European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Disposable diapers 2 percent of trash w tvs but they we last 500 Yeal Are degradable is disposable Dia How single Urf absorbent layer riled with Wood-pulp0ra polymer crystals that can to60 times their weight in elastic gathers fit snug around baby s legs to prevent leakage plastic liner keeps moisture inside diaper City solid waste and the diaper estimated amounts of the trash we produce based on waste characterization studies acknowledging single use diapers contain overlapping categories of waste. Liner holds absorbent layer in place and prevents moisture from flowing Back to baby s skin i disposable diapers Are a product with a possible 15-minute life Span which will last 500 years in a Landfill. I More expensive degradable diapers May hinder future plastic recycling efforts. I disposable diapers make up 2% of the municipal solid waste we produce. The diaper Market disposable diaper Market shares diapers 2.0% j Oiler 18,4% paper 36.0% plastic Yard \7,6% 20.0% a Kimberly Clark buggies e3 Procter amp Gamble pampers i i Procter amp Gamble luvs a Weyerhaeuser Quot or vate Label i 1 other sources Wertheim Schroder 1 the garbage project University of Arizona Tucson diaper Flap ecology is. Convenience by Kay Bartlett associated press it was test marketed in 1961 in where else Peoria Iii. And. Of How i played. The disposable diaper. In the years since in has been improved elasticized legs gels super absorbency the anatomically More efficient his and hers versions it has become a $3.5 billion a year Industry with 85 percent of America s mothers using them. But the disposable diaper has become a prime target of angry environmentalists who consider it the very Symbol of the ills of a throwaway society. The problem is what to do with it once it has done its Job. Throwaway diapers clog up the waste Stream. The Way a Mother covers her baby s Bottom has become a subject of hot debate in statehouse and City Halls. Ii has generated piles of studies reports and pamphlets. Who would have thought the manufacturers of disposable diapers would have to go to such lengths to defend such a wonder product Bills either to ban. Restrict or tax disposable diapers Are before the Legislatures of about a dozen states on the other hand the controversy has breathed new life into the diaper service business and could prove a Boon to Corn Farmers. The rub is although disposable diapers account for Only 2 percent of the nation s trash they will last 500 years in a Landfill. One proposed solution is the More expensive biodegradable diaper and that s where the Corn Farmers come in. Jeanne Wirka. A solid waste reduction expert with the environmental action foundation says the disposable diaper is the largest single one use product for which there is a readily available alternative a cloth diapers but the convenience Factor is extraordinary. Many Day care centers for example will not accept youngsters in cloth diapers. And if everyone switched to cloth tomorrow there would be chaos. There Are not enough cloth diapers nor cloth diaper services in the country to accommodate them. In environmentally hip Washington d.c., 400 people Are on the waiting list for the one diaper service in town. The National association of diaper services after years of decline reports a 38 percent increase in business last year and a 13 percent Rise the year before. The disposable diaper giants however say they see no Blip yet on their sales screen. The debate has produced strange bedfellows the six most Active environmental groups and Procter Gamble co and Kimberly Clark Cor the disposable diaper manufacturers who control 75 percent of the Market agree that biodegradable diapers Are not the answer the environmentalists called for a Boycott of degradable diapers in mid december saying their use Only assuage the conscience of Consumers who use them biodegradable diapers Don t decompose m landfills because there is not enough moisture or oxygen they say taking an opposing View is the National association of Corn growers based in St. Louis cornstarch Issei in the degradable and this could open up a Markeloff 150 million to 300 million bushels a year for the nations Corn Farmers spokesman Tim Draeger says so far the Only state to enact any legislation has been Nebraska which passed a Law Iasi session requiring the use of to degradable by 1993 Nebraska it might be noted is the nation s third largest Corn producing state just behind Iowa and Illinois Draeger argues that if the biodegradable diaper technology was improved it would mean America would be less dependent on foreign Oil Quot we Are in the infancy of this technology he says Quot we Are at the Model t level we have to learn to walk before we can Wirka says that s Plain silly. The amount of foreign Oil Quot in diapers is negligible and the so called degradable also use some. Cincinnati based Procter amp Gamble with a $1 65 billion slice of the disposable pie a compared to Kimberly Clark s $840 million a has taken a much higher profile in its fight to keep baby s Bottom in pampers and luvs its products. Although close mouthed about the Money it is spending on the diaper wars a amp a is sponsoring to Well publicized projects one in Seattle Demontra 19 a Cynthia Grear and r. Dominguez hat plastic diapers can be recycled and another in St loud Man. Showing diapers can be composted. The Seattle project is reputed to be a $500,000 venture f you could throw that kind of Money at every segment of the trash problem in America we would t have a trash problem Quot says Jeffrey Tryens of the Council for policy alternatives a Washington based environmental group. Quot its just Good or for Procter and a amp a it should be noted has been a Leader in recycling plastic bottles for its products Selling refills Horthy same plastic bottle and marketing concentrates a smaller bottles where the consumer just needs to add water its soaps Are also biodegradable. Since the diaper wars started making the nightly news shows politicians have gotten bolder. Tryens says he called a meeting about a year ago inviting legislators lobbyists environmentalists and others concerned about the Issue. Quot at that Lime nobody even considered discussing a islam wide ban Quot he says. Quot the feeling was that no respectable politician would even propose such legislation and that it just yet one year later the state of Vermont is proposing first such legislation As part of a much larger. Environmental Bill. If passed no disposable diapers would be sold in Vermont after 1993. Nancy Alexander of new Haven conn., is one who s profiting by it All. She started her own cloth diaper service in january and says clients Are flocking to her door. I be always wanted to go into my own business and is just sort of fell into my Lap Quot she says. Quot what s More is that All of my clients treat me like i m some kind a one of her clients with a Newborn baby said her 4-Jyear-old was watching her change the baby with a j disposable diaper and had a