On Friday, Maine became the 9th state to ban bisphenol A in baby bottles and other reusable food and beverage containers. Support for the bill was bipartisan, with the House of Representatives voting 145 to 3 and the Senate voting unanimously. The ban becomes law without Governor Paul LePage’s signature — he neither signed nor [...]
Archive | April, 2011
Sunblock
Sweet William and his dada and I are getting ready for our trip to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. It’s not exactly William’s first fest — last year, seven weeks before he was born, he kicked and punched when he heard the Treme Brass Band. On my packing list are a couple of good sunblocks [...]
The Prenatal Dangers of Pesticides
Not one but three separate studies appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives indicate that prenatal exposure to pesticides negatively impacts cognitive development in children. Researchers at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health conducted long-term studies that demonstrate that a pregnant woman’s exposure to [...]
Sckoon Sale
Sckoon is having an organic baby clothes sale. Sweet William wears their Monkey Pants. They’re our favorite — soft and stretchy and easy to get on a wriggly monkey after a diaper change. As they tend to run small, we’ve done well ordering one size up. Sckoon products are made of 100% certified organic cotton [...]
Green Toys
Sweet William’s stacker toy gets a lot of use as a teether. That’s OK — it’s free of BPA, PVC, phthalates and external coatings. It’s made in California from recycled milk bottles by Green Toys. We’ll be ordering dishwasher-safe table wear from Green Toys as soon as it’s available.
Spoiled Milk
Chocolate milk has the same total sugar as a soft drink. Flavored milk has all kinds of “non-nutritive” additives. Anyone else a little frustrated that the stuff is regularly served at school? Sugar contributes to serious (and growing) health problems like obesity and type 2 diabetes. When schools feed kids sugary drinks, they’re teaching a [...]
Uncle Goose
Sweet William’s grandmother inspired him to crawl by placing his adorable Uncle Goose alphabet blocks just out of reach. He likes the colors and the sound they make when he bangs them together. I like them for these reasons: • Made in the USA • Made from Michigan grown Basswood. • Made with non-toxic inks [...]
Bathing cutie
Sweet William loved to bathe in his Tummy Tub, but when he started locking his knees and refusing to sit, it was time to shop for a new tub. I learned that inflatable tubs are best avoided because they usually contain PVC. Hard tubs are less likely to use leaching plastics. We chose the Flexi [...]
About Elizabeth
I'm a writer and the mother of William and Fergus. Before dedicating my work to children's environmental health, I earned an MA in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from New York University and was a photography editor at The New Yorker. My family is preparing to move to New Orleans, where my husband, an architect, is building us a non-toxic home.
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