Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Baby Gift Baskets
I have been wanting to add these to the website for awhile, but we are updating the website and it will be some time before we are ready to add new items... So I thought it was a good idea to show a couple samples of recent Green Baby Gift baskets we made for customers! These can be custom or designed based on a price preference. Each basket is unique.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
FOUND: An Awesome local farm for eggs and meat
We found a FANTASTIC local (Mt. Airy, MD.) farm that has lots of meat choices (beef, pork, goat, sheep, chicken) and wonderful eggs. All the animals live happily-free range-in a gorgeous open environment. The eggs are $3.50/dozen which is a competely reasonable price. When we go we buy 10 dozen, and it makes the 1 hour drive worth it.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tell chemical industry their profits can’t trump kids’ health
The American Chemistry Council should be ashamed of itself.
Last week, the heavyweight industry group killed a common sense, bi-partisan effort to ban the controversial chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) from baby bottles and children's drinking cups. This, despite strong science linking kids’ exposure to the chemical with a range of health effects later in life, from breast cancer to infertility and diabetes.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Parents Should be Warned: Fluoridated Water is Not Recommended for Infants
Contacts:
Paul Connett, Director of FAN, at media@fluoridealert.org
Stuart Cooper, FAN's Campaign Director at stuart@fluoridealert.org
A new study confirms infants fed formula reconstituted with fluoridated water are at greater risk of developing discolored teeth (dental fluorosis). (1) The American Dental Association (ADA) warned dentists about this in 2006 but has done little or nothing to inform the nearly 200 million Americans who live in communities with fluoridated drinking water.
The study by Levy et al., a Journal of the American Dental Association cover story (October 2010), confirms Levy's earlier studies, which show "[F]luoride intakes during each of the first 4 years were individually significantly related to fluorosis on maxillary central incisors, with the first year most important," and that "[I]nfant formulas reconstituted with higher fluoride water can provide 100 to 200 times more fluoride than breastmilk, or cow's milk." (2, 3)
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 32% of American children have dental fluorosis, an increase of 23% from the 1980s. (4) Black and Hispanic populations have even higher rates. Dental fluorosis is a visible sign that a child was overexposed to fluoride. Pictures of fluorosis: http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/teeth/fluorosis/moderate-severe.html
"The message from Dr. Levy's work is loud and clear: Don't give babies fluoridated water," says Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network (FAN). "Unfortunately the ADA has known about these risks for more than four years. Researchers are telling dentists; but dentists are not telling parents."
This and other little-known adverse fluoride health effects led Connett to co-author, "The Case Against Fluoride: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics that Keep it There," with James Beck, MD, PhD, professor emeritus of medical physics, University of Alberta and Spedding Micklem, DPhil, professor emeritus at Edinburgh University.
A recent review in The Lancet (5) describes fluoride as "an emerging neurotoxic substance" that may damage the developing brain. The National Research Council (NRC) has identified fluoride as an "endocrine disrupter" that may impair thyroid function. A recent Harvard University study links fluoride to bone cancer (6).
"Approximately half of the newborns and infants I see in practice are fed formula reconstituted with fluoridated water, which I find alarming since the blood-brain barrier is not even developed until 6 months of age, placing these young infants at risk for neurotoxic effects that can be severe and permanent," says Dr. Yolanda Whyte, a pediatrician in Georgia. "Parents should be warned not to give fluoridated water to babies and children, and they should know that fluoride is also present in juice and other water-reconstituted beverages. I diagnose dental fluorosis on average 5 times daily, but fluoride doesn't only affect teeth, it can potentially affect the brain and nervous system, kidneys, bones, and other tissues in young children during their critical stages of organ development. A public awareness campaign is urgently needed."
FAN will launch a campaign in November to urge water companies and public-health officials to inform parents that fluoridated water should not be mixed into infant formula. "If the ADA and CDC won't educate parents, then FAN will," said Connett.
