Looking at the science and the myths of parenting in the 21st century

photo credit: csc4u

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blogpost about the use, and abuse, of the precautionary principle. Among other things, I wrote the following:

Thimerosal in vaccines, despite the Institute of Medicine’s statement rejecting a connection with autism, is OMG A TOXIN WE’RE INJECTING INTO WIDDLE BABIES!, but the unregulated, non-FDA supervised potion their herbalist gave them? Just fine.

I was just giving an example, but life has this funny way of making one sound like a prophet sometimes.
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A new study in Pediatrics, which analyzed the vaccination records of over 1000 children collected in a previous study done for the Vaccine Safety Datalink, concludes that children who received their vaccines on time (within 30 days of the recommended age) had no increased risk of adverse neuropsychological outcomes as compared with children who were vaccinated incompletely or received their vaccines later than recommended:
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Dr Andrew Wakefield outside the 2007 GMC hearing with his wife Carmel and his supporters chanting for him to be cleared. Photo Source

The British General Medical Council has decided to strike Andrew Wakefield’s name off the medical register, after finding him guilty of serious professional misconduct:
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Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Lenore Skenazy-inspired “Take Our Children to the Park…& Leave Them There Day”.

My kids already take themselves to the park up the street and beyond, but then again, it’s a whole different world over here in Israel.

Will you be participating, or if your children are too young, do you support this initiative?

photo credit: Javier Kohen

I’ve heard some cockamamie theories from lactofanatics before, but this one has to take the cake. I’m actually kind of surprised that a blogger at Scientific American (which is supposedly a respectable publication) decided to blog about this.
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May is Hepatitis B awareness month, and nowhere in the USA is this more poignant an issue than in the San Francisco Bay area, which has a large population of people of Asian and Pacific Islander extraction.
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I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days about Katie Allison Granju’s announcement that her eldest child was a drug addict, and was recently hospitalized in serious condition as a result of an overdose and beating he apparently took as a result of a drug deal gone awry.
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photo credit: Philippe Put

Or so says a new study, which examined the use of up to 4000 units of vitamin D daily by 500 pregnant women and recorded the outcomes of their pregnancies:
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PBS is showing this documentary tonight at 9PM Eastern Time., and from what I understand will be available online from that time at the link above as well – but only for people in the USA, judging from my inability to watch other PBS videos.

Here’s a preview (requires Flash Player 9):

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Looks like they’ve interviewed both Dr. Paul Offit and Jenny McCarthy. I wonder if Dr. Bob was called upon to comment as well.

Anyone planning to watch? Share your impressions of the show in the comments with us furriners, pretty please?

UPDATE: PBS isn’t allowing access, but Kev at LeftBrainRightBrain has kindly provided a link to the whole show, and transcripts of the interviews (yep. Dr. Bob’s in there too). I haven’t the time to watch it today, but again – let me know what you think in the comments.

April 24th-May 1st, 2010.

In the US. Europe, too (as well as several other countries worldwide, including here in Israel).