Toxins
Bidis and Clove Cigarettes
Bidi cigarettes, sometimes called kretek or clove cigarettes (although the different names have their own specific meanings), have increased in popularity more than 400% in the last few years. In my a…
Dangers of Parental Smoking
Dr. Greene's take on parental smoking... (hint: don't do it!) A study in the August 2000 issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood found that parents who smoke increase the risk of meningococcal m…
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
You can't see it. You can't smell it. You can't taste it. You can't feel it. But it is responsible for more poisoning deaths in the United States each year than anything but heroin. What is it? (more&…
EPA Bans Fruit & Vegetable Pesticides
In August 1999, the United States Environmental Protection Agency made a truly historic move by banning certain uses of two organophosphate pesticides commonly used on fruit and vegetables in order to…
Fast Facts about Huffing
"Huffing," or inhaling volatile substances, is becoming increasingly popular among children, especially among 12- to 14-year-olds (Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 1998;152(8):781--786).…
Fast Facts about SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, is defined as the sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of any infant or young child. (more…)…
Fast Facts about Precocious Puberty
Precocious puberty is defined as the onset of true puberty before 8 years of age in girls or 9 years of age in boys. (Boepple, et al. Endocrinology, Surgery, and Technology, Vol 1, 1996) (more……
Fast Facts about Lead
Deaths from lead poisoning are now rare, but it is not unusual for a child's blood to contain enough lead to cause intellectual and developmental delay, neurologic problems, kidney disease, and anemia…