Safety First? Not So Fast.

Recently I spoke on a Safety Panel as part of Baby Celebration L.A. I was invited there by Jill Starishevsy, founder of HowsMyNanny.com, which is an incredible idea/product/website and I urge you all to not only take a look, but sign up! Jill's work extends now beyond this initiative and she is in the process of publishing a book for parents and children that will no doubt become an essential part of any home library. Hopefully, Jill will blog about it here in the coming weeks. Jill has blogged before and generated lots of interest.

Meanwhile, back to L.A.! The Safety Panel was featured by the people who produced the event, Penny Domschot, Patrice Meluskey, and their team from Seascape Productions. It was a wonderful, extremely well attended two days and people literally lined up for an hour before the doors opened to get the first peak at the latest products and services available for new parents. The place was teeming with adorable children in strollers and snugglies and every form of baby transport! There were fashion shows, sing-alongs, and much more. Kudos to Penny, Patrice and everyone involved in making this a smooth and successful event. And for trying so hard to promote safety as part of any baby celebration.

But it brought to light again, the issue of safety and where that issue exists on the list of priorities for young parents. Judging from the attendance at our Safety Panel, it's not very high on the list. And this is of great concern to me and my colleagues on the panel. One of my fellow panelists, Pattie Fitzgerald of SafelyEverAfter.com was similarly struck by the apparent lack of interest about safety among the parents in attendance. And we've all tried to figure it out since L.A.

--Was it just that parents wanted a wonderful outing that was more fun and fashion than serious safety information?

--Do parents feel they already know about safety and don't want to hear people recount scary statistics?

--Are parents afraid of hearing about the real dangers that lurk in their children's everyday lives?

I've tried and tried but I can't answer these questions? More people showed up for the fashion shows than the seating could contain. Of course, many of them had kids modeling the fashions, and that's reason enough to show up! But I was struck by the decided lack of interest in safety.

I'm not going to list the scary statistics here--we have them all over our blog here and on our website at Safety4Kids.com. But the real question is: what do we do now, to get parents to pay attention and understand that prevention is the ONLY way to secure any child's safety. And without the information, there is no hope of eliminating those scary statistics.

Look for more about this in the coming weeks. We are determined to keep kids safe. Won't you join us?

(c) Photo of SeeMore the Safety Seal courtesy of Safety4Kids LLC.

Vaccine Update

Since we posted on the subject of vaccines (see below) 9 cases of measles have been reported in Arizona. According to Dr. Karen Lewis, a medical director with the Arizona Department of Health Services, "Just one case of measles in the community is an outbreak."

All those reported having contracted the measles had never been vaccinated.

People are afraid, in some cases, to vaccinate their children. But remember, there are consequences to opting out.

To Vaccinate or Not--That is the Question!

My parents never thought twice about my vaccinations. It was required by the schools way back then (I'm 51) and for the most part still is. I know my folks' generation saw this scientific advancement as another way to protect their children.

But there are different schools of thought now on this subject and recent articles, as well as an Op-Ed in The New York Times brought the subject to light again.

And whenever the subject turns to prevention, we turn to our expert, Dr. Carl Baum of The Center for Children's Environmental Toxicology--Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital. He took a brief stroll down memory lane and what he remembered might startle you.

Here is what Dr. Baum had to say:

In 1990, a large measles outbreak produced over 27,000 cases and 89 deaths in the United States. In Philadelphia, where I was training in pediatrics, there were over 1400 cases, almost one-third of which occurred among members of 2 church groups in Philadelphia. By the following spring, 6 people had died.

This was a disaster that highlighted the global importance of prevention. As in many other disasters, a natural process can accelerate because effective preventive strategies fail or are circumvented. In the 1990 measles outbreak, the disease spread rapidly, predominantly among preschool-age children. It turns out that the Philadelphia church groups claimed religious exemption and refused vaccinations for their members.

Why dredge up this memory? Because it is also the future: there will be more "exemptions" (read: failures) to vaccinate children against preventable disease, and therefore more disasters. In the recent case of Hannah Poling, the 9-year-old autistic girl with mitochondrial disease, a federal vaccine claims court ruled--contrary to the medical literature--that vaccines had worsened her condition. As Dr. Paul Offit, one of the great teachers from my residency, recently wrote in an Op-Ed column in The New York Times ..."the system worked fine until a few years ago, when vaccine court judges turned their back on science...."

The irony is that many of the parents who exempt their children from vaccines believe they are doing their best to protect them. In fact, when abandoning effective preventive strategies, they are doing just the opposite.

Do you agree with Dr. Baum? Have you vaccinated your children? Or do you opt out? Let us know...this is an important issue and we want to hear what you have to say.

(c) Leah-Anne Thompson. Image from BigStockPhoto.com