Baltimore City’s very own health commissioner, Joshua Sharfstein, led the way in getting companies that manufacture cough medicines for children to voluntarily change their labels to warn parents that the products are not safe for children younger than 4.
Sharfstein led the push to make cold season safer for children, testifying before the Food and Drug Administration and appearing on television and radio talk shows to spread the word that these medicines can cause permanent damage.
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Now if we could only get them to concede his point that the medicines aren’t good for children younger than 6 either.
For more information, consider the following links:
Overview of Sharfstein‚s efforts:
www.baltimorehealth.org/coughcold.html
Sharfstein‚s FDA testimony:
http://www.baltimorehealth.org/info/2008_10_02.FDATestimony.pdf
FDA statement:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01899.html
OUTRAGE: Empty your pockets …
Who: The state of Maryland
What: As a state, we undervalue and underpay some of our most valuable employees — our teachers.
Why it’s a bad idea: Maryland is driving some of its best teachers away to other states. In Maryland, teachers make 14 percent less than other professionals with the same level of experience, according to a report by the Maryland Teacher Shortage Task Force. Yes, we’ve all heard about the cushy life of a teacher — 10 weeks off every year sounds good, right? Wrong. Teachers are required to take classes to maintain their certification, and many of them spend a good portion of the summer taking classes and preparing for the year. And why do we begrudge time off anyway? If you had to spend eight hours a day in a room with 40 smelly 12-year-olds and then go home and read their work all night only to do it again the next day, you’d want some time off too.
Why they are doing it: Teaching is something most teachers do because they love to teach. Goodness knows it’s not the money keeping them in those jobs. We cannot continue to take advantage of teachers just because they’re in it for all the right reasons.
Where to help: bcps.org
Quote of the day
“Our goal is to continue our life-saving mission and to do so in the most efficient and effective way as possible.”
– Robert Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. He spoke at a press conference Monday about the recent medevac helicopter crash that killed four people. A review of the state medevac system will be under way soon, he said.
