many companies manufacturing cabinet locks as there are laundry and dish washing
detergents.
Perhaps if the aforementioned locks were used on cabinets holding both cleaning
supplies and high fat snacks, our children would be safer and thinner.
Author Walt Streightiff said, “There are no seven wonders of
the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”
Seven million wonders equal seven million dangers. Parents
need to be seven million times more protective.
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