Posted on 02/07/2008 11:57:03 AM PST by JZelle
If you are a parent (or grandparent) of a young child, you are a target for manipulation by activists (some with scientific degrees) who claim we are surrounded by a sea of chemical "toxins" and "carcinogens." You are easy prey — because you care so deeply about the health and welfare of your babies and children. Purveyors of unfounded health scares know that.
The fearmongers have just about everything going for them. And unless you recognize their manipulative tactics, you will be among their millions of terrified victims.
Here's how they work: They know what psychiatrists have known for many years: human beings are fearful of substances that are unknown, unfamiliar — and invisible. It's just human nature to postulate there are hostile, unseen agents out there that are going to get you — like the boogeyman under the bed at night. What you cannot see can be downright scary. And that is what the "toxic terrorists" count on. You will act to ensure the safety of your child — whether or not there is a real risk.
Take the example of a scare story in the news this week:
An article in the current Pediatrics medical journal claims baby lotions, powders and shampoo contain a chemical known as phthalates, absorbed by babies through their skin, leaving them at risk of disease and disabilities.
Phthalates are chemicals that have been used for more than 50 years in a variety of products — for example, as chemical stabilizers in personal care products or as plastic softeners in rubber duckies, shower curtains and medical devices. Phthalates are invisible, unfamiliar (who can pronounce the word, much less spell it correctly?), and totally unknown to almost every parent. So when parents read that phthalates show up in the urine of babies exposed to...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Hopefully John Stossel’s working on this as we speak.
We are becoming scared of our own shadows in this country. I’m glad some media are beginning to challenge the constant drumbeat of fear spewed by the drive-bys.
Try living in Massachusetts, where a routine trip to the doctor for my 9 y.o. daughter’s annual checkup now included questions like: “do you wear your seatbelt? Do your parents smoke? Do they own guns?” Asking this to HER - not me, WHILE I AM IN THE ROOM! He writes the answers on her medical record.
Then when she was 13, it was “ok, now we’ll check your ears, and then if you want, Mom can leave the room so you can ask me anything you want”!! I said “I don’t think so, she can ask you anything she wants in front of me”. I felt like saying “can I have a few minutes alone with YOUR children to ask THEM invasive questions?”. The liberals claim that doctors have to do this because parents don’t parent anymore.
Evidently this is a mandated-Massachusetts thing?
Yikes.
It sickens me to see what this once great country has become.
I take it you didn’t have to actually leave the room? Maybe Deval can get that mandated too.
carolyn
I did not leave the room.
Now that she is 14, though, she went in alone this year and she told me that the same questions are asked - do your parents, drink, smoke, own guns and now they throw in ‘are you sexually active and would you like birth control’...
The agenda to alienate the parents continues.
This fearmongering is also evident in the HPV/Cancer immunization discussion.
bump
Nanny State Ping
Mom Ping
rme...... global warming isn’t keeping them busy enough
I discussed this with my kids before we went into the doctor’s office. They always said no to the suggestion.
We also discussed how to answer invasive, personal questions.
I never thought I wouldn’t have a problem lying, but....I still do, but that isn’t going to stop me when it could mean social services at my door, or getting blown in to the authorities for something.
I don’t know anyone in WV that doesn’t own a gun. OK wait, 2 families. One is my neighbor who is a convicted felon(growing 385 pot plants) and my son’s friend’s family, but Dad is from Mass and they lived in Kalifornia for years. :)
This reminds me of one of the (many) the Eco-Nut(s) I work with. He stopped drinking bottled water due to this misinformation. He now drinks his water in a Mason Jar, lidded, and leaves it in various places in the store. It literally looks like he’s drinking Moonshine all day, LOL!
I’m gonna mess with him this week and tell him that the little rubber ring painted into the lid is filled with carcinogens.
Mean? Yep. Fun to tease Hippies? You betcha! ;)
My ex-husband is a materials engineer, and he said the same thing back in the ‘80s when microwaves became popular. When heated, plastics outgas toxins that leach into the food. Makes sense to me.
Tell me about it!
I know exactly what you mean.
ROFLMSS!!!!!!!!!
After smelling some of the plastics that have been microwaved, we never do that any more. Only glass.
Parent sent from the room, so the doctor can talk privately with a 12-year-old, happens in PA too. And you had better not refuse.
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