This is really distressing. There is a lot of discussion in the mommy blog community about BPA (Bisphenol A) and it is very easy to search for products that do not contain this chemical. Luckily we did not bottle feed our little guy at all.

Quoted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A chemical in some plastic food and drink packaging including baby bottles may be tied to early puberty and prostate and breast cancer, the U.S. government said on Tuesday. ...

The National Toxicology Program went further than previous U.S. government statements on possible health risks from BPA.

It said: "There is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants and children at current human exposures." The findings expressed concern about exposure in these populations, "based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females."

FYI ...

Quoted: You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.

Hands-only CPR calls for uninterrupted chest presses — 100 a minute — until paramedics take over or an automated external defibrillator is available to restore a normal heart rhythm.

This action should be taken only for adults who unexpectedly collapse, stop breathing and are unresponsive. The odds are that the person is having cardiac arrest — the heart suddenly stops — which can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems. In such a case, the victim still has ample air in the lungs and blood and compressions keep blood flowing to the brain, heart and other organs.

A child who collapses is more likely to primarily have breathing problems — and in that case, mouth-to-mouth breathing should be used. That also applies to adults who suffer lack of oxygen from a near-drowning, drug overdose, or carbon monoxide poisoning. In these cases, people need mouth-to-mouth to get air into their lungs and bloodstream.

Seattle is on the list for greatest number of parks per square mile.

Quoted: A look at the best walking cities in all 50 states.

T and I were wondering this exact thing just the other day ...

Quoted: Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures -- a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. ...

In warmer outdoor temperatures this protective coating melts, and unless it is inside a living person or animal, the virus perishes.

Good news for T ... (not the breast implants)

Quoted: Drinking coffee, using mobile phones or having breast implants is unlikely to cause cancer, according to a risk ranking system devised by an Australian cancer specialist to debunk popular myths.

These are quite funny when you know that they were put together by patients at the mental institution who see the disorders every day. I think that if mental patients can't poke fun at their disorders, who can? ;)

Quoted: A bad taste top ten of Christmas carols poking fun at mental illness has been slammed as 'degrading' and 'insensitive' after it was published with the backing of a social services department.

Read this before dinner, not after ... you might want to change where you're headed. These are restaurants that have 10 or more health and safety violations this year.

Quoted: The local restaurants with the worst health inspection records are a surprising group, including one of the city's finest restaurants, Wild Ginger, above. The Seattle P-I analyzed thousands of inspections to tell you where the problems were found.

I have always questioned Hansen's "Natural" Soda ... soda doesn't seem natural at all no matter what the ingredients are.

Quoted: It's a fight that has the nation's largest chicken producers squabbling, Big Sugar and Big Corn skirmishing and Sara Lee mixing it up with Farmer John. Lawmakers, too, have joined the fray, which already is thick with dueling petitions and at least one lawsuit. Meanwhile, government food regulators are uncertain how to proceed.