Under-8s Should Not Drink Slushies Containing Glycerol, Say Doctors
Children under eight should not drink slushies containing glycerol, pediatricians have warned. Public health advice on their safety may need revising after a review of the medical notes of 21 children who became acutely unwell shortly after drinking one of the iced drinks, doctors concluded. Their findings were published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
They showed that in each case the child became acutely unwell with a cluster of symptoms soon after drinking a slushie. The children fell ill as a result of what the study referred to as glycerol intoxication syndrome, which caused symptoms such as decreased consciousness and low blood sugar. Glycerol is a naturally occurring alcohol and sugar substitute which helps slushies maintain their texture by preventing liquid from freezing solid.
In the U.K., slushies containing glycerol are not recommended for children under the age of four. The review team at University College Dublin, led by the consultant pediatrician Prof Ellen Crushell, called for health advice to be revised. All but one of the cases took place between 2018 and 2024, with children’s ages ranging between two and almost seven.
What’s Behind the Rise in Autism Diagnoses
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Left-wing environmentalists have long exploited parents’ anxieties by stoking fears about “environmental toxins” harming their kids. Now President Trump is taking up their cause. “Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food supply, and keep our children healthy and strong,” he said in his speech to Congress last week. “As an example, not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, 1 in 10,000 children have autism. One in 10,000. And now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong. One in 36.”
Something is wrong, and it’s the information that has been fed to him by “radical left lunatics” like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the label Mr. Trump applied less than a year ago to the man who is now his health and human services secretary. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly plans to conduct a study of vaccines and autism despite countless failed attempts to find a causal link.
Many toddlers show traits associated with autism spectrum disorder, such as repetitive behaviors or sensitivity to noise, around the same age as they get vaccinated. This doesn’t mean vaccines cause autism, any more than higher CO2 emissions cause Category 5 hurricanes.
In West Texas’ Measles Outbreak, Families Forgo Conventional Medicine Along With Vaccines
The building where hundreds of families are lining up for measles care amid a fast-growing outbreak in West Texas looks more like an abandoned car dealership than a doctor’s office. There’s no signage, nothing saying “Open” or indicating office hours.
But nearly every day, dozens of pickup trucks from all over Gaines County fill the parking lot, squeezing into any available space. Inside the building — a “barndominium” in West Texas parlance — there’s a handful of tables and chairs set up.
Sick families, mostly Mennonite, sit in a makeshift waiting room on the far left, and Dr. Ben Edwards is at a table on the far right. One by one, families are called over to meet with the doctor.
Texas Measles Outbreak Could Grow as More Parents Opt out of Vaccinating Kids, Doctors Say
Many Texas doctors said they fear the current measles outbreak may be just the beginning, given how state data shows an increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccinating their children.
As of Tuesday night, there were 223 confirmed measles cases in Texas, with the majority in the South Plains and Panhandle regions, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Children under 18 make up about 78% of these cases — and one unvaccinated child has died.
In Texas, there are seven vaccines the state requires children get in order to attend K-12 schools, including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. However, parents are allowed to file a conscientious exemption to these immunizations without needing to give a religious or medical explanation.
A Record Number of Kids With Autism Drowned Last Year. Experts Don’t Know Why
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported:
Jonisa Cook gets teary-eyed talking about her son four months after his death. She still struggles to walk past kids’ clothing racks in stores, or grocery aisles with his favorite foods, like Dino Nuggets and pudding cups.
Joshua Al-Lateef Jr., a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, drowned in a pond at the family’s West Chester apartment complex in November. “He was lovable and his smile was everything. He ran to the sound of his own beat,” she told The Enquirer. “We miss him a lot. The house is definitely quieter.”
Joshua is one of at least 69 children with autism who drowned in 2024, a jump that’s almost double the typical annual average. In previous years, the average number of wandering-related drowning deaths was around 35 children per year, according to the National Autism Association.
Inside America’s Fluoride Rebellion
The Wall Street Journal reported:
The lights were flickering on above the Little League fields outside the Bartow Civic Center when Dr. Johnny Johnson pulled up in his Ford F-250 and emerged wearing jeans and boots.
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo arrived in a suit, a small entourage trailing him. Then the two men strode inside to spar over fluoride. Like more cities, Bartow might abandon water fluoridation after two decades. Before a standing-room-only crowd, Johnson, a pro-fluoride former dentist, displayed gruesome images of decaying teeth.
“People die of dental infections,” he warned. “That’s horrible. We don’t want to see that.”
Ladapo, on an anti-fluoride tour, took the podium next. “The cost in terms of human health is far too high to be fooling around with this,” he said of the chemical.
He jabbed at Johnson. “I get physically sick when I’m in the presence of people who are trying to sell you on something,” he said.
