A couple of years ago, I signed up to opt out of junk mail. You can do that through the Direct Marketing Association.
Unfortunately, this didn't actually have much of an effect on the amount of stuff I was getting in the mail, because it didn't stop the companies from whom I had ever ordered something by phone or on line from sending me catalogue after catalogue --or from selling (or as they call it, "renting") my name and address to other companies.
So a few months ago, I started collecting catalogues, and then I sat down one afternoon and made a bunch of phone calls. I requested that each company:
1. take me off their mailing list
2. take my information off their rent/sell/trade list
This has had a huge impact. The catalogues and their friends and their cousins have vanished from my mailbox, significantly reducing the amount of paper I throw in the recycling bin at the end of the week. It also means that I don't leaf through catalogues discovering things I "need" to buy.
Unfortunately, now what I get in my mail is mostly bills. And they're mostly from the health insurance company, billing me repeatedly for things that they are supposed to cover but have rejected, due to some combination of errors made by someone in the doctor's office or at the insurance company. If I made that many mistakes, I'd lose my job ... but that's a topic for another day.
03 February 2009
01 February 2009
Food Dye and Prescription Drugs
Food manufacturers have to list all the sweeteners, food colorings and preservatives their product contains. So do manufacturers of over-the-counter drugs. But did you know that labeling of "inactive" ingredients remains voluntary for manufacturers of prescription drugs?
I didn't either. Until this morning, when my asthmatic son's peak flow (a measure of his ability to breathe) had plummeted from 210 to 165 overnight, after an evening dose of Azithromycin prescribed for an ear infection combined with a sinus infection, after a week of night-time coughing fits.
My son takes three prescription medications daily to keep his symptoms under control. But when he gets an upper-respiratory infection, things get immediately worse, so we treat the symptoms pretty aggressively with over-the-counter medications.
We don't keep candy around. Halloween is the only opportunity for my son to have sweets. Since he's allergic to dairy, the chocolate candies are generally out, so this year we let him have a few lollipops and skittles and the like, and then "lost" the rest of the haul. His asthma spiked. Over the months since then, we've narrowed it down to Red #40 as the culprit.
So, we went through all the OTCs. Threw out all the ones with Red #40. Searched multiple pharmacies, read the miniscule type on numerous labels, and eventually found alternatives without any red dye.
Then my son coughed all week. We took him to the doctor. I already mentioned the diagnosis. We asked the doctor to write on the prescription label that he needed a formulation without any red dye. My husband went to the pharmacy. The pharmacist can't find anything anywhere on the package that mentions inactive ingredients.
So this morning I took a walk over to my neighborhood Duane Reade. It being a Sunday morning, the place was empty, so the pharmacist had time to talk to me and inspect the labels on a whole bunch of different containers. Nuthin'.
Which is when I came home and did another Google search and found this, from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
If you're reading this blog, do me a favor. Go write to the FDA, the Surgeon General, or the President. Tell them that labeling of inactive ingredients needs to be mandatory on prescription drugs. In fact, tell them that prescription drugs don't need any food coloring. If you do, would you please let me know?
Thank you.
Oh, and by the way? Red #40 and various other dyes known to cause reactions in a small part of the population -- but which the FDA insists are safe -- will be phased out in Europe by the end of the year. Big Pharma will be insisting it's too expensive to reformulate their medications without the dyes ... but if they're not already for sale in Europe, they will be by the end of the year.
I didn't either. Until this morning, when my asthmatic son's peak flow (a measure of his ability to breathe) had plummeted from 210 to 165 overnight, after an evening dose of Azithromycin prescribed for an ear infection combined with a sinus infection, after a week of night-time coughing fits.
My son takes three prescription medications daily to keep his symptoms under control. But when he gets an upper-respiratory infection, things get immediately worse, so we treat the symptoms pretty aggressively with over-the-counter medications.
We don't keep candy around. Halloween is the only opportunity for my son to have sweets. Since he's allergic to dairy, the chocolate candies are generally out, so this year we let him have a few lollipops and skittles and the like, and then "lost" the rest of the haul. His asthma spiked. Over the months since then, we've narrowed it down to Red #40 as the culprit.
So, we went through all the OTCs. Threw out all the ones with Red #40. Searched multiple pharmacies, read the miniscule type on numerous labels, and eventually found alternatives without any red dye.
Then my son coughed all week. We took him to the doctor. I already mentioned the diagnosis. We asked the doctor to write on the prescription label that he needed a formulation without any red dye. My husband went to the pharmacy. The pharmacist can't find anything anywhere on the package that mentions inactive ingredients.
So this morning I took a walk over to my neighborhood Duane Reade. It being a Sunday morning, the place was empty, so the pharmacist had time to talk to me and inspect the labels on a whole bunch of different containers. Nuthin'.
Which is when I came home and did another Google search and found this, from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
Because of an increasing number of reports of adverse reactions associated with pharmaceutical excipients, in 1985 the Committee on Drugs issued a position statement recommending that the Food and Drug Administration mandate labeling of over-the-counter and prescription formulations to include a qualitative list of inactive ingredients. However, labeling of inactive ingredients remains voluntary. Adverse reactions continue to be reported....
If you're reading this blog, do me a favor. Go write to the FDA, the Surgeon General, or the President. Tell them that labeling of inactive ingredients needs to be mandatory on prescription drugs. In fact, tell them that prescription drugs don't need any food coloring. If you do, would you please let me know?
Thank you.
Oh, and by the way? Red #40 and various other dyes known to cause reactions in a small part of the population -- but which the FDA insists are safe -- will be phased out in Europe by the end of the year. Big Pharma will be insisting it's too expensive to reformulate their medications without the dyes ... but if they're not already for sale in Europe, they will be by the end of the year.
The Problem with Screen Time
Last night, I gave myself a very good demonstration of the problem with screen time. A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to figure out, if I'm just on line reading the papers, it's different from, well, reading. So there I was on the couch last night with laptop. I was sleepy and should have gone to bed, but I wanted to look a couple of things up first. Three hours later, I had played a few games of Spider Solitaire, looked a few gazillion times at CrackBook, read around in the Times and the Guardian and the Huffington Post, and googled Nadya Suleman. I vaguely recall that I watched one embedded YouTube video, but I have no recollection of what it was about.
Had I been reading a book, I would have had to work hard enough to engage with the author's argument, or with a narrative. That probably would have persuaded me pretty quickly that I was tired enough to go to bed.
The punch line: I forgot to look up either of the things I turned the computer on for.
Had I been reading a book, I would have had to work hard enough to engage with the author's argument, or with a narrative. That probably would have persuaded me pretty quickly that I was tired enough to go to bed.
The punch line: I forgot to look up either of the things I turned the computer on for.
29 January 2009
Women for Obama, Obama for Women
Gail Collins is smart, thorough, thoughtful, and frequently very funny. In her column in today's New York Times, she explains why the legislation Obama signed today, guaranteeing fair pay to women and allowing a meaningful time frame in which to file suit in cases of discrimination, is so important for American society -- women, the children and spouses who rely on their income, and the ideal of justice for all on which our nation is founded.
28 January 2009
Valentine's Day Shopper's Guide
It's not on the scale of Christmas, but people give other people a lot of stuff on Valentine's Day. Some of the stuff is problematic just because it's stuff: more consumer goods that the recipient may not want or need, that may spend some time in the back of a closet before it goes the way of the landfill.
But other stuff is problematic in other ways having to do with war and slavery and pesticides. Here's a run-down of some of the major problems, along with a few solutions.
Conventionally grown cut flowers use tremendous amounts of water. If they're grown in drought-prone countries like Kenya, then the water they're watered with is not available to local folks who need it for food and washing. If they're grown in Europe or North America, then there's a lot of energy used to heat greenhouses, in addition to the water consumption. Moreover, since flowers aren't food, the use of pesticides to grow them is unregulated -- but it poisons the people working in the flower farms and runs off into the streams and the groundwater. A good roundup of the issues, with more detailed, was published by Treehugger.
Then there's jewelry. Diamonds are forever --from an ecological standpoint, what could be better? The problem: as the United Nations reports, diamonds are funding war. In Angola, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, rebel soldiers have used diamonds to buy weapons and prolong civil conflicts costing millions of lives. Similar problems are on-going in other African countries. Governments have proposed a certification process that will allow consumers to be sure they are buying diamonds that have been mined and sold legitimately, but diamond retailers have not followed the process universally or consistently. Gold mining also uses noxious chemicals to separate the gold from the surrounding minerals, at a hazard to the miners and to the environment.
One alternative: Green Karat, which recycles gems and metals, including gold and titanium, and also uses created stones.
Chocolate? Nearly half the world's chocolate is produced in the Ivory Coast, and various human rights organizations have reported on child slavery there and in other African countries that produce chocolate.
Chocolate produced without slavery is becoming increasingly widely available. Trans Fair USA is a major certifier of chocolate and other products such as coffee and tea, sugar, and herbs and spices. Look for the "Fair Trade Certified" logo when you buy chocolate for your sweetie this year.
While you're at it, switch over to fair trade coffee and sugar. Sip your morning brew relaxed in the knowledge that it wasn't produced by child slaves -- and that the farmers who grew the beans or the tea leaves received a fair wage for their labor.
But other stuff is problematic in other ways having to do with war and slavery and pesticides. Here's a run-down of some of the major problems, along with a few solutions.
Conventionally grown cut flowers use tremendous amounts of water. If they're grown in drought-prone countries like Kenya, then the water they're watered with is not available to local folks who need it for food and washing. If they're grown in Europe or North America, then there's a lot of energy used to heat greenhouses, in addition to the water consumption. Moreover, since flowers aren't food, the use of pesticides to grow them is unregulated -- but it poisons the people working in the flower farms and runs off into the streams and the groundwater. A good roundup of the issues, with more detailed, was published by Treehugger.
