Walking or Biking to School

kids walking to school

I heard on NPR (day to day)yesterday that one man, a Minnesota teacher whose name I didn't catch - is asking for a 6 million dollar government program to start a movement to get kids to walk or
bike to school - this would be named 'Safe Routes to School'.

He says that it's time for everyone to take notice of the growing number of overweight kids - in a rope jumping group he was directing a lot of the kids lasted 30 seconds!

Although 3/4 of the kids coming to this teacher's school live within a mile from school only 1/4 walk and 20% of the trafficcongestion is caused by parents driving or waiting in their idlingcars to drop of their kids!

One parent said when interviewed "if I walk my kids to school it will take 20 minutes,.. driving only takes 3 minutes! Parents also worry about safety so the answer to that concern is to have one or two parents walk a group - 'walk-pooling parents!

In the eighties, when I was directing a not-for-profit Child Care Center,we had before and after school kindergartners that we had grown on site, four-year olds just do that...they become five-year olds so one year we started the school year with five kindergartner boys! The level of energy at 8 am was really high - if the weather was decent they would be on the playground with one staff person who would then drive them in the van at school time.

One morning the irony of the situation hit me - here was a staff person supervising these rambuctious kids on our playground - why wouldn't she walk them instead? It was a little over a mile...so she did and she got the benefit of the walk back too!

The problems of obesity have caught the attention of the whole nation, is it time for more grassroot initiatives to get our kids moving?

Should grandparents, who take their own state of wellness very seriously, voice their alarm for the upcoming generations' health? What do you think? Do you have any suggestions?

Fran

FDA rejects Merck's Vioxx successor

TRENTON, N.J. - The Food and Drug Administration rejected Merck & Co.'s request to market a successor to its withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx in the United States, the drugmaker said Friday.

The move was widely expected, after a panel of FDA advisers two weeks ago voted 20-1 against approving the drug, Arcoxia.

Arcoxia is in the same class of drugs as Vioxx, which has become a poster child for drug safety problems.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after research showed it doubles risk of heart attacks and strokes. That triggered an avalanche of lawsuits — more than 27,000 so far — and a nosedive for Merck's stock price, which has since bounced back.

Despite the safety concerns in the United States, Arcoxia is on sale in 63 other countries, and Merck officials said as recently as Tuesday that they intend to keep working to get it on the U.S. market.

Merck shares sank 55 cents, or 1 percent, to $51.88 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They are still trading near their 52-week high of $52.63. Their low over the past year was $32.75.