Questions Posed to County Child Care Professionals

I began this blog/ community forum (very unfamiliar territory) on December 7th, hours after reading the Canadian Press Article about bisphenol A (BTA) being contained in most infant bottles (see below). The image of our precious infants laying contentedly in our arms, drinking milk from bottles that are potentially leaching a toxin that can ultimately cause cancer, hormonal problems, hyperactivity (and we have been wondering why 3 out of 4 children are being diagnosed with ADHD?), and goodness knows what else, has been driving me to take immediate action and ask as many possible questions of as many possible people in my small circle of child care and community professionals.
I humbly beg your forgiveness if I am being so bold as to ask specific questions of my fellow “Infancy Movement” members, but I believe that if we can start to address these questions and this issue we may be well on our way to meeting our goal of ‘networking’ and filling the gaps that are lacking in our ability to effectively meet many of the needs of families and children in our County. I realize this is just ONE ISSUE of many, and some of you may not feel as driven as I obviously am to tackle the problem of chemicals we are exposing our children to – I completely respect that. However, to this end I have several questions for each of you that I hope are relevant to your field of expertise. I am sending them directly to you via email and will post your answers on this forum. Your answers could be helpful to many parents, educators and members of our community who are being directed to this online forum. Thank you in advance for your participation!
With Much Respect,
Deborah

Other Professionals
Your comments and valuable links are most welcome. I am definitely a ‘newbie’ to the subject of chemicals and toxins that our children are being exposed to and any help you can offer is appreciated!

UPCOMING “CHEMICAL FREE” PLANS
In the next few weeks we at CDCC will be building a “Toxic Pile” containing all toys and materials that are unsafe for the children in our daycare environment. It is my hope that CDCC can become “Chemical Free” within the next few months. Perhaps an impossible task, but the ‘act’ of being accountable means that once you are made aware of something that poses a threat to others you must take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate the threat! In my role as a protector of children building our ‘toxic pile’ and starting this forum are simply the only responsible things I can do (it’s a start anyway!)

Other Daycare Centers & Home Care Providers
Please share your plans, tips and activities towards ensuring the children in your care can play and develop in “Chemical Free” environments!