Parenting magazines endanger babies

A new study in Pediatrics warns that parenting magazines geared towards women who are pregnant routinely portray sleeping babies in inappropriate positions and environments. The researchers evaluated photographs of sleeping babies  in 28 magazines to see if they conformed to the American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleeping guidelines. The conclusion:

“More than one third of pictures of sleeping infants in magazines geared toward childbearing women demonstrated infants in an inappropriate sleep position, and two thirds of pictures of infant sleep environments were not consistent with AAP recommendations. Messages in the media that are inconsistent with health care messages create confusion and misinformation about infant sleep safety and may lead inadvertently to unsafe practices.”

As MedPage Today notes, the AAP “started recommending that babies sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in 1992. It has since advised parents to remove pillows, soft bedding, and other objects from infant sleep areas.”

Times columnist has a numbers problem

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert isn’t happy with the way health care reform is going, complaining that the Obama administration has a  “secret and extremely troubling deal with the drug industry’s lobbying arm, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America”  that will result in the industry agreeing “to contribute $80 billion in savings over 10 years and to sponsor a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in support of health care reform.”

“The White House, for its part, agreed not to seek additional savings from the drug companies over those 10 years. This resulted in big grins and high fives at the drug lobby. The White House was rolled. The deal meant that the government’s ability to use its enormous purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices was off the table… To get a sense of how sweet a deal this is for the drug industry, compare its offer of $8 billion in savings a year over 10 years with its annual profits of $300 billion a year.”

Not so fast, says Drugwonk Peter Pitts: that’s gross profit. The net profit of the top 20 pharma companies is $110 billion… (more)