Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - health

Is the Air Healthy for Your Kids?

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 06:55:59 -0500

Vehicle emission controls and cleaner-burning fuels have improved air quality in urban environments but children can still be exposed to particularly dangerous levels of air contamination in schools built near busy roadways or other sources of pollution. New research reported in the July 6, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine finds that the level of carbon particles in the air is correlated with reduced function in children's developing lungs.

Who's Raining on Your Fourth of July Parade?

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 09:46:15 -0500

Are you going to the Fourth of July parade? Well, Congress has already rained on it. Here's how:

As of July 1 students starting out for college, and many of those still paying off those college loans, will have to pay much higher interest rates, thanks to the budget deal Congress made to cut spending for student aid while expanding tax cuts for investments.

Fluff

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:13:19 -0500

I remember my first Fluffernutter. Jiff Creamy Style peanut butter, carefully spread on Wonder Bread (because Wonder Bread just can't stand up to crunchy) topped with a layer of Marshmallow Fluff and another slice of squishy bread. This sweet nutritional black hole, a symphonic conglomeration of the emptiest calories in the universe, was packed into my lunchbox -- the one shaped like a barn with space for a thermos under the roof. And I knew it was going to be a good day.

New Medicaid Rules Can Keep Families from Getting Coverage

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:05:24 -0500

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that since January, when Georgia began requiring families to produce documents of their income (pay stub, W-2 form, income tax return), many Hispanic children in Georgia have been denied Medicaid coverage because their parents cannot provide the required documentation.

Breast-feeding bullying?

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:39:17 -0500

I'd like someone to launch a well-funded public service campaign to take on one of the less-recognized threats to a healthy pregnancy and healthy infancy. "Pregnancy: More Joy, Less Guilt." "Guilt: Bad for Moms, Bad for Babies." Any deep-pocket volunteers?

Kids, Keeping Alcohol Sellers Afloat

Tue, 02 May 2006 10:42:22 -0500

More than $22 billion -- that's how much researchers estimate underage drinkers spent on alcohol products in 2001. That's almost as much as was spent by alcohol-dependent adults -- $26 billion. And together, these two groups of people (who according to law and convention shouldn't be drinking at all) account for more than a third of the alcohol industry's sales.

Health Insurance -- Two Very Different Approaches

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 08:33:36 -0500

Massachusetts' Republican Governor Mitt Romney is making a name for himself nationwide by championing a solution to the health care crisis in his state--a sweeping healthcare reform bill that aims to insure almost every citizen by requiring individuals to buy health insurance if their employers do not.

Bring back bedtime!

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:36:40 -0500

There's nothing quite like the first days of daylight savings time to remind us that no matter how plugged in we get, how wired our homes and our lives, we've evolved in tune with the sun, moon and stars. It's hard to get up in the dark; hard to sit down to dinner while the sun is shining brightly. Near impossible, as a young child, to go to bed on a midsummer night before the sun has truly set.

Good Enough for the Military?

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:39:03 -0600

Right after World War II Congress created the National School Lunch Program as a �measure of national security.� It was a direct response to the fact that many of the young men responding to the World War II draft were rejected due to conditions arising from serious nutritional deficiencies.

Two Sides on the Budget Story

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:39:59 -0600

Facing politically painful budget choices, House conservatives and Senate moderates are heading in different directions.

Determined to cut spending at all costs, House conservatives are demanding offsets for new hurricane recovery spending for the Gulf that is included in a $91.1 billion supplemental spending bill headed for the House floor Wednesday. They'll put Gulf recovery funds on the table for offsets but refuse to require tax expenditures to meet the same offset requirements.

The $69 million question: children's health research on the line

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:14:57 -0600

Six years ago, Congress authorized the National Children's Study, an ambitious plan to follow 100,000 children from before birth to the age of 21. It's intended to provide high-quality longitudinal data on how environmental factors affect children's health and development, and to look at why conditions like asthma, autism, obesity, and childhood cancers are on the rise.

You Can't Fertilize a Tree from the Top

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:41:01 -0600

Trickle-down theorists argue that cutting taxes for the rich will make everyone else richer. If it were true, the pace of tax cuts since 2001 should have made us all millionaires!

Trickle-downers also argue that holding the line on taxes will make America's economy more competitive and stronger. But here too the theory doesn't meet the real world test. More tax cuts will burden our economy with more debt. Despite spending cuts in vital social services in the budget they just approved, Congress is still going to have to raise the official debt limit, again, to $9 trillion by mid-March.

Improving -- or Gutting -- Food Safety Regs

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 10:56:27 -0600

The House of Representatives has postponed a March 2 vote on the "National Uniformity for Food Act" (H.R.4167) until next week. Food safety advocates say this bill would not set national food safety standards that raise the bar but would eliminate key food safety measures in the states, like those that protect Californians against chemicals causing birth defects. H.R. 4167 would also limit states' ability to enact new food-safety laws in areas where the federal government has not acted, like mercury levels in fish.

Senate Might Act This Week on Heating Assistance

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 10:58:24 -0600

This is a critical week for advocates trying to make sure families get the assistance they need to pay their heating bills. Congressional reporters say Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has decided to resolve a dispute over spending for flood insurance and home heating subsidies by considering the two issues together later this week.

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is Real Important

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:18:44 -0600

"Most of you probably have seen the print ads or commercials for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. I think what they are trying to do is great,
and, unfortunately, necessary. "

This is from my daughter-in-law, who treats people with eating disorders in a center outside Chicago.