4 dairy products removed from BFAD list -- Philippines

Gutierrez said BFAD has removed from its list the Fonterra brands Anchor Lite Milk, Anlene Milk Low Fat, Anmum Materna, and Anmum Materna Chocolate.

She said the four products of Fonterra removed from the list were manufactured in New Zealand and distributed locally by Fonterra Brands Philippines.

The BFAD, however, retained three Fonterra fruit flavored milk drinks – Anchor Wam! Fruit Milk Drink Mango Magic, Anchor Wam! Fruit Milk Drink Orange Chill, Anchor Wam! Fruit Milk Drink Strawberry Spin – which are not produced in New Zealand.

Full story in The Philippine Star

Captured moments

I was about to write "captured on film" but then that wouldn't be accurate now, would it?




A man in Lahore, Pakistan after a flash flood, July 2008. By Arif Ali/AFP/Getty.



Jeepney somewhere in Manila. By Emman Garcia.






Ah, childhood. By Mamarazzi School.

There's nothing reproductive nor healthy about it

... so to start with, I think the term "reproductive health" is misleading. And a bill that proposes teaching students starting from grade 5 in school about "how to have a safe and satisfying sex life;" making drugs and devices that mess with women's physiology and which have caused much harm to their bodies easily accessible to everyone; which imposes the number of children each family should have; and which works with the erroneous basic premise that the world is overpopulated ... simply does not have a place in Philippine society. The consolidated Reproductive Health Care Act goes against the Philippine Constitution that I don't understand why it is even being deliberated on in Congress. Good thing Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar had the courage and took the time to enumerate the specific points of the Constitution that the bill violates during last week's interpellation.

In the current issue of Baby magazine, I delved on this matter in the Editor's Notebook. I'm posting it in full here.

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The bomb is ticking

Take photos of a bunch of kids on the streets of Manila -- the dirtier they look, the better. Put these images on the front page of major broadsheets and slap captions on them about how there are "too many" people in the Philippines. Do this every few weeks. There you have it: the Philippines is "overpopulated."

It's not difficult to manipulate public perception, and it's easy to believe it if you're merely on the receiving end. We overlook the fact that it's a matter of population distribution -- Manila and a few other urban centers are the only places that are congested, and those who choose to live in other parts of the country have a lot of space to themselves (not to mention cleaner air and cheaper goods).

We probably haven't really looked into verifiable data to validate claims that there are too many people on planet Earth. Look at the figures from the United Nations World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision and see there is a high probability for a population implosion, not explosion--and in a few decades societies will be composed mostly of elderly, with too few young people to support the economy.

So, if the unwitting public is led to believe that there is a "population explosion," the next step would be to present a "solution." In this case, the solution deemed fit by some legislators and interest groups is easy access to drugs and devices designed to tamper with women's bodies and their physiology, and -- in cases where the surge of hormones released by the drugs and devices don't prevent ovulation and fertilization -- flush out a fertilized ovum (read: a newly formed human being).

If you grew up believing the myth of overpopulation, it would be easy to consider something like the Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill as something good. And if you've been on the Pill or you're convinced that use of prophylactics demonstrates responsible parenting, you'll find it easy to accept everything you read about the so-called merits of contraceptives without even asking why there's such little information in the media on the side effects, health hazards and the possible motivation behind the aggressive marketing of contraception. You probably don't even ask why (if you are aware at all) the bill is calling for pills, IUDs and condoms to be categorized as "essential medicines and supplies" when evidence-based studies have proven that these have led to numerous health problems in women, including blood clots, breast cancer, cases of perforated uterus and vaginal allergies. If you don't care that some of these contraceptives have been designed to cause abortion (purposely preventing the fertilized ovum from implanting is abortion) as a "safety net" should fertilization still take place, then care about your own health. For starters, turn to page 22 for "Getting to know the real contra vida, Part 1" and be more in the know about these matters.

With a wealth of available materials which legislators and their research staff may refer to in drawing up proposed bills that will affect the lives of their constituents, one wonders how lawmakers Edcel Lagman, Janette Garin, Narciso Santiago III, Mark Llandro Mendoza, Eleandro Jesus Madrona and Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel can formulate laws that involve drugs and devices that are detrimental to women's bodies and may even cause early-term abortions.

