Archive for March, 2010
Ants are thought of as unified, and appear to be all working together to support their community. Watching an ant farm with all of the building and working going on can be amazing and fun to watch. Schools sometimes use an ant farm in the classroom to teach the students the fundamentals of the working of an ant colony as well as teach them what can be accomplished by working together for the common good.
An ant colony can be a small group of ants with the workers, drones, soldiers and queen. There are also large colonies of ants with millions of individuals. Ants are known for the division of labor, ability to communicate and ability to solve problems.
The use of drawstrings in fastening children’s sweatshirts has been listed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as a hazard for children which could cause strangulation if the strings were caught while the child was playing or even in the baby’s crib. They recommend that if you have such sweatshirts in your home you take the drawstrings out of the garment for your child’s safety. Even the drawstrings that some sweatshirts provide around the waist of the sweatshirt can cause hazard and there are guidelines as to the length of the drawstring on the waist.
It is imperative that we keep up to date on these warnings as like so many things around the home a sweatshirt can seem so harmless. Now that it is pointed out to me I can see the danger of the string being caught.
In a previous post we stated that the Consumer Product Safety Commission planned to issue a warning regarding fabric baby slings and baby safety. The CPSC has now issued a news release warning parents of children under four months of age in the hazards they face in using the fabric sling. Babies who were born prematurely, the smaller twin baby, and children with breathing conditions such as a cold were common factors in the deaths of infants in the sling.
Checking your baby often, making sure you can see his face, making sure at he does not have his head forward into his chest, making sure his face is not pressed against the fabric, and making sure that his face is not pressed against the wearer’s body were suggestions given by the CPSC.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning concerning Christmas and winter themed metal charm bracelets for our children. The charm bracelets were sold by discount and dollar-type stores nationwide between 2006 and March 2009 for about $1.
The high levels of cadmium contained in the bracelets are toxic if ingested by young children causing adverse health effects. Laboratory analysis determined that over 20,000 micrograms of cadmium were released from the snowman alone.
They advise that for our children’s safety we dispose of the bracelets if we find them in our homes.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to issue warnings about the use of baby slings as they have had deaths attributed to smother of infants while in the carrier. The danger occurs when the baby falls into a “chin-to-chest” position. The baby curls and can obstruct its own breathing in such a position.
Baby safety is more assured when the baby is in a sling in an upright position facing the parent with their belly toward the parent. Very small infants in the soft fabric slings are the greatest risk. The safety commission has yet to issue the warnings or to identify the slings that are the most hazardous. We will try to keep updated on this warning.
The Food and Drug Administration is setting higher standards for their food labeling and have recently sent warning letters to seventeen food manufacturers, including Nestle who produces Gerber Baby Food. The violations were for unauthorized claims about health, nutrient contents and terms such as “healthy.”
Similar letters were sent by the F&D to several other companies that produce baby food, such as Beech-nut, First Juice, Inc., Want Want Foods and PBM Products.
Obesity and diet-related diseases in the United States make it crucial that reliable information be contained on the food labels were reasons cited for the crack-down.
Child safety and nutrition is the reason most of us read the labels to the food items our children will be eating and it is vital to us that the information is accurate.
What happens to the little children and babies during these horrendous events. If something happens to the parents and the babies and little children are left adrift, the thoughts are very disturbing. It is difficult during those times for the adults to find something to eat let alone children. It makes one feel so helpless to hear of these things and be so far away and unable to help.