8 Recommendations For School Safety
    8 Recommendations For School Safety

    Preventable injuries cause about two thirds of all deaths among school-aged children and adolescents. Motor-vehicle injuries lead the pack, causing 70% of unintentional injury deaths. Other unintentio…

    Faster Than a Speeding Doctor
    Faster Than a Speeding Doctor

    Activated charcoal is the best initial treatment for many (but not all) pediatric poisonings. However, many people have felt that parents should not be trusted to administer it at home. A study in the…

    Allergic to Kissing?
    Allergic to Kissing?

    Holidays are upon us and many families are enjoying coming together to celebrate. For those with serious nut allergies, a holiday kiss may be an unsuspected danger. Allergic grandparents, for instance…

    Handwashing No Longer Necessary?
    Handwashing No Longer Necessary?

    The days of "wash your hands before dinner" are (at least partially) coming to an end! True, many infections are spread by the hands. True, we have been urging people to increase handwashing to preven…

    Put Your Tray Table Up -- Airplane Safety for Kids
    Put Your Tray Table Up — Airplane Safety for Kids

    Currently, children under the age of 2 are not required to be in any kind of safety restraint on aircraft during takeoff, landing, and periods of turbulence. They are often held on the lap of an adult…

    Children’s Environmental Health Research Centers Studies Effect of Toxic Exposures on Autism, ADHD, Hearing, Behavior, & IQ
    Children’s Environmental Health Research Centers Studies Effect of Toxic Exposures on Autism, ADHD, Hearing, Behavior, & IQ

    Current evidence tells us that DDT was responsible for a host of medical problems and the deaths of many children - but the link wasn't proven until more than 30 years later! (more…)…

    Deadly Fruit Gel Candies
    Deadly Fruit Gel Candies

    When we want to emphasize something in writing, we use bold, italics, underline, or end the sentence with an ! When the US Food and Drug Administration wants to emphasize something, they issue a secon…

    Do Graduated Driver's Licenses Work?
    Do Graduated Driver’s Licenses Work?

    Automobile collisions remain the leading cause of death among US teens. The youngest drivers are the most likely to crash, so a number of states have experimented with graduated driver licensing (GDL)…

    The Dangers of Car Seats?!?
    The Dangers of Car Seats?!?

    Have you ever noticed newborns in car seats with their heads all the way over to one side? Have you ever wondered what it was doing to their necks? An important study in the September 2001 issue of Pe…

    Kids and Eye Patches
    Kids and Eye Patches

    When the front of the eye is scratched, the standard treatment has been to put a few drops in the eye and to patch the eye for 24 hours. The undisturbed eye heals quickly from a corneal abrasion. (mor…

    Cookies n' Creatine?
    Cookies n’ Creatine?

    Many children would like to build muscle, improve their appearance, and enhance their athletic performance. Supplement marketers are convincing them that they can do it all by taking creatine. And it'…

    Dangerous Driveways

    Motor vehicle collisions kill more children in the United States than any illness. The August 2001 issue of Pediatrics reports that injuries that occur in and around driveways are a common, overlooked…

    Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
    Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

    When a little boy gets his penis stuck in a zipper, it makes me cringe. The August 2001 issue of Pediatric News contains a great tip from San Diego emergency room physician Dr. John Kanegaye: a plenti…

    Sticks and Stones May Break Their Bones...
    Sticks and Stones May Break Their Bones…

    ...but the normal rough-and-tumble play of childhood shouldn't! If a child falls from atop a climbing structure and breaks a bone, then it may be a normal fracture of a normal bone. But if a child tri…

    Measuring the Effect of Ecstasy
    Measuring the Effect of Ecstasy

    I spoke with a health conscious high school student last week who told me that she did not smoke, drink, or use drugs. She mentioned that she did use Ecstasy, but she thought it was so healthy that sh…

    Targeting Our Kids
    Targeting Our Kids

    Tobacco companies have proven to be escape artists once again. The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies prohibits them from directly or indirectly targeting magazine advertising tow…

    Refrigerate After Opening
    Refrigerate After Opening

    You're having a great time at a summer picnic, where you've brought some dry-cured salami or country ham. It's been stored for weeks in a cupboard at home, and it traveled in a hot car on the way to t…

    Slides, Swings, and Automobiles
    Slides, Swings, and Automobiles

    I've seen several reports in the news (including the New York Times) claiming that children are more likely to be seriously injured on playground equipment than they are in car crashes. These reports …

    Thermometers, Hatters, and ADHD: Mercury and Children
    Thermometers, Hatters, and ADHD: Mercury and Children

    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a July 2001 report urging parents to remove mercury-containing thermometers from the home. Physicians should lead the way, by retiring mercury-containin…

    Near drowning can happen at any age, but different situations are more common at different ages. In this photo school-age children sit beside a swimming pool.
    Where and When Do Children Drown?

    Many drowning tragedies are preventable; understanding where and why children drown happens makes it easier to prevent. According to a major study in the July 2001 issue of Pediatrics, infants are mos…