We human beings can be so ingenious. We have come up with groundbreaking inventions that have made life more convenient. But we have also made inventions that push us a step backward -- such as drugs and devices that harm the body, confuse the mind and mislead the emotions. And in the long run, rid the world of its most important resource -- people.

But there's still hope -- as long as we go beyond overpopulation myths and make good our promise to leave our kids with a world where children are treasured and life is deemed precious.

- Diana Uichanco
Baby Magazine, Sept. 2008

Updates on the milk issue -- Philippines

Early this afternoon, I received an email containing a list of milk and milk products banned by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) for melamine contamination. Then a few hours later I did a search on updates on the issue and found a news report on abscbnnews.com containing a list of 56 milk and milk products banned by the BFAD because these were still undergoing testing for melamine contamination. I'm posting both lists here. The first is the email, followed by the news report from ABS-CBS News:


Here is a list from the UP Chem Dept., these products have been pulled
out by BFAD:
Subject: Melanine Tainted Products - Updated List
Products Recalled - Melanine Contaminated

BRAND ITEM/DESCRIPTION

1 BAIRONG GRAPE CREAM CRACKERS

2 DOVE H/NUT ALM & RAISIN CHOC

3 DOVE HAZELNUT CHOC

4 DOVE MILK CHOCOLATE

5 Dreyers Ice Cream Cake

6 Dreyers Ice Cream

7 DUTCH LADY Sterilized milk (all flavors)

8 FIRST CHOICE CALCIUM CRACKERS

9 GINBIS PARTY ANIMAL BUTTER BISC

10 Koala Cocoa Biscuit 40g

11 KRAFT OREO WAFER STICKS 18S

12 Lotte Koala Cocoa Funpack 210g

13 M & M Chocolates Plain and Peanut

14 MEIJI Chocolates

15 MEIJI FAMILY PACK-GREEN TEA

16 MENTOS BOTTLE YOGHURT

17 Monmilk BREAKFAST MILK MALT

18 Monmilk HI CAL LOW FAT

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BFAD bans 56 milk products

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abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/26/2008 5:53 PM

The Bureau of Food and Drugs on Friday released a partial list of milk and other milk products undergoing testing for possible melamine contamination.

In an interview on radio dzMM, BFAD chief Leticia Barbara Gutierrez urged the public not to purchase the following products until the bureau finishes its tests.

"We are going to test if these are positive for [melamine]. Some of these used milk sourced from China. These are the samples that we have collected but there's always the possibility that these could be negative," Gutierrez told radio dzMM.

"This is the advice of the [Department of Health]. Wag na muna silang bilhin," she added.

She said the ban will remain in effect until BFAD releases results of the tests in October.

Below is the partial list:

