We try not to dwell on fears, but parents are increasingly concerned about their children’s exposure to toxic chemicals in everything from foods, skin care products, clothing and toys. Recent studies have linked exposure to these chemicals to a wide range of medical issues for children ranging from eczema to developmental problems. We are actively seeking ways to reduce their children’s exposure to these toxins by turning to natural and organic products and pursuing more healthful and sustainable lifestyles. Here are some websites and articles that we have found to be helpful and informative. If you have suggestions for additions to this page, please contact us – we would love to share information relevant to the issues of children’s health and sustainable living. Children’s Health: The Mount Sinai Center for Children’s Environmental Health is a leading research institution. Recent articles include: Why Are We SubsidizingChildhood Obesity? New Mount Sinai Study Shows Exposure to Certain Pesticides Impacts Child Cognitive Development Don’t miss their fabulous “Resources for Parents”page. More Reading: From Audubon Magazine, the article Pandora’s WaterBottleis an in-depth and informative discussion on the environmental impact of hormone disrupting chemicals.
From Chemical & Engineering News: Perfluorochemicals Linked With Impulsivity“Industrial Pollutants: Scientists find that high blood levels correlate with a core feature of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”
A great resource for the latest news on protecting children from harmful chemicals. Sustainable Agriculture:
It seems that most of the environmental hazards we are concerned about somehow circle back to our unsustainable habits as consumers. Buying local, sustainably produced food is one of the single most effective things we can do to preserve our environment, community, and health. Locally produced food is often organic or produced with minimal chemicals, fresher and more healthful, and eliminates unnecessary packaging and shipping.
Our dear farmer friends Richard and Cecile have worked tirelessly to restore their beautiful biodynamic farm in Claverak, NY. Growing Calendula flowers for Buttercup & Jake helps support their bee sanctuary. You buy Cowberry’s certified organic produce and meats at a number of local farm markets.
Home of fields where Calendula flowers grow for our products, Stone Barns is also a fabulous destination for a day trip with the kids. A stunning work of farm architecture in beautiful rolling pastures just a half an hour from NYC, Stone Barns is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Their devoted staff of growers make every function of the farm a work of sustainability - be it a child’s visit to farm camp or a four star meal of fresh local food at Blue Hill. Skin Care:
We don’t support all of the Environmental Working Group’s positions, but the http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com is great piece of watchdog work. It is very useful for finding out if a particular cosmetic product contains ingredients that are of great concern in terms of safety. You may be surprised to find out that some popular brands that tout themselves as “green” or even “organic” contain some scary ingredients.
That said, the safety assessments do not take into consideration the environmental impact of producing ingredients, nor the results of independent studies.There are ingredients derived from petroleum and highly processed naturally derived ingredients that have better safety ratings than organic ingredients such as Olive Oil, Calendula, Jojoba Oil and natural Vitamin E and all of these ingredients are extremely helpful to healing damaged skin and enjoy a long history of safe use. Additionally, there are some natural essential oils that contain the 26 allergens that are considered so potent, the EU requires then to be labeled on skin care products. The database does not indicate all of these hazards. Lemon and citrus peels are a source of the allergen limonene, rose, palmarosa and geranium oils contain the allergen geraniol and lavender essential oil is a source of the potential allergen linalool. The complete list is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/chemicals/files/legislation/allergenic_subst_en.pdf Generally, the only essential oils considered safe for use in children’s products are: lavender, vanilla, chamomile & petigrain, but these oils are still so potent that they should not be applied directly to a child’s skin. Buttercup & Jake has “Full Member Status” in the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Four out of our five products have received best safety ratings possible of “0”, and our Soothing Skin Cream receives a “1” in their database. We must note that we vigorously disagree with EWG’s support of the seriously flawed Safe Cosmetics Act (which in its current form could put us and other small natural skin care producers out of business), and have also read that their use of millions of dollars of donated funds has not been forthcoming. Tisk, tisk.