Toxic Chemicals Poison Children's Toys

A third of the most popular children's toys in the United States this year contain harmful chemicals including lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, a US consumer group said Wednesday.

The Ecology Center, which published its findings on the Web site HealthyStuff.org, tested nearly 700 toys ahead of the Christmas shopping season and found that 32 percent contained one or more toxic chemical.

The number of products exceeding current federal limits for lead in toys has dropped by 67 percent since 2007, though the chemical, which can affect the nervous system, was still present in 18 percent of toys, according to the center.

Lead levels in toys varied, with seven percent containing more than 40 parts per million (ppm), the highest level recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2007.

Another three percent of the products tested had levels exceeding 300 ppm, the federally-mandated limit, the study said.

Among the toys with detectable lead levels were the Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit, the Dora the Explorer Activity Tote and the Kid's Poncho sold by Wal-Mart stores, the Michigan-based Ecology Center said.

The study, which used a portable x-ray fluorescence analyzer, also found cadmium levels greater than 100 ppm in 3.3 percent -- or 22 -- of the products tested and arsenic levels over 100 ppm in 1.3 percent -- or nine -- of the toys.

The authors said they were also concerned after finding that 42 percent of the toys tested contained PVC.

"PVC is the worst plastic from an environmental health perspective because it creates major hazards in its manufacture, product life and disposal, and can contain additives that are dangerous to human health," the study said.

The center, which has tested some 4,000 children's products over the past three years, has created an online database where consumers can check whether the toys they have purchased contain toxic chemicals.

Copyright AFP – Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Flu Facts - For the Yound and the Old

Flu Vaccine Puts Kids at Risk

Flu vaccine does not help children stricken with influenza stay out of the hospital, but instead, increases their risk of being hospitalized, compared with those who have not had shots, according to a new study.

In fact, the risk triples, according to the study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minneapolis.  

The new study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the flu vaccine (trivalent inactivated flu vaccine, or TIV) in children, especially asthmatic children, study leader Avni Joshi, M.D., told Science Daily.

The relative benefit of the vaccine is of paramount importance in light of the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics to vaccinate all children between 6 months and 18 years every year, a recommendation that the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program endorses.

The Mayo Clinic study spanned eight consecutive flu seasons and involved 263 children ages 6 months to 18 years. All of the children had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 and 2006. Researchers verified which children had or had not received the vaccine, which were asthmatics, and which had to be hospitalized with flu-related illnesses.

The study showed that children who had been vaccinated had three times the risk of hospitalization of children who had not been vaccinated. Asthmatic children who received the vaccine had a “significantly” higher risk of being hospitalized than asthmatic children who had not received it. No other factors, such as the severity of asthma, appeared to have an effect on the risk of being hospitalized.

The findings do not implicate the flu vaccine as the cause of hospitalizations, Joshi said, adding that they do, “raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine.”

Source: Reuters / NewsMax Online

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Elderly May Have Greater Swine Flu Immunity

Older people may have some kind of immunity to swine flu, U.S. health officials said Thursday, as the number of confirmed and suspected cases of H1N1 virus rose again around the country.

More than 64 percent of U.S. infections have occurred among patients between the ages of 5 and 24, with just 1 percent of flu victims 65 or older, according to a study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One possible explanation is that "older adults might have been in contact a long time ago with a virus related to the one that we see now," said Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health programs at the CDC.

"Adults might have some degree of pre-existing . . . antibodies to the H1N1 virus, especially older adults over 60 or 65," she said.

"The presence of pre-existing antibodies may be due to previous exposure to (influenza) infection or vaccination."

Health authorities around the world have been surprised that, with the number of cases of swine flu now topping 11,000, including 85 deaths, many of those infected have been younger people.

The CDC's study suggests that children and teens may be particularly vulnerable to contracting the disease — a worrying prospect as officials brace for the possible return in a few months' time of a more virulent strain of the H1N1 virus.

The flu outbreak is far from over in the United States, where the tally of confirmed or probable cases is now 5,764, Schuchat said.

Schuchat offered a scrap of upbeat news, noting that flu-related visits to doctors and hospitals are dropping across the United States.

Source: AFP

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Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth