Those Panic Emails

Now that I have a child I swear I receive more and more of those panic emails, you've read them too, the ones with hair raising subject lines like,"Warning: Don't preserve your kid there's formeldahyde in your baby shampoo" or "The Swifffer: the silent killer." Just yesterday a friend sent my husband one about how a kid alledgedly died in the Mcdonald's pool of balls after jumping on a heroine needle. I am definitely putting that one on my list of things to worry about....Delete.Delete.Delete. I don't even own a Swiffer or go to Mcdonalds so who cares right? But I have to confess that I too almost tossed the G's vitamins out the window after reading an email last month that warned everyone about the high levels of Vitamin A in Yummi Bears, a multivitamin for children. "Flintstones chewables is the 'safe' alternative the study recommended." It was all exposed and dragged out on the Today Show and within minutes spread like wildfire throughout the internet. Too tired to think that day, I was tempted to just toss the bottle out. "I don't have time to look into this..."
But I spent $20 at Whole Foods for those damn vitamins and I was at least going to get my money back. I'm glad I made the call. I actually had a chance to speak to the marketing director for Heros Nutritionals who shed some light on the whole controversy. Apparently, the group that conducted the study is a for profit company that will only release the results of their findings for a pretty penny. Hmmmm.. and they only recommend Flinstones chewables? The director and I talked at great length about the make-up and research behind the Yummi vitamins. From that conversation I was on a mission to find out the truth and discovered many informative links. I learned a lot about vitamins let me tell you... enough to realize that the G's diet is already packed full of Vitamin A as it stands maybe 2400IUS is not all that necessary but what really has stuck in my head in all this is the level of misinformation and with that fear that circulates around the internet and jams up my inbox. So today I'm starting a list of things I don't want to forget to teach the G when he grows up...
1. Like your history book, the internet too can be a work of fiction...

Any other lessons you think I should add to this list?