LEAD Found in Vitamins for Women and Children

A recent survey by the FDA on vitamins labeled for women and children found elevated lead levels present in most of the vitamins.

Full report by FDA can be found here. The brand name of all the women and children's vitamins are included in the report, and sorted according to population group (young children, pregnant and lactating women, and adult women) and decreasing estimated exposure.

Do check out the report if you are taking vitamins or if you are feeding your child vitamins. Out of the 324 products sampled, only 3 products for children and 1 product for pregnant or lactating women had no lead levels detected. They are:

- NF Formulas Liquid Pediatric (for children 0-6 years old)
- Natrol Liquid Kids Companion (for children 0-6 years old)
- Twinlab Infant Care (for children (for children 0-6 years old)
- After Baby Boost 2 (for pregnant and lactating women)

On a side note, even though all 324 vitamin products sampled were labelled for women and children, I would imagine that vitamins labelled otherwise (ie for general consumption, not necessarily only for women or children) would also contain lead. My opinion on this is that if you are eating a healthy diet, skip the vitamin! All vitamins and minerals needed by the body can be easily found in the foods we eat daily. Furthermore, absorption of these vitamins and minerals are better from food, rather than from supplements.

(This article was edited on 15 September to include the names of specific samples of vitamins which had no detected levels of lead in them)

Bad Weather Activity (and why we don't go for walks anymore)

Thankfully, our apartment here in Taiwan is fairly huge, so there is adequate space indoors to engage DS in some physical activities to burn off those extra toddler energy.

As I have probably mentioned to many, we hardly go out on weekdays anymore. On weekends, we try to do some sightseeing (if DH is up to it) or grocery shopping. There are a few playgrounds just within walking distance from our apartment block, but the current doggie craze in Taiwan means that playgrounds and pavements frequently have doggie poo on them. For those who aren't aware of the doggie craze in Taiwan, in recent years, it has been "hip" and "fashionable" to own a little doggie, probably the smaller the better. Much like the doggie craze in Japan, really. Doggie owners take great pride in accessorizing their pooches with doggie clothing, collars, hats and even doggie strollers. Yes, doggie strollers. During our early days in Taiwan, we were in search of a narrow, 3-wheeled all-terrain stroller for DD. Imagine my excitement when I saw a middle-aged lady pushing one such stroller at Taipei 101. Upon closer inspection to see what brand it was, I saw a little pooch looking back at me. Sigh.

I was also surprised to find out that the air in Taiwan is quite polluted. With a PSI of above 100 almost everyday, DS's nose acts up occasionally. He has never had problems with allergies prior to this. Those of you who live in Singapore would be familiar with what the air is like with PSI above 100 - that would be when forest fires in Indonesia send smoke blowing towards Singapore and we get a PSI update on TV every 3 hours or so. We just stay home here with the air-con on 24/7 now.

We also stay home because there are quite a few construction projects happening just around our block. On windy days, small particles get blown into our eyes and DS would want to come home even before we've walked 20 metres. On one such morning, I had barely walked 10 metres out of our block when I felt tiny, continuous splashes of water. As it couldn't have been rain (since it was so sunny and cloudless), I looked around for the source of splashing water. To my horror, the almost-completed luxury apartment block directly opposite me was being "washed". Yes, water was running from the top of the building and down the facade of the building, and because it was so windy, the water was being blown at us.

Anyhow, we have resorted to a variety of activities indoors in an attempt to entertain ourselves. In the video below, DS can't decide if he's playing golf or baseball.

My Little "Bob the Builder"

The apartment directly below us had been vacant up to recently. In preparation for the new tenants to move in, some repair works were carried out which resulted in days of drilling, hammering, etc. DS, motivated by Bob the Builder, went about doing his own "repair works" to our apartment. He was obviously happy to be adding to the noise.

All I Want for Christmas is My 2 Front Teeth.

DD is already 1 year old, but she still only has 2 lower front teeth. She eating like a pro though, chomping her way through pieces of chicken and beef. She has been showing signs of teething in recent days, so hopefully her upper front teeth will be cutting through soon. Otherwise, she'll really be singing, "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth, my 2 front teeth....". :P

DD Turns ONE!

I cannot believe that our sweet baby is one year old already! It seemed like just yesterday when my waterbag broke and I was lying in the delivery suite, waiting for DD to make her appearance into this world. How time flies! DD is now one year old and will take her first, unassisted steps very soon. How exciting! I can't help but miss the precious newborn days though. Those tiny fingers and toes, and tiny little nose. So precious!

Here's a video of DS singing to DD. Notice DD clapping with us at the end. :)



Oh, and DD said her first word a few days before her 1st birthday! It was a very deliberate "Papa" (referring to DH, of course). I can't wait to see what her second word will be. I think it will be "Gor Gor", to refer to DS.

