The New England Journal of Medicine featured an article by the Israeli medical team that set up a field hospital less than 48 hours after a major earthquake hit Haiti. When there is so much suffering, whom do you help first?

Under normal circumstances, triage involves setting priorities among patients with conditions of various degrees of clinical urgency, to determine the order in which care will be delivered, presuming that it will ultimately be delivered to all. After the Haitian earthquake, however, it was impossible to treat everyone who needed care, and thus the first triage decision we often had to make was which patients we would accept and which would be denied treatment.

This is for the many parents of children who do not grow according to charts, and have been told over the years to feed formula instead of breastfeeding or to give a child cornflour, Bamba or other high-calorie, low-nutrient food so he will gain weight.

Read more on Child Put in Foster Care When Parents Refused to Offer Junk Food…

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The breastfeeding support organization La Leche League (LLL) and Tel Hashomer/Sheba Medical Center Nursing School are co-sponsoring a conference Monday, June 1, 2009 at Tel Hashomer. The conference is open to health care professionals, nursing mothers, and the general public.

Read more on Israel Conference on Breastfeeding…

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This week the Israel health ministry issued new guidelines on introduction of complementary foods (solids) to breastfeeding babies. Unfortunately, the media got hold of the information early and published misleading information.

Read more on Breastfeeding and Introduction of Solid Foods: New Guidelines from Israel Health Ministry…

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Heart Attacks – Are Men from Mars and Women from Venus? By Dr. Roy Schwartz

The answer: YES. We are not only different in the way we look, the way we behave and all the rest. We are also different in the way we experience heart attacks.

Heart disease is a leading killer for both sexes. But what are the differences and why do they exist? We’ll cover some of the major ones here.

As my family grew from a small to a large one with six children, I developed efficient ways to save money. Some items that were small expenses with two small children became bigger as the family grew.

Read more on Frugal Strategies for Young Families that Pay Off as Your Children Grow…

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Jameel at the Muqata writes about the multi-level “pyramid” scheme used to market Agel, an overpriced and unproven vitamin supplement. The highest-level marketers have made a lot of money, but hundreds at the bottom will lose their investment unless they can convince enough others to invest and market as well. Most large “Anglo” communities in Israel have several Agel representatives.  (Agel hasn’t discovered mine yet. Please stay away.)

Read more on Agel Pyramid Scheme Exposed…

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I love to cook with my microwave. Sure, it’s possible to manage without it, and there are better ways to defrost food.

However, there are environmentally sound reasons for preferring it to conventional cooking: It only heats the moisture in food, so more energy is retained. Microwave cooking preserves nutrients in vegetables. And since many microwave utensils can go straight to the table and they scorch less, less water and detergent are needed for washing up.

Because microwaves cook food using electromagnetic radiation, many people are afraid to use them. The FDA discusses the issue here. I’m not here to convince anyone to buy an electrical appliance they don’t feel comfortable with.

But when a post on Green Prophet made questionable claims about microwaved foods, I spoke up in the comments and offered to debunk the claim that seeds watered with microwave-boiled water won’t sprout.

Read more on Will Seeds Sprout in Microwaved Water? And My Son’s Surprise Experiment…

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Amit Kadosh is a six-year-old girl from Kfar Saba with leukemia. She is looking for a match for a bone-marrow transplant. Testing sites set up in convenient places throughout Israel until 8 PM tonight. You must be between 18 and 50 years old. You only need to be tested once through a simple blood test. I know I am in the computer, as I was once contacted as a possible match. But a subsequent blood test disqualified me for that patient.
Click for a list of testing locations (Hebrew only).

Thank you to Ilana-Davita who awarded me the The Prémio Dardos Award along with seven other bloggers. Here is the description of the award:
“The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.”
Ilana-Davita’s blog contains unusual photographs, book reviews, and commentary on education and Jewish life in her home in France and elsewhere.

Haveil Havalim #201, the I Love Nauru Edition, is being hosted by The Rebbetzin’s Husband.

Read more on Links for the day–and Do A Mitzvah if You Live in Israel…

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My post on Green Prophet yesterday turned out different than expected:

Why Baby’s First Gift Shouldn’t Be Formula from the Hospital
By Hannah Katsman

Soft drinks. Fast foods. Cigarettes.

Companies that market these products are well-known for targeting children and teens in order to develop “brand loyalty.”

But the campaign to capture the taste buds of future consumers begins even earlier–in the hospital nursery, where formula companies use aggressive methods to ensure that babies’ first taste of artificial milk comes early and bears the name of their company.

They know that parents are most likely to continue feeding the brand served to babies in the hospital.

What’s the problem with formula, and why is this a “green” issue?

Ironically, early introduction of formula and a diet of “junk” food are both implicated in increasing the incidence of diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Formula companies insist that they do not want to undermine breastfeeding–they merely want to compete for their share of the formula market for women who cannot or choose not to breastfeed. Sound familiar?

Cigarette companies have long claimed that they do not encourage smoking and only want current smokers to switch brands. Most governments reject this claim and severely restrict the way tobacco companies market their products.

Breastfeeding is an easy target. It’s free, already under attack, earns little profit for anyone and therefore has virtually no corporate funds backing it. But just one bottle of formula compromises a baby’s immune system and increases the risk of illness in the short and long term.

A bottle of formula implies that formula is endorsed by the hospital, and worse, sends the not-so-subtle message that the mother’s own milk is not good or plentiful enough. And just like it only takes a few cigarettes to become addicted, early introduction of formula can lower milk supply and is associated with early weaning.

Israel and the WHO Code

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the deleterious effects of formula marketing on the health of babies and mothers and developed the WHO Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes in 1974. The aim of the Code is to

Read more on Why Formula Marketing in Israeli Hospitals is Bad for Babies…

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