Last Monday the popular show “CSI: Miami” ran a segment in which a young woman dies and it turns out to be because of a GMO corn developed by a rogue company called “Bixton Organic Foods.” In the plot, the company willingly puts people at risk. This fictional scenario bears no plausible tie to reality, but it fits well with the simplistic, good guys/bad guys image in the Myth that many people believe about farming. To see how it feels to be the brunt of a distortion like this, I recommend you read a post from a real corn farmer.
So why is it possible for CBS writers to generate fictional “drama” about the “danger of GMO” when in fact GMO technology has been used with complete safety for more than a decade on a gigantic scale? (Having witnessed first-hand the thought and care that went into developing this technology over the past 30 years, I’m not surprised by that safety record). There is an abundance of good information available about this technology including many confirmations of its safety by panel after panel of highly qualified, science and medical experts around the world. I think the reason that the fear of GMO persists in certain extreme circles is the same reason that there are still “birthers” and people who are sure that health reform will lead to “death panels.” Its not that there is much overlap between these demographics but rather that the same mechanism of “selective knowing” is involved.
If you’re a fan of the Sundance Channel’s series Green Porno with Isabella Rossellini, you’re probably already aware that the acclaimed show launched its third season on Monday (with a focus on marine animals). But how well do you really know the mating habits of various animal species?
In order to celebrate the new season, we’ve agreed to host another event with the show… this time a quiz (which you’ll find below the jump). Answer the questions below in the comments; if you score 80% or above (that is, only miss two questions), you’ll be entered into a drawing for a Sundance Channel prize package that includes:
Of course we know that childhood obesity is a problem. And children who are obese often have higher blood pressure.
But a new study shows a link between the amount of screen time a kid has and high blood pressure, no matter what size the child is.
We’ve known from previous studies that sedentary behaviors are linked to obesity, and that obesity is linked to high blood pressure, but this is the first time that we’ve linked those behaviors directly to elevated blood pressure.
The real worry here is that these kids only averaged 1.5 hours of TV a day, less than the two hours max that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. It’s all the other “sitting around” behavior that can lead to high blood pressure.
Researchers at the University of York have recently come up with a method of recycling that seems like it fell from the pages of a science fiction novel. They want to turn discarded television screens into components for biomedicine.
More bad news for television: “Television exposure during infancy is associated with language delays and attentional problems,” according to Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
Of particular concern are homes in which the television is on all the time, which amounts to 30% of all households! In these situations, less interaction, critical for infant language development, occur because of the interference of the television.
Christakis and his colleagues studied 329 two-month to four-year-old children and their parents. Children were monitored for two years recording what they heard or said for 12 to 16 hours. Researchers did not calculate whether the children and their parents were actively watching TV or if it was just on in the background during the research. The results, according to Live Science:
Analyses of the recordings revealed that each hour of additional television exposure was linked with a decrease of 770 words (7 percent) the child heard from an adult during the recording session. Hours of television were also associated with a decrease in the number and length of child vocalizations and the back and forth between the child and an adult (called a conversational turn).
A study of 754 kids shows that those who watched television with adult content may become sexually active earlier in adolescence.
The research was done at Children’s Hospital Boston. They tracked kids from age 6 to 18, following what the children watched over the years. When the youngest kids (aged 6-8) watched adult-themed movies and TV, they were a whopping 33 percent more likely to have sex “during early adolescence”.
Yikes!
Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendos, our research suggests they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life.
Editor’s note: The following post was originally published on Green and Clean Mom. “Green & Clean Mom can inspire you to try a little harder, be a catalyst for change and to offer you some new tips and news on how to be the green, sexy and sassy mom…I know you are!”
In my local community something is happening that makes me want to jump up, clap for joy and say, “thank goodness”! Children are being encouraged to get outside. Turn off the television and discover green grass, bugs, bond with the trees, smell the fresh air, run and get dirty. It’s an initiative that really shouldn’t have to take place but with television, computers, working parents and technology more children are inside verses exploring the great outdoors. Find out how to locally get involved or start an initiative near you by visiting Getting Kids Outdoors.
The idea is to leave no child inside. I found many helpful tips for parents on a handout given to me at our local health fair and hopefully you can use some of these tips and join in the effort to get our kids off the couch and outside where the rain won’t hurt them and some mud could be fun for everyone!
Limit Screen Time. Designate how often the television can be turned on and stick to it. Avoid using it just for noise. I’m guilty at this. My children love to just have the television on but they’re not watching it. It wastes energy and it’s just noise.
I’ll admit that I totally used to watch TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus Eight. We don’t have cable, but my grandparents do, and what ELSE is there to do when we visit them but watch the Jon & Kate Plus Eight marathon that it seems is always on?
And sure, I really enjoyed the show at first. The little kids were cute, and it was entertaining to spend an hour seeing two adults tearing their hair out trying to complete the simplest of tasks, like grocery shopping, or getting dressed, with six toddlers and two older kids.
And the parents? They were AWESOME! Kate’s obsessive need to dress the kids identically and keep a fastidious house clashing with her husband’s desire to just chill–now that’s entertainment.
I visited my grandpa at Christmas, though, and again for Spring Break, and I was disturbed to see that the tenor of Jon & Kate Plus Eight has really changed over its few seasons. The show has gone from a documentary about how to parent through the hard times, with integrity and an emphasis on maintaining family connections, to a documentary about a couple of stage parents and all the misery they put their unloved and ill-behaved little kids through in order to bring in the cash. Here’s why I think Jon & Kate Plus Eight has become distinctly family-unfriendly, both for me to watch and for Jon and Kate and their children to live through:
This great video has been circulating around the birth-activist regions of the blogosphere recently, since it first aired a few days ago. It’s a television commercial for a bed, and the characters in the commercial are no actors. It’s actual scenes from an actual family, giving birth at home while a peaceful soundtrack plays, and voiceovers talk about the miracle, the specialness, the joy of birth, and the tradition of birthing at home.
There is no fretting about whether or not home birth is safe. There is no screaming and panicking. There is a secure and confident woman with her family by her side, bringing her baby into the world in front of our very eyes.
The objective is to use entertainment content as a vehicle for educating mainstream audiences on topics such as HIV/AIDS and education in the hopes of influencing public views and behaviors.
One of these initiatives, called Get Schooled, is a partnership with Viacom that will weave education-themed story lines into existing shows or create new shows centered on education.
I’ll admit that I totally used to watch TLC’s 
