Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Two steps forward.
2. Jesus saves.
3. God is still alive despite various attempts by mankind to declare him dead.
4. The community of Christians around the world even in those places where there aren't supposed to be any Christians and especially in those places where being a Christian will cost you your freedom and your life.

What are you thankful for?

Going Down the Rabit Hole

This sounds like the scare over thimerosal all over again. Parents, and others, insisted (and some still do) that the preservative used in some vaccines caused autism. And we all know how that debacle turned out (years of effort and money looking for a link all the while subjecting children to some pretty uncomfortable and often dangerous "treatments"). Now here again we have parents and their supporters asserting that the big bad scary chemicals are messing up their kids, researchers saying that umm no the evidence doesn't suggest any such thing, and government regulators ready to appease.

F.D.A. Panel to Consider Warnings for Artificial Food Colorings

Renee Shutters, a mother of two from Jamestown, N.Y., said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that two years ago, her son Trenton, then 5, was having serious behavioral problems at school until she eliminated artificial food colorings from his diet. “I know for sure I found the root cause of this one because you can turn it on and off like a switch,” Ms. Shutters said.

But Dr. Lawrence Diller, a behavioral pediatrician in Walnut Creek, Calif., said evidence that diet plays a significant role in most childhood behavioral disorders was minimal to nonexistent. “These are urban legends that won’t die,” Dr. Diller said.

This line in the article drew my eye, "There is no debate about the safety of natural food colorings." Unless you're, you know, allergic to those natural food colorings. People need to let go of that whole natural good, artificial bad prejudice. It make them do foolish things and easy marks for anyone looking to stir up fear about food or medicine. Natural can be just as bad, or worse than, artificial depending on what it is. Ask anyone who has a severe peanut allergy. Ask any one who has been bitten by a venomous snake. Natural does not always mean yummy yummy fun goodness.

The article continues with the following,

Citizen petitions are routinely dismissed by the F.D.A. without much comment. Not this time. Still, the agency is not asking the experts to consider a ban during their two-day meeting, and agency scientists in lengthy analyses expressed skepticism about the scientific merits of the Lancet study and others suggesting any definitive link between dyes and behavioral issues. Importantly, the research offers almost no clue about the relative risks of individual dyes, making specific regulatory actions against, say, Green No. 3 or Yellow No. 6 almost impossible.

The F.D.A. scientists suggested that problems associated with artificial coloring might be akin to a peanut allergy, or “a unique intolerance to these substances and not to any inherent neurotoxic properties” of the dyes themselves. As it does for peanuts and other foods that can cause reactions, the F.D.A. already requires manufacturers to disclose on food labels the presence of artificial colorings

Emphasis added.

So the FDA is supposed to make recommendations and publish warnings based on research that doesn't actually say what, if any, the problem actually is. This a whole lot of hand wringing over sketchy evidence that doesn't actually serve to illuminate any problems that might exist.

So alongside warnings that hot coffee is hot, that yogurt contains milk and that a can of peanuts contains peanuts we may soon see warnings such as,

WARNING: The following chemicals in this product [followed by the ingredient list] are suspected to cause certain reactions in certain individuals including but not limited to [and the sky's the limit].

I feel safer and more informed already, don't you?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFzsU6u853I

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. This is actually going up on the blog on a Thursday.
2. The prayers of righteous men and women.
3. The green shoots I saw growing out of the ground yesterday.
4. Teething only lasts a little while and then they eagerly await loosing their first tooth.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Yes I know it's not Thursday but still, I'm thankful for/that:

1. "I'm hungry." So says Bubba J at the dinner table.
2. "Gum" and "gym." So wrote Bubba J after eating some gum at the gym.
3. One day at a time.

What are you thankful for?