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Moral issue: Should I tell 'em they're poisoning their kids?
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Should I warn other mothers about their choice of bottles?
Yes, if it were me or my kid I'd want to know.
56%
 56%  [ 9 ]
No, it's none of your business.
43%
 43%  [ 7 ]
Total Votes : 16

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simone



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:49 pm    Post subject: Moral issue: Should I tell 'em they're poisoning their kids? Reply with quote

So everyday at work, I meet my nanny and baby at the "baby love room" at the COEX Mall, where I eat a sandwich and nurse the baby, and we hang out, play, and often meet lots of Korean moms and babies.

I'd say that about 90% of the women are bottlefeeding their kids, and EVERY time they're using either Avent or Dr. Brown's baby bottles, which have been shown to leach BPA into the formula, so much that they're now banned in Canada.

I don't want to be one of those "sanctimommies", criticizing other women for their parenting choices, but in this case, I don't think it's a choice they've made with all the evidence.

Should I make up a small sheet of information and when I see a woman with them, sheepishly hand it to her? Usually by this point our kids are squealing and smiling at each other, and everyone's really happy and friendly.

This BPA stuff is evil, acts like an environmental estrogen, and is associated with certain cancers... and is especially risky for pregnant women and infants. I realize that I'm basically telling women to ditch all their baby bottles (usually women buy a huge set of them)...

I mean, they'll feel bad once they go on the internet and look it up themselves (and I know for sure that the info IS out there on the Korean internet), but imagine how they'll feel by the time the kid is 6 and they realize that they've been exposing them to toxins their whole lives?
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's rough. Is there some way you could anonymously inform them so as not to jeopardize your rapport?
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simone



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
That's rough. Is there some way you could anonymously inform them so as not to jeopardize your rapport?



Oh, the women I see there are usually different every day. If I piss them off, I'm not likely to have to deal with them on an ongoing basis.

I'm just wondering more along the lines of, do I have a moral obligation to say something? I'm leaning more towards "yes", but I want to make sure I've thought it through before I start printing up flyers to start handing out... (flyers meaning a half page sized note translated into Korean strongly suggesting they search the internet on safe plastics).
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Captain Corea



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:00 pm    Post subject: Re: Moral issue: Should I tell 'em they're poisoning their k Reply with quote

simone wrote:
they're using either Avent or Dr. Brown's baby bottles, which have been shown to leach BPA into the formula, so much that they're now banned in Canada.


Shocked
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Typhoon



Joined: 29 May 2007
Location: Daejeon

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glass bottles are the way to go...or just the boob!
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Hobophobic



Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Location: Sinjeong negorie mokdong oh ga ri samgyup sal fighting

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Typhoon wrote:
Glass bottles are the way to go...or just the boob!


Yikes, we used those Avent bottles 2 years ago for my little guy, guess I will be pitching those out for the next baby... Shocked

Good to know...
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OiGirl



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Could you post your information anonymously on the wall there? And then maybe make an act of reading it, shocked, and point it out to the other mothers?

Underwaterbob wrote:
That's rough. Is there some way you could anonymously inform them so as not to jeopardize your rapport?
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cut yourself a nice stencil and start tagging! Seoul could use some good graffiti. Very Happy
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did you grow up getting poisoned? Did you turn out OK or do you think all that poisoning messed you up somehow?
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simone



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
Did you grow up getting poisoned? Did you turn out OK or do you think all that poisoning messed you up somehow?


I honestly have no idea what kind of bottles my mom used with me. Probably glass, though.

And I'm certainly full of chemicals, like everyone else... but when studies are showing negative health implications with a certain product, such that they get BANNED in my home country, I'm not going to use them with my own baby.

Of course, maybe we Canadians are wusses... eh?
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jou ma se poes



Joined: 13 Apr 2008

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Of course, maybe we Canadians are wusses... eh?


