Something in Keith Whittaker's post of today reminded me of a newspaper
article in our Toronto Star of January 25, 1997.   " Stachybotrys atra is a
fungus that can kill babies, frail seniors and those with a severely weakened
immune system.  And this mold was found in some homes in Wallaceburg
(southern Ontario) during an extensive Canada Mortgage and Housing
Coroporation study of housing.  Most researchers seem to agree that asthma in
children is at epidemic levels.  And the home is the prime suspect.  Too much
moisture in the home is considered the greatest contributor to the spread of
mold and fungus and most of that starts in the basement, particularly behind
wood panelling with paper backing.  Healthy homes should be between 30 and 50
%humidity.

A study by Atlanta's Centres for Disease Control found that most babies that
died due to lung infections caused by stachybotrys atra lived in basement
apartments, their mothers smoked and the babies did not breastfeed

(Keith - about your family in the house with methylparathion , I wonder if
there were any confounding factors related to the baby that died of SIDS ?)

There will be a major house study in Prince Edward Island, which, according
to the same article has one of the highest rates in the world of children
suffering from asthma and again the home is the suspect.

Anybody from PEI on Lactnet? and wouldn't this be an opportune time to do
breastfeeding promotion even though the CMHC's agenda has to do with
significant changes in home designs.

By the way - loved the lesson of the geese contributed by MaryAlice and it
reminded me of the page in Auerbach and Riordan "How to swim with the sharks"
 a lesson for pearl divers.   Living in Ontario where there will be 15,000
nurses laid off by the summer since the provincial government has reduced
 funding to those hospitals that will be allowed to remain open, (closing
something like 11 in Toronto), "parables" help.

bye for now.   Kathy Bodden.