Another victory for American consumers! On June 2, the state of California Senate voted to ban bisphenol A (BPA) from the packaging of baby food and beverage products. You remember BPA, right? It’s that carcinogenic, endocrine disruptor compound found to leach out from plastic bottles (including baby bottles!) and food packaging (including baby formula!).

Well, it seems that the Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act (SB 797) of California will finally put an end to the use of this chemical in the manufacture of plastics and plastic-containing products. At least until the Act goes through the State Assembly. The legislation is also known as the Pavley Bill as it was introduced by Senator Fran Pavley.

The industry lobbyists did try their best to sway the Senate’s decision in their favor but it the end, the Senate members acted rationally based on the mounting scientific evidence that BPA is detrimental to our health. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), research studies have linked BPA exposure to the following diseases and health problems:

• Breast cancer

• Heart disease

• Birth defects

• Prostate cancer

• Infertility

• Premature puberty in girls

• Diabetes

• Obesity

California is the not the first state to ban BPA. Earlier this year, Minnesota, then Connecticut set the precedence. It is expected that more states will follow. This is despite the fact that the US FDA has declared the levels of BPA in the food and beverages are very low and considered to be harmless.

As Breast Cancer Fund Gretchen Lee Salter policy manager rightly said “…kids had to come first before the lobbyists.” Indeed, with the Pavley Bill, this is exactly what happened.

The arduous story of the 13-year-old boy suffering from Hodkin’s Lymphoma is causing controversy from the Midwest to the west coast.

Daniel Hauser, from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in January. He underwent the first of six planned rounds of chemotherapy the same month. Then, he refused any more treatment, apparently with the support of his parents.

When Daniel didn’t show for the second course of chemotherapy, his doctor suspected that his parents were involved in his decision to refuse treatment, and in April called Minnesota child protective services to report them for neglect.

A court ordered that Daniel should have chemotherapy.

Then on Monday, before the chemotherapy was due to begin, Daniel and his mother disappeared. The mother and son have been spotted in Southern California, and some believe that they are trying to get to Mexico for alternative cancer treatments. A warrant has been issued for his mom’s arrest and when the pair are found, Daniel will be placed in foster care and will be seen by doctors again.

According to doctors involved in the case, Daniel is almost certain to die from his cancer if he has no more treatment. If he does complete the chemotherapy, his chances of survival are as high as 90%.

There seems to be some connection to a religion, The Nemenhah faith, which favors natural remedies and healing. But even the leader of the Nemenhah faith has called on Daniel’s mom to bring him home for conventional treatment.

I’m writing this in the middle of the night. My son woke up screaming, about an hour ago, he has a nasty case of diaper rash and as I was holding him, trying to help him calm down, I would have done just about anything to stop the tears and stop it hurting. That’s how mothers feel when their child is sick or in pain. My son just has diaper rash. Her son has cancer. Terminal cancer. Terminal cancer that could kill him within the month, according to the doctor who diagnosed Danny’s cancer.

I don’t understand why this mother is not doing everything she can to help her son. I just don’t get it. Is it really his choice to refuse treatment?  And if it is, why isn’t she trying to convince him to change his mind, not run away with him?

There’s speculation that the first round of chemotherapy was so hard on Daniel that he is scared to go through any more. Chemotherapy is grueling – the medicine used is basically a poison and the side effects are painful. But most of us, if we are unfortunate enough to have to make the choice, would choose the chemotherapy over a painful death from cancer, especially when we have so much of our lives ahead of us.

I don’t understand it, and can’t begin to imagine how Daniel and his mother are feeling, or what their true motivations are. I only hope that Daniel is found before his cancer kills him, and that the right people will be able to help him decide what treatment he truly wants.

This is quite a surprise…
On Monday morning, a woman in California gave birth to octuplets–eight babies at once, that is! And yes indeed, baby number eight was a surprise to the 46-member team at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, near Los Angeles.  “It’s a surprise,” said Dr. Karen Maples, head of the medical team. “Eight newborns are in stable condition and they’re doing quite well.”

Delivered at 31 weeks gestation via cesarean section, six boys and two girls emerged screaming and kicking. All eight babies are stable, but will likely remain in the NICU for another two months. Two of them are on ventilators.

The smallest of the children was just 1 pound 8 ounces, but the largest was 3 pounds 4 ounces–not bad for multiples. The childrens’ names, as well as the parents’, have not yet been released. But the babies were at first identified by the letters A through H as they were lifted out. Maples said the team had practiced the delivery ahead of time, though they were prepared to only make it to baby “G.” “My eyes got to be the size of saucers,” said Dr. Maples. “We just went on and delivered the babies.”

This is the second confirmed live birth of octuplets in the United States. A Houston, Texas, couple had eight babies in 1998, though one of their daughters died within a week. The surviving seven siblings are now in fourth grade. Their parents are Nigerian immigrants, Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi. Their advice to the new parents of octuplets? “Just enjoy it. It’s a blessing, truly a blessing.”

Though the hospital cannot confirm whether the mother used fertility drugs, it is quite likely. Other women with multiples have been advised to “selectively reduce” the weakest babies. But high profile cases, such as this one, continue to defy such medical wisdom. Of course, it may be too early to know whether or not the babies have any medical problems, but families such as the Dilley Sextuplets seem to be progressing without serious health issues. I interviewed the Dilleys at their Indiana home in 1997, and at that time, they were all healthy and well, but a little difficult to corral. So anyway, the fear of just chasing around 2 crawling babies–much less 6 or 8–would be enough to send me running from fertility drugs!