No, just gullible morons.
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NightSky



Joined: 19 Apr 2005

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Moral issue: Should I tell 'em they're poisoning their k Reply with quote

simone wrote:
So everyday at work, I meet my nanny and baby at the "baby love room" at the COEX Mall, where I eat a sandwich and nurse the baby, and we hang out, play, and often meet lots of Korean moms and babies.

I'd say that about 90% of the women are bottlefeeding their kids, and EVERY time they're using either Avent or Dr. Brown's baby bottles, which have been shown to leach BPA into the formula, so much that they're now banned in Canada.

I don't want to be one of those "sanctimommies", criticizing other women for their parenting choices, but in this case, I don't think it's a choice they've made with all the evidence.

Should I make up a small sheet of information and when I see a woman with them, sheepishly hand it to her? Usually by this point our kids are squealing and smiling at each other, and everyone's really happy and friendly.

This BPA stuff is evil, acts like an environmental estrogen, and is associated with certain cancers... and is especially risky for pregnant women and infants. I realize that I'm basically telling women to ditch all their baby bottles (usually women buy a huge set of them)...

I mean, they'll feel bad once they go on the internet and look it up themselves (and I know for sure that the info IS out there on the Korean internet), but imagine how they'll feel by the time the kid is 6 and they realize that they've been exposing them to toxins their whole lives?


if you are that worried about the health of Korean kids and babies you would do better to print out a fact sheet on car seats and the importance of using seat belts. the mothers put their kids in danger every time they get in the car and let the kids jump around in the back. since Korean mothers believe it is safe to hold a baby on their lap while travelling 70 miles down the highway do you really think too many of them are going to be concerned about possible plastic hazards in their baby bottles? JMO though.
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jou ma se poes



Joined: 13 Apr 2008

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw some dudes eating tuna sandwiches the other day at a sandwich shop. I think I should put up a sign telling them not to eat tuna because I heard that tuna has OMG! mercury in it.
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simone



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:24 pm    Post subject: Re: Moral issue: Should I tell 'em they're poisoning their k Reply with quote

NightSky wrote:


if you are that worried about the health of Korean kids and babies you would do better to print out a fact sheet on car seats and the importance of using seat belts. the mothers put their kids in danger every time they get in the car and let the kids jump around in the back. since Korean mothers believe it is safe to hold a baby on their lap while travelling 70 miles down the highway do you really think too many of them are going to be concerned about possible plastic hazards in their baby bottles? JMO though.


See, *that* would make me uncomfortable, seeing as when I'm around them, I have no idea what their transportation situation is. Maybe they did use a car seat - if I handed them a little note "reminding" them of the importance of car seats, I would be making assumptions based on the fact that they're Korean.

Whereas, if I saw a foreign parent using one of these bottles, you can bet for sure I'd suggest they go to google and look up "BPA" and the brand of bottle they're using. I'm merely pointing out a fact related to something I see going on, rather than launching a general crusade for the health and safety of the world's children. I'm much too lazy for that...
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wanamin



Joined: 14 Apr 2008

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:04 pm    Post subject: Baby Bottles Reply with quote

Just because your government tells you something is bad you take it as gospel? Of course its better to be safe than sorry, but everything I've read on Bisphenol A (BPA, as you call it) shows that the evidence is inconclusive.

What about the dirty Yellow-dust-filled air that all the babies in Korea breathe? Have you read about what is in Yellow Dust?? (burnt plastic, among other things)

If you are worried about a few micrograms (1 microgram= about 1 millionth of 1 M&M) of Bisphenol A, perhaps you reconsider your current country of residence. Not only yellow dust... Car safety as mentioned above, the high rate of child abduction, close proximity to a dictator bent on taking over South Korea, etc etc.
Korea has a lot of worries for parents without thinking about traces of a chemical that has NOT been proven harmful in bottles that women have used for DECADES!!!

There are a million issues to consider when raising a child. To make a claim that these mothers are 'poisoning their babies' is dubious at best, and best left to a scientist. If someone told me that I was 'poisoning my baby' I would feel insulted, to say the least.
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