1. Anchor Lite Milk

2. Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink Mango Magic

3. Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink Orange Chill

4. Anchor Wam Froot Milk Drink Strawberry Spin

5. Anlene Milk

6. Anmum Materna 180 g

7. Anmum Materna Chocolate

8. Dutch Lady Pure Milk

9. Farmland Skim Milk

10. Green Food Yili Pure Milk

11. Jinwei Drink

12. Jolly Cow Pure Fresh Milk

13. Jolly Cow Slender Low Fat Milk

14. KLIM instant full cream milk 1.8kg

15. M&M Chocolate Brown 40g

16. Meiji Hokkaido Azuki (Red Bean Ice Cream)

17. Meiji Ujikintoki (Red Bean and Green Tea Frozen Confection)

18. Mengniu Original Drink Milk

19. Mengniu Pure Milk

20. Milk Chocolate Bars/China

21. Milk Chocolate Candies/China

22. Milk Boy repacked

23. Milk Boy repacked

24. Monmilk Breakfast Milk Walnut Milk Beverage

25. Monmilk High Calcium Low Fat Milk

26. Monmilk High Calcium Milk

27. Monmilk Milk Deluxe Pure Milk

28. Monmilk Pure Milk

29. Monmilk Suan Suan Ru Sour Milk Beverage (mango flavor)

30. Natural Choice Milk Ice Bar

31. Nespray

32. Nestle Carnacion Calcium Plus non fat milk powder 1.6 kg

33. Nestle Chocolate Flavor Ice Cream cone

34. Nestle Dairy Farm Pure Milk

35. Nestle Vanilla Flavor Ice Cream Cone

36. Nutri Express Milk

37. Nutri Express Milk 15 Nutritional Elements (Blue, Red and Orange label and cap)

38. Nutri Express Milk

39. Nutri Express Milk Green Apple

40. Prime Roast Cereals 28g

41. Pura Fresh Milk

42. Snickers brown 59 grams

43. Strawberry Sorbet

44. Trappist Dairy Low Fat Yogurt Drink

45. Vita Fresh Milk

46. Wahaha Orange

47. Wahaha Yellow

48. Want Want milk drink

49. Yili High Calcium 250ml

50. Yili High Calcium Milk 1 liter

51. Yili High Calcium Low fat milk beverage

52. Yili Low Fat Milk 1 liter

53. Yili Milk

54. Yili Pure Milk 250 ml

55. Yili Pure Milk 1 liter

56. Yinlu Milk Peanut

Gutierrez earlier advised the public to avoid all milk products with the "made in China" or PROC, initials for People's Republic of China, marks.

She added that Filipino consumers should also avoid infant formula and other milk products that have Chinese characters.

Department of Health (DOH) and BFAD inspectors have been taking out Chinese milk products in markets around the country. Samples had also been brought to BFAD laboratories for melamine content testing.

The two agencies have issued memorandum orders banning the sale and distribution of all Chinese milk products in the country.

Other importing countries have also banned Chinese milk products as the Chinese government conducted a crackdown on all milk manufacturers that are using the toxic chemical melamine.

Over 50,000 Chinese babies have been reported sickened due to infant formula milk products that are contaminated with melamine.

Read more here

Updates on the milk contamination issue

Here are news updates, all dated Sept. 24, on the tainted milk issue, which now involves over 50,000 babies and children taken ill:


Melamine found in sweets on sale in NZ
5:47PM Wednesday Sep 24, 2008

Unacceptably high levels of melamine have been found in a Chinese milk sweet on sale in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority has issued a warning about the White Rabbit sweets, which the New Zealand Herald discovered on sale in Chinese supermarkets.

Testing found the presence of 180 ppm of melamine, the substance which has been implicated in the tainted baby milk powder scandal in China.

Full story at The New Zealand Herald

As China milk scandal grows, leadership escapes blame

As China's tainted milk scandal rumbled on Wednesday, there are few signs people are willing to blame their nation's top leadership despite evidence the health risks were covered up for months.

Whether because of traditional deference for Beijing or clever state media management, public anger is directed more at second- and third-tier officials at the local level.

Full story at MSN News

Philippines bans milk products from China
Other dairy products included
By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:02:00 09/24/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Liquid and powdered milk, candy, biscuits, chocolate bars and drinks, and yogurt with dairy components from China are now banned in the country.

Full story at Philippine Daily Inquirer


RP bans China milk products
By Paolo Romero
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

President Arroyo has ordered a ban on the importation and sale of milk products from China pending results of an investigation into possible chemical contamination that has left thousands of Chinese infants and young children ill.

Full story at The Philippine Star


12 nations ban Chinese dairy

HONG KONG - AT LEAST 12 countries - from Indonesia to Colombia - have banned Chinese dairy products amid fears over a widening tainted milk scandal that has killed four Chinese babies and sickened thousands of others.

Worries that compromised ingredients may have contaminated other foods like yogurts, cookies and candies have led several more countries, from Canada to Australia, to step up testing of Chinese imports.

Full story at The Straits Times

Suffer the children

No words can express my exasperation and frustration over some issues involving dolls that look like prostitutes (I'm probably just not articulate enough). So I'll just re-post some entries from way back which hopefully will open the eyes of parents, teachers and people in the retail/toy manufacturing industry enough to do something.

Snuffing out childhood even before it begins

These pictures look mighty strange; the articles they accompany are even more so (though quite informative).