FAN is the leading science and advocacy group focused on health issues surrounding fluoride in water, food, air, pesticides, and industrial exposures. Dr. Connett was an invited presenter at the initial meeting of the NRC panel and FAN researchers submitted extensive scientific information throughout the panel's proceedings. Visit: http://fluoridealert.org/
References:
(1) Levy SM, et al. 2010. Associations between fluorosis of permanent incisors and fluoride intake from infant formula, other dietary sources and dentifrice during early childhood. Journal of the American Dental Association 141(10):1190-1201.
http://jada.ada.org/cgi/content/abstract/141/10/1190
(2) Hong L, Levy SM, et al. 2006. Timing of fluoride intake in relation to development of fluorosis on maxillary central incisors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 34(4):299-309.
(3) Levy SM and Guha-Chowdhury N. 1999. Total fluoride intake and implications for dietary fluoride supplementation. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 59(4):211-23.
(4) CDC. Table 23 from Beltrán-Aguilar et al. 2005. Surveillance for Dental Caries, Dental Sealants, Tooth Retention, Edentulism, and Enamel Fluorosis --- United States, 1988--1994 and 1999-2002. MMWR Surveillance Summaries. 54(03);1-44.
Table 23 at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/s403a1t23.gif
Full article at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5403a1.htm
(5) Grandjean P and Landrigan P. 2006. Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals. The Lancet 368(9553):2167-78. December 6.
(6) Bassin EB, Wypij D, Davis RB, Mittleman MA. 2006. Age-specific fluoride exposure in drinking water and osteosarcoma (United States). Cancer Causes and Control 17(4):421-8. May.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
American Drug Addiction
Does this sound extreme? It's actually more typical than you might imagine. It has been noted that 50% of Americans are taking some type of Pharmaceutical. The problem is not that every drug is bad-the problem is that these drugs are being created so fast that there is not enough research done to know what the long-term affects are. You may notice that right after the long, artsy pharmaceutical drug commercial, you see an advertisement by a law firm asking if you had taken the last "pop" pill and have "cancer, cerebral palsey, brain damage, stroke, death, or any other adverse reaction imaginable.Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Got Bedbugs?
I keep hearing about bedbugs lately. On the news, twitter, blogs; it seems that bedbugs are arriving in massive numbers-planning some giant bug party that none of us have been warned about!
None of the solutions to bed bugs are pleasant. Throwing away furniture, paying professionals to search your bed & furniture crevices, spraying toxic chemicals all over your home, not to mention the sleepless nights and/or bug-bitten skin!
Ok, so it all sounds horribly expensive and time consuming. But I am here to solve your problems :) I will say something that sounds quite different from what people have been saying... "BED BUGS ARE NOT HARD TO GET RID OF!"
The reason I can say that is because we had them. We lived in an apartment building with 1100 units, so about 2000 or more people lived there. They had the exterminators search the apartments for bed bugs but they never found any in our place so they didn't treat for them. This was lucky for us in fact because we had a cat, dog & baby in the belly, so we didn't need to deal with having chemicals that kill sprayed all over our stuff.
When we bought our house & moved we noticed that we were getting bitten at night, so I looked up bed bugs to learn about searching for them. I inspected our mattress and found nothing, but when I took our bedframe apart, I found the buggers in the particle board in our bed frame. I threw out our mattress, bed frame, and upon inspecting our side table lamps and side tables, I had to throw those out too :(
Ok, so this is sounding macabre, I know. Loss of furniture is always a bummer. I steam cleaned our rugs and vacuumed daily hoping that I had gotten rid of them for good. I was not sure but I didn't want to hire an exterminator (lots of money & very dangerous chemicals, no thanks).
Then I found a cure! Cedar oil is the tried and true natural essential oil that has been used to combat bugs bugs forever. I read lots of articles about it and bought a bottle (expensive for oil, cheap compared to the alternatives). I mixed a spray bottle of oil with a little bit of water and sprayed daily.
