We could use such a plan to eliminate child poverty in France too. The figures are terrible for a country that has supposedly a good social system.

Well no one said France was perfect. Its child poverty rate is 8 percent; obviously much better than the 16 percent rate we have here in the United States, but still very high...

Poor children bear a disproportionate share of childhood health and developmental problems; they're less likely to get preventive care, thereby incresing their risk for health problems that might have been prevented or successfully managed...

So..., there it is--diseases associated with environmental chemical pollution afflict American children at a cost of between $48-$64 billion annually (a pretty penny for Dr. Strangelove?).

"Part of the problem is that real etiologic research trying to identify the environmental causes of diseases in children is in its infancy," according to pediatrician Philip Landrigan, director of Mount Sinai's Center for Children's Health and the Environment.

As of 2002, only 43% of chemicals produced in large volumes (more than 1 million pounds/year) have been tested for potential human toxicity, and only 7% have been studied for impacts on childhood development...

In fact, 10-35% of childhood asthma, 2-10% of children's cancer, and 5-20% of neurobehavioral disorders in children can be attributed to the effects of environmental toxicants.

And, so you know, one sees the drug company commercials on TV, where the spokesman says that people who can't afford the drug should contact the company...

Color me suspicious, but aren't poor kids being sent home from the hospital everyday without proper meds...??? And some such children will die of some dread disease, unecessarily, maybe, or simply suffer terrific pain, unecessarily...

Like, what happened to those positive aspects of nature and character regarded as distinguishing humans from other animals.

London-born rapper Sway is to be honoured at the BET Hip-Hop awards in the US...