primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM on thu 19 jul 01
I recently learned that the polio epidemic in the U.S. was traced to a surge in cleanliness. In more rural times, before chlorinated drinking water and dirt-phobia, kids were first exposed to polio in infancy, when their newborn antibodies (in combination with those in breastmilk) could beat it. When we started sterilizing everything that would touch a baby, and making sure their hands never touched soil and their feet never touched a barn yard, we delayed the exposure until later in childhood, when the newborn immunities no longer were in place.
I also had heard of the allergy study; the theory is that, with nothing else to fight, the immune system takes on pollen, pet hair, etc.
Check out Molly, my littlest potter, and tell me if you think she's in danger of overly sterile conditions...
http://www.geocities.com/primalmommy/mollypie.bmp
In my kitchen I am currently feeding civilizations of microscopic creepy-crawlies responsible for yogurt, currant wine, sourdough bread and cottage cheese. Still, the reports about cryptosporidium (black mold) make everybody nervous. Information usually cures that -- anybody have a link about it?
Yours, Kelly in Ohio (working through some major worry and greif, this week, by making pots around the clock. It's a prayer, almost. "Clay without ceasing" ... I have thrown a mountain of clay, sanded off my fingertips, salting my pots with tears. How did I handle disasters before clay?)
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