Then there's jewelry. Diamonds are forever --from an ecological standpoint, what could be better? The problem: as the United Nations reports, diamonds are funding war. In Angola, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, rebel soldiers have used diamonds to buy weapons and prolong civil conflicts costing millions of lives. Similar problems are on-going in other African countries. Governments have proposed a certification process that will allow consumers to be sure they are buying diamonds that have been mined and sold legitimately, but diamond retailers have not followed the process universally or consistently. Gold mining also uses noxious chemicals to separate the gold from the surrounding minerals, at a hazard to the miners and to the environment.
One alternative: Green Karat, which recycles gems and metals, including gold and titanium, and also uses created stones.
Chocolate? Nearly half the world's chocolate is produced in the Ivory Coast, and various human rights organizations have reported on child slavery there and in other African countries that produce chocolate.
Chocolate produced without slavery is becoming increasingly widely available. Trans Fair USA is a major certifier of chocolate and other products such as coffee and tea, sugar, and herbs and spices. Look for the "Fair Trade Certified" logo when you buy chocolate for your sweetie this year.
While you're at it, switch over to fair trade coffee and sugar. Sip your morning brew relaxed in the knowledge that it wasn't produced by child slaves -- and that the farmers who grew the beans or the tea leaves received a fair wage for their labor.
23 January 2009
It's All In the Environment
Obama has a tremendous task laid out. I think he realizes that plowing money into the environment is one way to solve several problems at the same time. Green America makes several suggestions here for ways to support environmental change and economic recovery simultaneously.
The two most important items in the list, in my opinion:
Reduce, Reuse, Rethink. Recycling works, but it doesn't work hard enough. As long as our economy depends upon increasing consumption, recycling will only slow the flow of petroleum from the oil wells to the landfills, but it won't do anything to stop it.
Green Energy; Green Jobs. Moving to renewable resources of energy -- primarily sun and wind -- is crucial, but without reducing consumption we'll still be in the position of needing incredible amounts of natural resources just to produce all of the stuff we buy just so we can throw it away.
Use of renewable resources like wood and bamboo is, again, only a partial solution; we need significant long-term change in the way we think about buying stuff. Furniture should be for a lifetime, or even longer. (I'm very lucky. I'm typing this on a laptop computer that sits on a desk that came from my Great-Aunt Helen; she inherited it from her parents.) Shoes and clothing for a decade. (Can't say I'm doing that well there: I live, and walk, in the city, and I go through shoes in a year or two.)
It's an on-going project as I try to limit my long-term impact through decisions made every day.
The two most important items in the list, in my opinion:
Reduce, Reuse, Rethink. Recycling works, but it doesn't work hard enough. As long as our economy depends upon increasing consumption, recycling will only slow the flow of petroleum from the oil wells to the landfills, but it won't do anything to stop it.
Green Energy; Green Jobs. Moving to renewable resources of energy -- primarily sun and wind -- is crucial, but without reducing consumption we'll still be in the position of needing incredible amounts of natural resources just to produce all of the stuff we buy just so we can throw it away.
Use of renewable resources like wood and bamboo is, again, only a partial solution; we need significant long-term change in the way we think about buying stuff. Furniture should be for a lifetime, or even longer. (I'm very lucky. I'm typing this on a laptop computer that sits on a desk that came from my Great-Aunt Helen; she inherited it from her parents.) Shoes and clothing for a decade. (Can't say I'm doing that well there: I live, and walk, in the city, and I go through shoes in a year or two.)
It's an on-going project as I try to limit my long-term impact through decisions made every day.
20 January 2009
President Barack Hussein Obama
My Aunt Ruthie, 76 years old, a life-long resident of Maine, and a recovering Republican, who hated "Jimmy Peanuts" and voted for "Papa George" (but not, I don't think, for Ronnie or W), scolded me this evening for not having my class watch the inauguration this morning.
My mother, a recently naturalized immigrant from Germany celebrating her first inauguration as a citizen, has been glued to the television all day ... which speaks volumes, considering my parents can go weeks without ever turning the i-Box on.
The Offspring and his classmates watched the inauguration in the school auditorium.
I spent the day, the first of a new semester, teaching classes and meeting with students and others. Only later did I read the transcript of Obama's inaugurations speech, twice, and more. As a written document, it is very richly allusive.
Not much else to say: I am still in a bubble of euphoria at the reality of this new administration.
My mother, a recently naturalized immigrant from Germany celebrating her first inauguration as a citizen, has been glued to the television all day ... which speaks volumes, considering my parents can go weeks without ever turning the i-Box on.
The Offspring and his classmates watched the inauguration in the school auditorium.
I spent the day, the first of a new semester, teaching classes and meeting with students and others. Only later did I read the transcript of Obama's inaugurations speech, twice, and more. As a written document, it is very richly allusive.
Not much else to say: I am still in a bubble of euphoria at the reality of this new administration.
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