NEWSCHILDRENS HEALTH

[This post comes from Kerala Taylor, Online Content Manager at KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving play for America's children. --Eds.]

In this simultaneously uplifting and disheartening story from the National Post, four teenagers took a stand against a decades-old law in Toronto, Canada that bans children from playing hockey on residential streets.

Andrew Polanyi, age 13, insisted, “Roads aren’t only for cars.” He said of street hockey: “It’s fun for us, and it keeps us active, not to always play video games.” Andrew and three friends brought a petition with more than 125 signatures to City Hall a few weeks ago to request that the ban be lifted.

Just in case the ongoing federal funding of ineffective abstinence-only education isn't enough to get your goat, here's another reason: in Florida, a prominent leader of one such abstinence-only program also supports Martin Ssempa, the religious leader who tours Uganda showing citizens graphic pornography in order to fuel anti-gay prejudices and promotes the country's Anti Homosexuality Bill, a.k.a., the "Kill the Gays" law.

Pam Mullarkey, a St. John's County, Florida School Board member founded Project SOS, an abstinence-only education program, in 1993 and is the current CEO. As covered on the Gay Rights blog, she is quoted on Ssempa's web site as saying, "Martin Ssempa is the man to watch. He's the most powerful voice for abstinence in the world and his passion, charisma and character make his vital message irresistible."

That "vital" and "irresistible" message, by the way, is that homosexuals should be imprisoned for life or given the death penalty, that gays are "pedophiles," and that they eat feces.  Ssempa is so passionate about this message, in fact, that he was arrested in December 2010 on blackmail charges for allegedly hiring a man to claim he was sodomized by fellow Ugandan pastor Robert Kayanja, whose reputation Ssempa sought to tarnish because of suspicions that Kayanja was involved in "homosexual practices."

Earlier this month, Emily "Amy" Medwin, a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), was arrested in North Carolina for practicing in the state without proper certification. Although Medwin is educated in home and out-of-hospital births, authorities say she was not licensed to practice midwifery in North Carolina, only in Virginia.

But the problem isn't hers alone. CPMs are only legally recognized in 27 states, so even if she tried to obtain the proper licensure in North Carolina, she couldn't. The state doesn't license CPMs, so they can be criminally prosecuted for unlicensed health care practice, despite their legality in neighboring states.

The threat of criminal prosecution has led many advocates and mothers to speak out on her behalf, including Lindsay Fisher, who started a petition calling on the state legislature to legalize midwifery in North Carolina. Advocates in the state are also part of the "The Big Push for Midwives" campaign, a larger effort aiming to pass legislation to license CPMs in all 50 states.

For many, the fight over midwives pits a woman's choice to have her child at home against the medical establishment. According to Katie Prown, Campaign Manager for the Big Push for Midwives, "the medical lobby spends millions of dollars all over the country each year to defeat pro-midwife legislation and to keep CPMs, who are specially trained as experts in the provision of out-of-hospital maternity care, illegal and underground."

At a meeting this week to discuss California Department of Pesticide Regulation's (DPR) controversial approval of methyl iodide, a leading toxicologist said that science was "subverted"  in the process and that health repercussions will be significant.

In a hearing before the California Assembly Committee on Health and Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, John Froines, a professor of environmental science at UCLA's School of Public Health and chair of California's Scientific Review Panel, said "it is painful for me personally and professionally to have to report the science was subverted in the DPR approval."

A fumigant used to control bacteria, pests and weeds from growing in the soil, methyl iodide was introduced as a substitute for methyl bromide, which causes damage to the ozone layer. Methyl iodide doesn't harm ozone but is considered to be much more toxic to health.

According to the National Library of Medicine, methyl iodide is toxic to the liver, and workers have developed central nervous system poisonings after exposure. Its considered an acute pulmonary irritant that can cause chronic neurological symptoms after a heavy dermal exposure.

After requests from the Environmental Protection Agency, advocacy groups and parents, New York City officials are finally agreeing to replace old, PCB-leaking light fixtures in schools.

As covered previously, the Department of Education argued that PCB-containing materials in classrooms -- mainly aging fluorescent lighting fixtures -- didn't present a serious and immediate risk to children and that replacing the lights would cost $1 billion and result in 15,000 teacher layoffs.

The EPA disagreed and has been pressuring the city for the past few months to take action. In the interim, the agency has been conducting tests at various schools each weekend and has found PCB in all the light fixtures. Some of the schools had samples more than 10,000 times the federal level for removal.

But according to the Wall Street Journal, the city is now accepting bids for contracts to remove the light fixtures in all schools, as well as replace outdated, energy-inefficient broilers. The clean-up would be done over a 10-year period.

Although some would like to see the replacements happen faster, the move is a victory for those pressuring the city and the Department on Education to take action.