I was still so nervous about another outbreak that my research continued. Then, I stumbled upon an amazing product that we immediately ordered and used. A company called Cedarcide created this great potion which uses mostly cedar oil as a base and it is totally non-toxic to animals and humans. They sell a fogger machine that you can fill with the solution and fog your home.
We bought it, fogged our house, and have never seen a bed bug since. That was about a year ago!
Here is the info, I highly recommend it:
www.cedarcidestore.com
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Exciting weekend Plans
Come and visit us & check out our growing line of great products. We will be at the Petowrth Market again this friday from 3-7. On Saturday, you can visit us at the Fenton Street Market in Downtown Silver Spring, Md. from 9am-4pm. Sunday we will be at the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Hope to see you there!
Monday, July 12, 2010
New Venue: Petworth Farmers Market
Come & see us this & every friday (3pm-7pm) at the new Petworth (Farmers) Market!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
New Study says 85% of Kids' Juices, Snacks Could Contain High Levels of Lead
...Including those marked "Organic"!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Want to stay healthy? Take fewer antibiotics...
"...Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway’s public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics."
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Dangers of Carpeting
Wall to wall carpeting has an allure particularly for a family home-it is cozy, insulates, is soft and nice to lay on, offers noise reduction and serves as the perfect play yard for little ones. Unfortunately, there are major draw-backs, particularly when you are concerned with environmental friendliness, and even more urgently with the immediate health of your children and family. As with many lovely things found on the market today, most manufacturers are more concerned with finding the cheapest alternatives than making a safe, healthy & "Green" product.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Breastfeeding saves lives
(CNN) -- If most new moms would breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life, it would save nearly 1,000 lives and billions of dollars each year, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Honest Food Guide
If you want the straight truth about which foods to consume and which foods to avoid, download the Honest Food Guide today.
What You Don't Know About Strawberries Could Kill You
According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, strawberries rank as one of the dirtiest fruits and vegetables, readily absorbing the noxious chemicals that are used to grow them conventionally and exposing the consumer — and far more so the field workers who grow them — to up to 54 known carcinogens, among other toxins. And things are about to get worse.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Shop no GMO? Yea, there's an APP for that!
ShopNoGMO, the new application for the iphone and ipod lifestyle has features that include:
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
President's Cancer Panel: 'Eat Organic, Ward Off Cancer'
The President's Cancer Panel says that the "risk of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated," that "nearly 80,000 chemicals [are] on the market in the United States, many of which are ... understudied and largely unregulated," and that "the public remains unaware ... that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults."
The panel says "evidence suggests that some environmental agents may initiate or promote cancer by disrupting normal immune and endocrine system functions. The burgeoning number and complexity of known or suspected environmental carcinogens compel us to act to protect public health, even though we may lack irrefutable proof of harm."
Check out these examples selected from the recommendations:
- Parents and child care providers should choose foods, house and garden products, play spaces, toys, medicines, and medical tests that will minimize children's exposure to toxins. Ideally, both mothers and fathers should avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
- It is preferable to use filtered tap water instead of commercially bottled water.
- Exposure to pesticides can be decreased by choosing ... food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers [translation: organics] and washing conventionally grown produce to remove residues.
- Exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, and toxic run-off from livestock feedlots can be minimized by eating free-range meat [translation: don't eat feedlot meat].
-Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and the author of Food Politics, Safe Food, What to Eat, reporting in the Atlantic, May 12, 2010, on a new report from the President's Cancer Panel.
Read On: www.organicconsumers.org
Here is more: www.thedailygreen.com
Friday, May 14, 2010
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : No More Toxic Tub
Getting Contaminants Out of Children's Bath & Personal Care Products
March 12th, 2009
I want safe, non-toxic cosmetic Products!
I feel like it's always: No, no, NO! Every time we turn around, there is another product we should fear using because it is going to kill us! ...Ok, not right away, and maybe indirectly, but it is cumulative and we should definitely be trying to limit our exposure to toxins when we can.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Not So Sexy
The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in FragranceMay 12th, 2010
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