Last week, my Facebook and Twitter feeds were full of admonishments about the Bumbo chair and its vicious, evil, and life-threatening properties. “Bumbos were recalled!” I was not the only parent/blogger who thought this reaction was a completely ridiculous worry, and I tweeted this in reply to the hub-bub:
Bumbos: recalled after 2 dz skull fractures.
#Vaccines: still on the market; still contain aluminum#priorities ow.ly/cZBye— Gretchen (@HealthfulMama) August 15, 2012
Which brings me to the heart of the matter: why THE HELL does a plastic chair (or, in previous years, drop-side cribs, among other innocuous items) warrant the type of attention that has parents leaping to warn each other of this potential ****DANGER DANGER DANGER**** while, every second of every day, children are subjected to the mess that is that has become the American way of life: processed foods, genetically-modified and pesticide-laden produce, vaccines full of aluminum, toxins in every product, chemical-leaching plastics, environmental hazards, and healthcare ruled by prescription drugs meant to “fix” the body’s reactions to these invaders.
Okay, clearly I’m generalizing. But the fact that parents focused on “alternative” health, green living, clean eating, natural birth, environmentalism and the mind-body-spirit connection remains a small portion of society points to the fact that, somewhere along the line, we (the collective “we”) lost touch. We allowed those with financial and political power to make decisions for us. We allowed corporations to control our food, to dictate our health, to decide who controls a woman’s uterus. We allowed ourselves to be convinced that we’re dirty, pestilent individuals that need constant chemical cleansing. We said, “Okay!” to vaccines that have undergone limited research and contain questionable ingredients. We didn’t put up a fight when factories polluted our air, our water, our lungs…
THIS MUST END NOW.
ENVIRONMENT
Moms Clean Air Force
My Plastic Free Life
GMO’S/LABELING
Just Label It
LEAD POISONING
Lead Safe America
TOXINS
Toxic Baby
UnAcceptable Levels
VACCINES
VacTruth.com
Vax Truth
I agree with your argument in spirit. 🙂 I disagree, though, that dropside cribs weren’t dangerous. But I don’t think that was your point.
But was *every* drop-side crib dangerous? Probably not. Only the shoddily-constructed ones. But, correct, my point is that product recalls generally affect such a small percentage of children yet garner significant attention and fear for some reason.
I feel ya. It’s hard not to get swept up into the culture of fear and questioning our ideas as parents (vs. what coorporations tell us).
I agree… We DO have a powerful voice… as bloggers, moms, dads and the power of social media… I also wish we would learn to use it more wisely with other issues that are equally if not more important.
Very well said! Unfortunately fear works or immediate fear (as in the crib, Bumbo chair, etc.) with everything else you mentioned it is harder to see the cause and effect (sometimes it takes decades) and that is why it is important that WE do share reliable information so more and more will take the time to research and make more informed choices for the sake of their and their children’s health.
I agree that the fear and hype are misplaced. I think we need to rely more on common sense and our intuition as parents and less on popular media.
So true, our children are constantly exposed to so many dangers on a daily basis. From the food we eat to the toothpaste we use. It is sad that we are not protected from these toxic agents that they sell us on a daily basis. We must stand up to it by not purchasing these products. Great post ! Visiting from Blogger Friends Support on FB!