Green Options

There has been a lot of talk lately about how many servings of fish is too much and which fish are the best to eat. With concerns like mercury poisoning, eating farm-raised fish or wild fish, genetic engineering and over fishing, it’s important to consider certain things when choosing your next fish dinner or sushi roll.

Doctors and health professionals in general recommend fish because of the high dose of Omega 3’s fatty acids a serving supplies you with. A 6-ounce serving of fish can provide a day’s worth of high quality protein for adults. Eating fish once a week should not cause any concern for most people. For those fish eaters who partake in multiple servings of fish a week, especially children and pregnant women, the main concern can become mercury poisoning. Eating too much mercury-ridden fish can cause certain health problems including impairment in memory and behavior, tingling in the hands, feet, and lips, as well as causing possible damage to the heart and immune system. Aside from the mercury concern, we now have a number of different fish species that are soon to become extinct due to over fishing, or are being caught using environmentally destructive methods. There are some very simple rules to follow to be certain you are not getting a side dish of mercury or hurting the environment with your fish entree.

The FDA has ordered the manufacturer of Gardasil, Merck, to add a few more side effects to the HPV vaccine’s label: fainting, tonic-clonic (jerking) movements, and “seizure-like” reactions.

The FDA suggests that physicians talk to patients about these risks. They also suggest that girls remain at the doctor’s office for 15 minutes after receiving the shot so their reactions can be monitored.

Lay down for 15 minutes in case of seizure or fainting.

But is “laying down” the right prescription for this vaccine?

We paid a visit recently to one of my favourite toy stores in the whole world, Hot Toads.  The physical store itself isn’t all that impressive — it’s a small, concrete-floored basement room in a medical building, with sparsely-stocked wooden shelves, draped with puppets and stuffed toys hanging by clothespins from simple lines strung across the room.  The back wall features a working 10-foot long model train table made entirely out of Lego.

But it’s not about the decor — it’s what they carry that makes this place special.  Plan Toys.  HaPe.  Schylling.  Plastic toys made from recycled milk jugs.  Non-toxic wooden toys.  Toys intended to enrich the mind and body of your children, not just feed into consumerism and branding.

And for me, it is a local store, within driving distance, right here in Atlantic Canada.  Unfortunately for my American friends reading this, while they do take online orders, Hot Toads only delivers within Canada.  Sorry, eh?

One of the many cool items they have is a line of large toy cars called E-Racers, from HaPe’s Bamboo Collection.  I had a nice chat with the fellow working there, and learned that apparently these were the first toys to be made from bamboo.  I was surprised that, while bamboo has been used for clothes, cutlery and dinnerware, flooring and even wallpaper for some time, the idea of bamboo toys was still relatively new.

He also filled me in on a fact I had previously been unaware of.  Of course, bamboo is the new golden child of the eco movement: it grows easily and quickly without pesticides, and is therefore a readily renewable resource with low environmental impact.  Bamboo wood is attractive and sturdy, and bamboo cloth is soft and has natural antibacterial properties.  As worldwide consumer demand for bamboo has increased dramatically in recent years, some companies have taken to clear-cutting hardwood forests in order to make room for bamboo plantations.  And despite bamboo’s rapid growth, difficulty in seed propagation combined with over-harvesting has even threatened some species to near-extinction.

Ugh.

World wide, 75 percent of human exposure to mercury is  from the consumption of marine fish and shell fish. In the U.S., about 40 percent of all human exposure to mercury is from tuna harvested in the Pacific Ocean, according to Elsie Sunderland, a coauthor of the recent US Geologic Survey study.

Data used in this study comes from one of 15 (so far) research cruises that are part of a much larger, international project called CLIVAR; the Climate Variability (CLIVAR) Repeat Hydrography/CO2 research   program.

Data analysis of the water samples indicated that total mercury levels in the North Pacific Ocean water have risen about 30 percent over the last 20 years.

The U.S. Green Building Council is unveiling a new system for evaluating health care facilities that is less stringent than normal LEED ratings. Will it work?

Chinese workers making energy-saving fluorescent lightbulbs for Western consumers have been sickened by the hundreds due to mercury poisoning.

While poor factory conditions in China shoulder most of the blame, the news does raise serious questions about just how “green” the mercury-rich fluorescent lightbulbs actually are.

One of the biggest stories in the UK at present is the relationship between democracy and the police – or as it has been expressed several times by Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission - the police needed to remember that they were “servants, not masters” of the public.

Isn’t it about time that fish was actually put to the test?

Mercury, one of the most insidious elements that can be ingested, has significantly negative health effects on the population; in some cases it can causes irreversible damage. But while many people are aware that mercury exists in certain fish, there is no universal certification that tests how much mercury is present in commonly eaten seafood.

10 kids ingested windshield wiper fluid at a daycare in Little Rock, AR. The kids, aged 2-7, each had about one ounce of the fluid.  One child had a high blood level of methanol, which can cause blindness.

Mmm.  Delicious florescent drinks. This is what happens when electric blue kids’ beverages look just like poisons.

But no, really: how did this happen?

I’ve got that special mommy touch:  I can touch my children and know if they have a fever. Where my mommy touch fails me in knowing how high a fever they have. When my children are really sick, I do rely on a thermometer.  We all know that mercury thermometers are toxic if broken and have been largely been phased out in the US.  The problem is every battery operated digital thermometer I have tried has not lasted very long, the batteries are hard to replace, and they spread germs if not properly sterilized between use (I don’t use those little plastic covers).  I think I have found the solution:  Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer.

Neither of my kids have liked having their temperature taken orally (actually, my son refuses).  I remember the temporal artery thermometer they used at the hospital after my son’s heart surgery, and I thought it was really cool. They are now available at a relatively affordable price (about $40). I am sure I have already spent that amount on cheap digital thermometers over the years.

140 countries today committed to reduce global mercury pollution, which will help protect the world’s citizens from the dangerous neurotoxin.