"Choking Game" Claims Adolescents' Lives in 31 States

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that at least 82 young people have died from "the choking game" -- trying to get a brief high from being choked by another person or oneself. "Because most parents in the study had not heard of the choking game, we hope to raise awareness of the choking game among parents, health care providers, and educators, so they can recognize warning signs of the activity," said Robin L. Toblin, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study's lead author. The study found that most victims were 11- to 16-year-old males, many of whom were alone while engaging in the dangerous game.

Read the full article at:
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/r080214.htm

The Claim: Never Drink Hot Water From the Tap
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

THE FACTS
The claim has the ring of a myth. But environmental scientists say it is real.
The reason is that hot water dissolves contaminants more quickly than cold water, and many pipes in homes contain lead that can leach into water. And lead can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in young children.

Lead is rarely found in source water, but can enter it through corroded plumbing. The Environmental Protection Agency says that older homes are more likely to have lead pipes and fixtures, but that even newer plumbing advertised as “lead-free” can still contain as much as 8 percent lead. A study published in The Journal of Environmental Health in 2002 found that tap water represented 14 to 20 percent of total lead exposure.

Scientists emphasize that the risk is small. But to minimize it, the E.P.A. says cold tap water should always be used for preparing baby formula, cooking and drinking. It also warns that boiling water does not remove lead but can actually increase its concentration. More information is at www.epa.gov/lead or (800) 424-5323 (LEAD).

THE BOTTOM LINE:
Hot water from the tap should never be used for cooking or drinking.

NY Times article received from NJDHSS Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

January 30, 2008
Mercury from Vaccines Clears More Quickly in Infants than Anticipated

Researchers at the University of Rochester have found that the mercury from the vaccine preservative thimerosal is excreted by infants quickly and does not build up between vaccinations. The study, published in the February issue of Pediatrics, should be reassuring to parents whose children were vaccinated before 2001,when thimerosal was eliminated from childhood vaccines in the United States, that those vaccines  did not present any long-term toxicity risk.

Pedometers May Help Increase Amount of Exercise for Americans

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 45 percent of Americans get the recommended daily amount of physical activity. However, a new study from Stanford University's School of Medicine may have found a way to improve that number -- giving people pedometers. "These little devices were shown to increase physical activity by just over 2,000 steps, or about 1 mile of walking per day," said Dena Bravata, M.D., M.S. -- a senior research scientist in medicine and the study's lead author. "This goes a long way toward helping people meet the national guidelines for daily physical activity."

Read the full article at:
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/november28/med-pedometer-112807.html

November 5, 2007

WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL DEFENDS CHILDHOOD VACCINATION AND COUNTERS JENNY MCCARTHY'S CLAIM OF VACCINATION HARM

On October 27, the Wall Street Journal published a guest editorial, "The New McCarthyism: Vaccines & Autism." It is written by Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, TX. Portions of the editorial are reprinted below:

Dangerous vaccines that harm kids. An epidemic of disabled children, hurt by an uncaring medical establishment. Sounds like a B-grade Hollywood thriller. But this is supposedly a true story as told by actress Jenny McCarthy, author of the best seller "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism."

When I heard Ms. McCarthy tell Oprah and Larry King that vaccines caused her son's autism, I had a flashback . . . I was the senior pediatric resident on call in the Intensive Care Unit. . . [A] seven-year-old girl was brought to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston. The girl had come down with chickenpox a few days earlier . . . That night, she had taken a turn for the worse. Her fever shot up to 106 and she became confused and lethargic. . . . Now she was in "multiple system organ failure"--every square inch of her body was shutting down all at once. . . . My attending physician told me to grab dinner. This child would need me for the rest of the night. I returned to the ICU to find that my patient had gone into cardiac arrest and died. I watched, helplessly, as the nurses placed the little girl into a body bag.

Fast forward five months: The first chickenpox vaccine was approved. That day, I vowed never to let a child on my watch suffer from a disease that was preventable by vaccination.

That's a story that doesn't grab headlines or guest shots on Larry King. Vaccines are one of mankind's greatest scientific achievements. . . . Yet vaccines are victims of their own success. Today's parents are unfamiliar with the diseases they prevent, but these diseases are alive and well in the U.S. . . . .

Celebrity books come and go, but the anxiety they create lives on in pediatricians' offices across the country. A small but growing number of parents are even lying about their religious beliefs to avoid having their children vaccinated, thanks in part to the media hysteria created by [Ms. McCarthy's] book. Parents go through stages of grief when their child is diagnosed with a disorder like autism. . . . But why hasn't the media called out Ms. McCarthy on all the medical inaccuracies in her book? . . . .

[For example:] Ms. McCarthy told Oprah that her son was a normal toddler until he received his measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (at 15 months of age). . . . Yet she contradicts herself in her book: "My friends' babies all cracked a smile way before Evan did . . . he was almost five months old." Which is it? Was he normal until his MMR vaccine or were some of the signs [of autism] missed before he got that shot?

Ms. McCarthy also contends that mercury in vaccines caused damage to her son's gut and immune system, leading to autism. Yet the mercury preservative Ms. McCarthy assails was removed from the childhood vaccination series in 2001. Her son, Evan, was born in 2002. . . .

Doctors do need to do a better job of guiding families through the maze of autism treatments. I also desperately want to know why autism happens and how to treat it. But let's put our energy into funding autism research and treatment, not demonizing our vaccination program. . . .

To access the full text of the editorial from Dr. Brown's website, go to:
The New McCarthyism: Vaccines & Autism

Source: Immunization Action Coalition