Really, what are people doing to our children? Is this some perverse form of revenge on the next generation by some world-dominating network, to get back at today's kids for their (the adults) miserable childhood days?

Full post here

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Here's a related post that I stumbled on just now at Parent Dish. Do check out the comments.


Barbie gets leather and fishnets
by Sandy Maple Jul 17th 2008 3:00PM

Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, In the news, Weird but true, Toys & games, Shopping & recalls

Barbie has always provoked strong emotions in some, but with the introduction of Bratz dolls, she seemed downright quaint. Well, she is quaint no more. With Mattel's September release of a doll based on the DC comic superhero Black Canary, Barbie is going to find herself back on the naughty girl list.

Clad in black thigh-high leather boots and gloves, fishnet stockings and a motorcycle jacket, this S&M Barbie is stirring more than little girls' imaginations. A spokesman for the religious group Christian Voice finds this sexed-up plaything to be just too much. "Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children's doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it's filth."

I agree that perhaps this isn't Barbie's best look and wouldn't buy it for my kid. But that won't be a problem because she doesn't want Black Canary. When I showed her this photo and asked for her opinion, she looked aghast. "She's not wearing any pants!" she exclaimed. Good girl.

Milking cow

Here's the latest and a more in-depth and analytical piece on the milk scandal involving China. An excerpt:

The instinct to spare another person embarrassment is a noble one. To correct mistakes discreetly and save the dignity of the offender is virtuous. But saving one’s own face at the expense of others is universally regarded as despicable, and when the “others” are babies likely to sicken and die it is downright criminal. Yet the latter kind of face-saving is exactly what the protagonists in China’s current baby-milk scandal seem guilty of, and they are not the first to offend in this way. The Chinese way of saving face needs a thorough overhaul, and this crisis would be the perfect opportunity to set the reform in motion.

Read the full story at MercatorNet

A quick snapshot

This is not me :-)

But if you've been visiting this blog the past year, you'd know that the gleeful one you see on the photo is not me but our staff writer Nicole (though I've been asked once or twice if we're sisters, hehe). There's just so much to do at work that I haven't been able to blog about Baby's latest issue--so I'll just link you to Nicole's blog where she scribbles a few things about it. I'm using the photo she took as well :-)

But in a nutshell, here's what you'll find in this issue, which features cutie 10-month-old Jaden Mariano (he turned 1 in June) on the cover:

* Milestones during the baby's first year

* The most common diseases in infants and how to prevent them

* Breast milk and brain power

* A feature on baby fashion

* How to help siblings be best friends

* Spotting speech delays in young children

* Contraceptives and what they do to the body

* Survival tips for the household when there are no household helpers

* Enhancing the relationship with one's in-laws

Plus, regular columns by childbirth expert Rome Kanapi, pediatrician Dr. Lourdes Anne Co, child psychologist and therapist Tedi Villasor and Marita Villafuerte-Price, pediatric dentist Dr. Fina Gupit-Lopez, finance journalist Antonette Reyes, and teacher and Educhild speaker Manny Escasa. And of course, there's the ever popular Baby Gallery section, in which pictures of adorable babies can be found.

The magazine is sold at all SM department stores (baby section), National Bookstores, Babyland (Robinsons Galleria, Shaw Blvd near Cherry Foodarama, Virra Mall), Baby & Co. (The Podium and Power Plant Mall), Bufini, Procreation Shangri-la Mall, Big & Small Co. Shangri-la Mall.

Now this is children's TV

There's lots to blog about, but the past couple of days I've been enjoying looking through some videos of old Sesame Street segments. Now this is the kind of television programming that lets children be children!

In my previous post was a video of Kermit the Frog in one of his breaking news segments :-) Now, I'm posting several videos of other segments that are so familiar to me -- these are among my favorites. If you're one of those who can recall these,
enjoy the reminiscing.

Ernie & Bert with the "less and more" lesson with pizza and grape juice:





The pizza-tossing which truly fascinated me everytime I watched it as a kid:





Ernie & Bert yet again, this time in the movies:





And of course, who can forget about the golden "AN"?