After receiving  letters from over 180 Change.org members concerned about tobacco sponsorship of an upcoming Indonesian concert, Maroon 5 and their management moved quickly to have the tobacco company's name removed from all posters and advertising.

Maroon 5's management informed Change.org that the band does not have a direct sponsorship agreement with Surya Professional Mild, an Indonesian brand of clove cigarettes, but that the entire concert series was sponsored by the company. After learning from the petition that the band's name was being used in conjunction with tobacco advertising, Maroon 5's management contacted the tour promoter, Java MusikIndo, to immediately cease the use of the Surya brand in the promotion of the concert, scheduled for April 27th.

According to an email the management company received from Adrie Subono, president of Java MusikIndo, the Surya concert series sponsorship "will be pulled immediately and we apologize for any negative attention towards Maroon 5."

Update: On February 21st, after receiving  letters from over 180 Change.org members concerned about the tobacco sponsorship, Maroon 5 and their management moved quickly to have the tobacco company's name removed from all posters and advertising. Maroon 5's management informed Change.org that the band does not have a direct sponsorship agreement with Surya Professional Mild, but that the entire concert series was sponsored by the company. After learning from the petition that the band's name was being used in conjunction with tobacco advertising, Maroon 5's management contacted the tour promoter, Java MusikIndo, to immediately cease the use of the Surya brand in the promotion of the concert.

Last year, a group of performing artists, including Maroon 5, made a video for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The bands were helping to promote a new youth program, called Yroswell, that encourages all young people to get connected and help create a world without cancer.

It seems ironic then, that after using their name to advocate for cancer awareness among youth, Maroon 5 is now helping to promote to youth a leading cause of cancer -- cigarettes. Surya Professional Mild, an Indonesian brand of clove cigarettes, is sponsoring the band's upcoming tour in Jakarta, using the Maroon 5 name to help promote and sell their product.

John Baker, a tobacco researcher in Australia, says that Maroon 5 is one of his favorite bands and the sponsorship prompted him to launch a petition on Change.org, asking the band to drop the cigarette sponsors. "It is obviously very disappointing from a fan's perspective that a band you have a lot of passion and interest for then becomes involved in promoting a deadly product."

Clear air? Who needs it. Clean water? Totally overrated. Protected wilderness? For wimps.

This seems to be the message the GOP is sending this week, as they added amendments to the government's spending bill that would end environmental protections in all these areas and significantly reduce the EPA's power to enforce pollution control.

The amendments carry significant -- and scary -- risks to health. Already, H.R. 1, which would fund the federal government through September, proposes to cut the EPA's budget by one-third. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), it specifically prevents the EPA from enforcing or issuing rules under the Clean Air Act, which aims to prevent air pollution and related diseases.

The amendments to the bill go even farther, blocking the updating of air pollution standards, preventing limits on hazardous pollutants, including mercury, and limiting rules on toxic coal ash.

Over the course of seven months, a small group of protesters stood in front of various CVS stores in Washington, D.C., holding up signs with a simple yet powerful statement: "CVS sells poison."

The "poison" is something most of us are accustomed to seeing at check-out: cigarettes, chew, cigars. CVS, like other major pharmacies, promotes and sells tobacco products, while simultaneously dispensing medication designed to treat tobacco-related diseases. This conflict of interest is one that activists are hoping to point out to the stores, customers and lawmakers.

The "CVS Sells Poison" campaign was started by the folks at the Toxic-Tobacco Law Coalition. In addition to their protest, they've also made a "CVS Sells Poison" music video on YouTube, sung by the talented 13-year-old Sofia Roma. The chorus includes: "CVS sells poison/Just like the other drug chains/Distributing cigarettes far and wide/Causing heart disease, cancer and pain."

Inside the stores, they turned the camera to the CVS Pharmacy counter, where a staged customer asks for advice about how to safely use two products sold in the stores: a popular over-the-counter heart burn medicine and cigarettes.

Frosted pop tarts are not generally considered to be a health food, but Kellogg's is hoping to convince consumers otherwise. This past month, they unleashed strawberry frosted pop-tart mini crisps in 100-calorie packs, boasting of vitamin-fortification.

The Valentine-inspired packaging was meant to be a limited promo, but according to the company's website, they've decided to add them to their permanent collection. And like other 100-calorie packaging, it's meant to imply that weight-conscious folks can indulge in junk food while still maintaining their diet.

But a closer look at the ingredient list reveals that there aren't many redeeming qualities in these bites. In fact, like other Kellogg's products that claim to be made with real fruit, there are no strawberries in the so-called "strawberry" mini crisps.

They do contain flour, sugar, soybean and palm oil and corn syrup. But even though they picture strawberries on their packaging and claim that the strawberry flavor is "baked in," most of it is derived from flavoring and Red #40 Lake, along with five other artificial colorings.