quizzical look on her face. What is in Quot asked the Mother. Why Don t they invent a diaper you could just Wash i use Over and Over Quot asked the child. Kids and Medicine How do you handle it by Marianne and Stephen Garber and Robyn Freedman Spizman Cox news service readers letter our 3-year-old wont take his Medicine. We can to get rid of his ear infection because i can to get enough Medicine Down him. He screams cries and hits the spoon. We be resorted to holding him Down but that s unpleasant for everyone and not particularly successful. Do you have any suggestions a beside myself. Dear beside myself taking Medicine is rarely child s play to Start with your child does t feel Well so he s not his most cooperative self you know the feeling of not wanting to be Quot messed with Quot that s strike no 1 often the Medicine does t taste very Good even when in tastes of your child does t know that thai s strike no 2 then no 3 comes with the pressure most parents understandably feel to follow doctor s orders in that situation it s difficult to take a step Back and regroup so Many parents become entrenched in a tug of wills that leaves no winners it May be too late to change the pattern with this illness although you d never want to use it As a threat your physician May have Felt it was time to resort to a shot however there s Likely to be another cold sore Throat or ear infection in your future file away these ideas for the next round a be matter of fact Don t apologize to your child for having to administer medication children sometimes misinterpret our sympathy for Quot Wishy Wash Ness Quot set an alarm clock to time the dosages and then be matter of fact about the new routine a be positive being sick in t any fun but you can add a Little excitement to an unpleasant task draw a Large spoon on a piece of paper and Divide it into the number of doses your child must take each Day if the Medicine is administered three limes a Day. The spoon would be divided into three parts explain that each time your child takes his Medicine without a fuss he can color in a portion of the spoon and pull a treat out of a grab bag the grab bag is a Pillowcase filled with sugarless gum stickers a colouring Book and other trinkets to pass the time in addition to giving your child an immediate Reward let him earn Long Range prizes Muik on a Calendar the Days your child must take Medicine for each completed spoon Chart add a Star on the Calendar marking the Way to a cooperation award for your child allow your child some leeway when he earns five stickers out of seven Medicine taking Days he gets a prize Over time and illnesses As the pattern changes you May find that your child becomes More agreeable and needs fewer in any. Rewards Tor taking Medicine a ease the task Check with your paediatrician or pharmacist about whether the Medicine can be mixed with something your child likes parents have combined medications with milk or juice applesauce pudding or ice Cream a Quot Chaser often helps to erase the unpleasant aftertaste investigate available products like a spill proof animal shaped Medicine spoon available at Many pharmacies infants often do better when Medicine is sgt Utcy inside the Cheek through an eyedropper or Needle less syringe Many medications Are available in several Luis ask your paediatrician or family doctor it the prescribed medication comes in a Chew also lorm that might be tolerated better # try a new approach for example in you child needs Eye drops avoid the blinking Uron Lem have your child lie Down with his eyes closed place the drops of medication m the inc i Corner of the closed lids when he opens his Ces the drops will flow naturally across the Eye surface child a learning disability the parental role new York times parents who think their child May have a learning disability or who have been told by the child s school that there May be a problem should keep several things in mind throughout the evaluation process Don t blame yourself if your child has a learning disability Quot it s very easy for parents to become defensive because they View it As a reflection on themselves said or Robert c Colligan. The head of psychology at the Mayo clinic such defensiveness can interfere with helping a child overcome the problem a be assertive. Quot the technical language and jargon that the team doing the evaluation uses can be confusing Quot said or. Joan Silver Stem. The director of school psychology at Montclair n j state College. For the past few years she has studied How parents react when their children Are found to have a learning disability Quot parents sometimes feel they la look stupid if they question what s being said but parents should question the things they Don t Silver Stem said. Quot that s very important Quot a talk with a Parent advocate if you Are uncomfortable with or confused by the evaluation process. Many organizations for learning disabled children and their parents offer advice at regular meetings or Over the Telephone. Some offer to have an advocate accompany you to school meetings to help explain your choices and to insure that you Are treated according to the Federal Law. A ask about your child s eligibility for support services. Not All children with learning disabilities Are eligible for special tutoring and other help Quot eligibility vanes from state to state said or Larry b Silver the director of training in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Georgetown University school of Medicine in Washington ii s not supposed to but it even vanes from school system to school system a read your child s individual education plan this is perhaps the most impudent result of the evaluation process because it outlines want will be done to help your child ask How each item on the plan addresses the specific problems discovered by the testing Quot if your child will be pulled of in Olmo classroom Lor several hours a week to work m a Rosoli a mum Lor example find out How the teaching techniques and materials will be different from those m the regular classroom Quot said or Jane c Conoley in Zimran of the educational psychology department i Trio University of Nebraska at Lincoln a if you disagree Wilh How i he school is handling your child s learning problems you have the right to Appeal its decisions Quot in the United states you can do this isl within the school and then to the District the City to a professional arbitrator and eventually to civil court by claiming discrimination against the Silver said if the learning disability is minor there Are some things you can do at Home without involving special classes. Quot the vast majority of learning disabled kids need More practice or instruction from a different Conoley said Quot the most powerful remedy for a Reading disability is Tor a Parent to read to the child and for the child to read to the Parent. The same Parent involvement will often help children who have problems with Page 14 the stars and stripes tuesday Flo 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15
