I’m not sure how come Real Clear Science came to replace Live Science on the board, but they do have a lot of jolly good stuff.  Today, following one of their links, I was heartened to read something in favour of plastics: 
 
 

A Toxic Setback for the Anti-Plastic Campaigners

This concerns the now notorious Bisphenol A (BPA), which if one reads the Wikipedia article is believed to lead to so many disorders.  But now …

A comprehensive review by the German Society of Toxicology of thousands of studies on BPA concluded, “[BPA] exposure represents no noteworthy risk to the health of the human population, including newborns and babies.” The group, which included several scientists who have advised regulatory caution on BPA, bucked calls by advocacy groups to lower safe exposure levels.

Since this comes from Germany, the nation par excellence of Green environmentalists, I am inclined to give some weight to it.

Here is another link to the same thing, from a site with a banner I like: It’s the Rheo Thing - BPA.

It would, at least, be very convenient if BPA turned out not to be so bad after all.  And for something completely different, this time from the BBC:

Mother's diet during pregnancy alters baby's DNA

A mother's diet during pregnancy can alter the DNA of her child and increase the risk of obesity, according to researchers.

The study, to be published in the journal Diabetes, showed that eating low levels of carbohydrate changed bits of DNA.

Here is research involving epigenetics, a field which I do not often stumble into.  This piece, though, does raise the suggestion in my mind that dieting fads of a generation ago, powered by skinny models, have contributed epigenetically to today’s increasing occurrence of fat children.