Just for the record, DS's first word was neither "Papa" nor "Mama". It was "Kitty" (he pronounced it "Titty" for a few months), the name of one of our cats. :P

Another DD Video

DD is fast growing up. She'll be 1 year old in a week's time. She loves to imitate our actions. In this video, she's doing to me exactly what we do to her - blowing into her skin to make silly noises! She's obviously tickled by what she can do!

Taipei 101

We finally made it up to the Observatory at Taipei 101 today. We were here at Taipei 101 previously, but it was raining then, so we decided to wait for a sunny day to get better views from the Observatory since we would have to pay NT$400 (about S$20) per adult to enter. Well, not that the views were going to be very much better since Taipei is frequently hazy. We were also hoping to go out onto the Outdoor Observatory area, which is closed when it rains. Unfortunately, when we were there today, the Outdoor Observatory area was also closed due to some renovation work.

Taipei 101 is currently the world's tallest completed building, with 101 floors above ground level and 5 floors underground. When the Burj Dubai in UAE is completed (expected date of completion is September 20o9), it will overtake Taipei 101 as the tallest building in the world. Hmm...I just realised that I don't have a picture of Taipei 101 for my blog. Well, for those who are interested, just do a google and many pictures of Taipei 101 will show up. :P

To go up to the Observatory on the 89th floor of Taipei 101, we took the fastest elevator in the world! Travelling at 1010m/min, we were up to the 89th floor in less than 40 seconds!


Here is a picture of the world's biggest passive wind damper. It serves to prevent damage to the building due to vibrations. In this case, vibrations to 101 may be caused by earthquakes or typhoons.

Here are some pictures taken from the Observatory on the 89th Floor. Although sunny, it was very hazy and visibility was very much affected.

Here are some pictures of the family while up at the Observatory. It's getting increasingly difficult to get a good family picture with everybody looking at the camera. Either one or even both of the kids will be looking away!

Here is DD, finally sound asleep in the wrap. :)

DH's Letter to Straits Times Regarding Abortion

There has been recent discussion in the Straits Times lately about abortion in Singapore. Some people suggest relooking abortion laws in Singapore, possibly making it more difficult for women to get an abortion. While DH and I do not condone abortions, especially when used as a form of contraceptive or as a result of irresponsible behaviour, we also do not agree to the illegalization of abortions.

Here is the letter written by DH to the Straits Times Forum, which was published today.

RE-EXAMINING ABORTION
Banning abortion will create more problems

I REFER to Ms Tan Seow Hon's comments in 'Time for Singapore to relook abortion law' (July 24).

Although it is true that some legislation should be examined periodically to assess its current relevance, Ms Tan's arguments as to why we should relook the abortion law is one sided. She acknowledged that backstreet abortions are dangerous but stated that this reason does not justify legalising abortion. I would like to point out that the danger of backstreet abortion is one of the central issues in legalising abortion.

Backstreet abortions are done using dangerous techniques or oral ingestion, and they often result in injuries or death to the woman. If medically supervised abortions are banned or made difficult to access, women who want or need an abortion and are unable to travel overseas to do it, will inadvertently turn to backstreet abortions. The result will be tragic.

While there is evidence to suggest that life begins at conception, and various major religions hold similar views, we cannot justify endangering the life of a woman by forcing her to seek backstreet abortions, just to protect the life of the foetus. Similarly, the life of the foetus needs to be protected.

Hence, I would argue that the decision to go for an abortion or not, should be left to the woman and the woman alone. This is because she is the one who has to bear the emotional and physical burden, and responsibility of either the pregnancy or abortion. It is not anyone else's place to decide for her, as long as she is mentally competent to make such a decision.

The rational approach to the dilemma of abortion is not to disallow women to make their own choice, but to educate the public on proper methods of birth control, and alternative avenues other than abortion in an unwanted pregnancy, for example, adoption. The approach to reducing abortion rates is in education and not legislation.

Finally, I would like to add that relooking the abortion law is not the method we should adopt to increase the birth rate. The idea is to make people want to have more children and enjoy having more children. Making abortion illegal or difficult to access certainly does not increase the desire or enjoyment of having more children.

Tupperware Plastics Information

I'm a huge fan of Z Recommends. They review products and discuss what is "safe" for babies and children. Recently, they spent quite a number of hours chasing down information on the plastics used to make Tupperware products.

Almost everybody I know uses Tupperware. I'm a big fan of Tupperware storage containers myself. Tupperware containers provide convenient storage solutions for anything and everything - food, drinks, toys and even toiletries. They even have a lifetime guarantee to boot!

So I think it's a huge welcome that Tupperware has decided to release its plastics information. This will allow concerned customers to check if a certain Tupperware product contains Bisphenol-A.

With thanks to Z Recommends, here's a direct link to their blog entry "Tupperware Releases Complete Plastics Information to Z Recommends".