An even bigger shock to me, personally, is the astounding fact that the mother of these new octuplets plans to breastfeed all of them! More power to you, ma’am. You’re amazing. Now, try and get some sleep before they all come home!

It is estimated that as many as 2 million American children are home schooled. Parents of these children have decided to eschew traditional public education for a variety of reasons from concerns about safety to religious issues to dissatisfaction with the academics provided in their school systems. Home schooling is also an alternative for progressive education that may be less expensive than private, independent or parochial schools, and not all areas have charter schools or ?open enrollment? or ?schools of choice? where a parent or guardian can send their children to a public school in a different school district from the one in which they reside. For many, homeschooling is the apt choice for overseeing and providing their children with the best education that they see fit.

But in both California and Washington, D.C., recent events have homeschooling under fire.

The California Department of Education allows home schooling as long as parents file paperwork with the state establishing themselves as small private schools, hire credentialed tutors or enroll their children in independent study programs run by charter or private schools or public school districts while still teaching at home. But on Feb. 28, the California Second District Court of Appeal ruled that parents must have a teaching credential to home school their children. (The decision has not yet gone into effect.) According to Seema Mehta, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, ?The appellate court ruling stemmed from a case involving the Longs, who were repeatedly referred to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services over various allegations, including charges of physical abuse involving some of their eight children.?

Instead of the case being about the allegations of abuse, it turned into a case about homeschooling. (The Longs had a loose arrangement with an area private school, where the children were ?enrolled? but did not attend, instead their education being provided by their parents.) Mehta?s report continued, ?A lawyer appointed to represent two of the Long’s young children requested that the court require them to physically attend a public or private school where adults could monitor their well-being.? From that, the appellate court ruled that a parochial school’s occasional monitoring of the children’s education is insufficient to qualify as being enrolled in a private school, and because Mary Long does not hold a teaching credential, the court determined that the family is breaking state law.

A similar case occurred in our nation?s capital, where according to a recent Op-Ed in the Washington Times by Homeschool Defense League Association (HSDLA) president J. Michael Smith. In that case, a woman mistakenly identified as a homeschooler was charged with murdering her four children in January. The children had been enrolled in the public school system, but were truant. District of Columbia law requires homeschoolers to file notice with the District, and as a result of the case, the new Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has proposed some new homeschooling regulations in 5 DCMR Chapter 52 for District of Columbia residents in grades K through 12 for minors from the ages of 5 through 18. The proposed regulations include but are not limited to:

• Homeschooling parents providing written documentation to the OSSE within a specific time frame.
• Documents of hours of instruction and daily attendance that demonstrate the parent/legal guardian is providing regular, thorough home schooling instruction during at least the District?s school year.
• Parents must have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
• Parents/guardians must submit evidence in a form acceptable to the OSSE that the children have been immunized and received health and medical services required of the child?s peer group.
• Annual assessments of adequate home schooling instruction with the right reserved for the OSSE to make home visits if it is determined that the homeschooling is inadequate according to OSSE standards.

Many District homeschooling parents were outraged by these new proposals, finding them ?unconstitutional.?

Regarding the California appellate court decision, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was of a similar mind. On March 7, Gov. Schwarzenegger called for the reversal of the California appellate court decision banning parents from educating their children at home if they lack a teaching credential. If the state Supreme Court, which will be hearing appeals on the decision fails to act, the governor vowed to push through legislation guaranteeing families’ right to home school.

“This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will,” he said in a written statement.

The governor?s statement was commended by U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Senior Republican Howard P. ?Buck? McKeon (R-Santa Clarita). In a March 19 statement, he said: The decision by the California 2nd District Court of Appeal is a tremendous disappointment to those who believe in educational freedom and parental rights. That the Court would undertake this type of assault on the longstanding framework of the right to homeschool is an outrage. I commend Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the State Superintendent for Public Instruction, Jack O?Connell, for taking a strong stand in support of families, and I join them in their commitment to ensure parents retain the right to educate their children as they believe is best. This flawed decision will not be the final word on homeschooling in California. It has already been rejected in the court of public opinion, and I look forward to its rejection by our courts and in our laws as well.?

While the California court?s decision has left just three options: attending a public school, attending a private school, or having a certified teacher tutor the children, it has not deterred families from continuing to home school their children.

While in many states there are no such laws and regulations and it is easier for parents to home school where home schooled children thrive as much as their peers who are enrolled in traditional educational systems. New Hampshire too is placing homeschooling under the microscope with Senate Bill 337, which now requires homeschooling parents to provide additional reporting beyond what is required as per New Hampshire HB 406, which went into effect May 12, 2006.

As many states address the issue of ?no child left behind,? within their traditional school systems, other states may look to the results of what is occurring in California, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C to determine if they too should alter their own homeschooling regulations and requirements.

Sources:

The Los Angeles Times

http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/why-what-happens-in-california-matters

?Draft of DC Education Code for Homeschooling? at http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/laws/blDC.htm

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200803190.asp

March 17, 2008 Washington Times Op Ed at http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washingtontimes/200803170.asp