After two months at a trial defending a corporation against the scientific allegations of the Government, you might think that I would be a bit, shall we say, cynical of the scientific positions of those in Washington, D.C. In reality, however, I’ve reached a slightly different conclusion: if there are two political groups fighting over scientific evidence–one side saying X is safe, one side saying X is dangerous–the “safe” side is probably right. (Yes, the “safe” side might be deep in the pockets of some corporation, in theory. But, in reality, it’s much easier for a politician to talk about dying children, and, therefore, that a product is “dangerous,” than to insist over contrary cries that it is “safe.”)
Em and I, as early-21st century parents, have been bombarded with junk science. (This has forced me to dredge up whatever I learned in Symbolic Logic and whatever I can vaguely recall from high school chemistry and biology.) We know that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine. We know that Congress’s attempt to regulate lead in children’s toys has had far-reaching implications to unaffected children’s toys and books.
So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that all of the fear over phthalates was also overhyped. Take a listen to this NPR piece on the subject.
Next on the list? BPA, but given that it’s just about impossible to find anything with BPA nowadays (even though both the FDA and the CPSC say BPA products are safe), this one’s a moot point.
In short: there’s lots to worry about kids. But most of this stuff isn’t really worth worrying about.
(Image via Flickr.)
Yay, thank you for a dose of reality!!
Of course Derek writes this a week after I threw away Tommy’s old BPA bottles and bought new ones for this baby… Oh well! =)
Now I feel guilty about buying a new non-BPA water bottle.