China Daily is reporting that infant formula and formula powder produced by Wyeth is being blamed for causing kidney stones in infants.

Parents in China have been on edge since last years problem with Chinese made formula that was contaminated with melamine ,a chemical used in fertilizers and plastics. Twenty Chinese families have recently claimed their children fell ill after consuming Wyeth formula, however, no contaminants have been found in the Wyeth milk formula. According to Chinese health authorities, there have been no positive results for melamine. Wyeth gets it’s base milk product from other countries including Europe, New Zealand and Australia, not from China where the 2008 melamine was found to have come from.

A collaboration between some of the nations largest health insurance providers and leading medical groups is hoping to help fight obesity in children. In the United States, more than 30% of our children are overweight and could culminate into the first generation in many to have shorter lifespan than their parents.

Blue Cross, Aetna and WellPoint have agreed to the initiative that would begin to pay for some visits to doctors and dieticians to help manage childhood obesity. The project, which will be monitored by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dietetic Association, is expected to benefit more than 6 million children in the first three years. Large companies, including Owens Corning, Paychex and PepsiCo will be offering this benefit to the children of their employees.

Source: washingtonpost.com

A test done on embryos to determine if they are disease free is now going to be used to determine other factors.

Currently, in addition to finding if your embryo has a genetic disorder, you can also determine the sex of your baby, so if you want a boy, you can implant only male embryos. However, if that’s not enough options for you, how about picking out your child’s eye color. How about the color of his hair and complexion?

The Fertility Institutes, based out of Los Angeles, has decided to do just this. Controversy has erupted over the fact that this technology, previous used to help high-risk families manage their families potentially genetic traits, will now be used to create designer babies.

Although the policies of the Bush administration has stagnated stem cell research here in the United States for the last 8 years, this selection of sex for your in vitro fertilization has had little press coverage.

Source: LATimes.com

Actress Salma Hayek, on a recent goodwill trip to Sierra Leone, was videotaped breastfeeding another woman’s baby boy. Hayek, who has a one year old daughter who is still breastfeeding, fed the very hungry little boy, hoping to lessen the stigma place on women for breastfeeding.

In Sierra Leone, which has the highest infant mortality rate in the world, tradition dictates that it is not acceptable to have sexual relations with women who are breastfeeding. Bowing to pressure from their husbands, these women stop breastfeeding within the first couple of months, while malnutrition helps fuel the death rate among infants.

Ms. Hayek told Nightline co-anchor Cynthia McFadden “Am I being disloyal to my child by giving her milk away?” Hayek said. “I actually think my baby would be very proud to share her milk. And when she grows up I’m going to make sure she continues to be a generous, caring person.” She also told of her grandmother, in Mexico years ago, saving the life of a starving infant by breastfeeding him.

Source: abcnews.com