Besides vaccines, the other dangers to infants.

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Antipsychotic drug use among kids soars Report raises concerns that mind-altering pills are being overprescribed Updated: 7:21 p.m. ET May 3, 2006 NEW YORK - The number of children taking antipsychotic medicines soared 73 percent in the four years ending in 2005, far outpacing the increase in adults, according to a Medco Health Solutions Inc. report released Tuesday. Use of the new class of drugs known as atypical antipsychotics by people 19 and younger skyrocketed 80 percent in the same time period, according to the pharmacy benefit manager. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12616864/ Science News – May 3, 2006 Infant pesticide exposure Organophosphates may be more dangerous to small children than previously believed. Some infants may be far more vulnerable to organophosphate pesticides than previously believed, according to a paper published in Pharmacogenetics and Genomics (2006, 16, 183–190). The new study “raises the question of whether current standards for safe levels of pesticide exposure are sufficiently protective of a vulnerable population,” says Nina Holland, an adjunct professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and coauthor of the paper. Current U.S. EPA standards require an extra 10-fold safety factor to protect children compared with adults. But the new study shows that some newborns may be 65 to 130 times more sensitive to these pesticides than some adults, a level of susceptibility 26 to 50 times higher than previously believed. http://pubs.acs.org//journals/esthag-w/2006/may/science/kb_pesticide.html Researchers hot on trail of an allergy epidemic Nearly half of all Canadians suffer from some sort of allergic reaction Study will follow 10,000 children to try to determine causesStudy will track 10,000 children to determine cause Nearly half of all

Canadians prone to allergic reaction May 4, 2006. 01:00 AM ELAINE CAREY HEALTH REPORTER The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, even the kind of houses we live in and how well we clean them — all are suspects in the growing epidemic of allergies and asthma in Canada. But just how they interact with our genes, so that one person develops an allergic reaction and another in the same environment doesn't, isn't clearly understood. A new birth cohort study of 10,000 Canadian children that will follow them from the time their mothers are pregnant, possibly through to adulthood, could provide some of those basic answers. The study, the largest of its kind in the world, will be funded by the AllerGen project, one of the federal government's Networks

of Centres of Excellence, based at McMaster University, and will draw on the expertise of more than 170 researchers at 23 universities across the country. Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research are also being approached for funding. "Canada has been very, very well positioned for a long time in the allergy and asthma field," says Dr. Judah Denburg, director of AllerGen (Allergy, Genes and Environment Network) and a professor in immunology at McMaster. The study will start with pregnant mothers because "if you start when the kids are born, you lose all the information the mothers may have given you about their life, exposures and health during the pregnancy," he says. "Probably the best approach is to get people as soon as possible after they become pregnant, study the mother, the father and focus on them and on all the circumstances during the pregnancy and then follow the babies and the families." Canada is near the top of the list of countries facing a growing epidemic of allergies such as hay fever, eczema, asthma, reactions to foods or pets, and life-threatening anaphylaxis. Nearly half of Canadians suffer from some sort of allergic reaction and 15 to 20 per cent of children have asthma. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1 & c=Article & cid=1146606639950 & call_pageid=970599119419 Cadbury and Coca-Cola take fizzy drinks out of US schools By Stephen Foley in New York Published: 04 May 2006 Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes have agreed to stop selling fizzy drinks in US schools, to try to head off criticism over their role in rising childhood obesity. The companies' image has soured in recent years, turning them from much-loved purveyors of treats to public health enemy number one. So yesterday, the industry signed up to a voluntary ban brokered by the former president Bill Clinton. Primary schoolchildren will have access only to low-fat milk and unsweetened flavoured water, while secondary schools will sell only diet versions of popular drinks such as Coke and Pepsi. Growing numbers of school districts and state legislatures have proposed to sweep away banks of vending machines dispensing unhealthy food and drinks, and the new rules will at least enable manufacturers to maintain some degree of influence. Health campaigners say schools feel bound

to accept vending machines on site to boost their income. The agreement with the American Beverage Association, which counts all the major players among its members, will cover almost 90 per cent of American schools and some 35 million children. It goes much further than the industry's first proposals, last year, that full-fat fizzy drinks be capped at 50 per cent of vending machine products. Dawn Hudson, the chief executive of Pepsi-Cola North America, said drinks companies were only one player in the childhood obesity problem. "It's a much broader issue then what students eat and drink. It is also about what they learn and what they do. This deal provides schools with real-world, common-sense solutions that give students the tools they need to lead healthier lives. We're delighted that our products are part of the equation." School sales account for only a sliver of the $63bn (£43bn) drinks market but manufacturers are increasingly

concerned about the backlash against fizzy drinks. Coca-Cola warned in its annual report this year that concern about obesity had become a legal and public relations problem. President Clinton paid tribute to the leaders of the big companies involved in yesterday's deal. "These industry leaders recognise that childhood obesity is a problem and have stepped up to help solve it. There is a lot of work to be done to turn this problem around but this is a big step in the right direction and it will help improve the diet of millions of students across the country." Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes have agreed to stop selling fizzy drinks in US schools, to try to head off criticism over their role in rising childhood obesity. The companies' image has soured in recent years, turning them from much-loved purveyors of treats to public health enemy number one. So

yesterday, the industry signed up to a voluntary ban brokered by the former president Bill Clinton. Primary schoolchildren will have access only to low-fat milk and unsweetened flavoured water, while secondary schools will sell only diet versions of popular drinks such as Coke and Pepsi. Growing numbers of school districts and state legislatures have proposed to sweep away banks of vending machines dispensing unhealthy food and drinks, and the new rules will at least enable manufacturers to maintain some degree of influence. Health campaigners say schools feel bound to accept vending machines on site to boost their income. The agreement with the American Beverage Association, which counts all the major players among its members, will cover almost 90 per cent of American schools and some 35 million children. It goes much further than the industry's first proposals, last year, that full-fat fizzy drinks be capped at 50 per cent of vending machine

products. Dawn Hudson, the chief executive of Pepsi-Cola North America, said drinks companies were only one player in the childhood obesity problem. "It's a much broader issue then what students eat and drink. It is also about what they learn and what they do. This deal provides schools with real-world, common-sense solutions that give students the tools they need to lead healthier lives. We're delighted that our products are part of the equation." School sales account for only a sliver of the $63bn (£43bn) drinks market but manufacturers are increasingly concerned about the backlash against fizzy drinks. Coca-Cola warned in its annual report this year that concern about obesity had become a legal and public relations problem. President Clinton paid tribute to the leaders of the big companies involved in yesterday's deal. "These industry leaders recognise that

childhood obesity is a problem and have stepped up to help solve it. There is a lot of work to be done to turn this problem around but this is a big step in the right direction and it will help improve the diet of millions of students across the country." http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article361838.ece "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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