Parenting and The End of The World

The following statements are of my own and have nothing to do with the company I work for. It’s simply something I’m curious about and want to put out there for your thoughts.

The March of Dimes has been very busy lately. Busy making statements. With all of the money it takes in on a yearly basis, apparently scientists elsewhere are finding more answers than they are. What exactly is the March of Dimes doing? It started earlier this week where scientists from the University of Texas found that Folic Acid taken before and during pregnancy can help prevent birth defects in the brain and spinal cord of infants. Then another group of scientists from UNC announced yet another finding where they discovered that Epsom Salt when administered during early labor can cut the potential for babies developing Cerebral Palsy in half. Yes, in HALF.

Not surprising is that in both announcements made within one week of each other, spokespeople from the March of Dimes released statements basically asking everyone to “proceed with caution” and that they want more tests to be conducted to authenticate the findings. In the case of the Folic Acid finding, instead of praising the scientists for the finding, Janis Biermann of the March of Dimes says, “I think it’s promising and I think there should be some confirmational studies. If it holds true, it supports a message that we’ve been promoting for many years — that it’s important for women of child-bearing age to take folic acid every day as part of a healthy diet.”

So essentially, she says, “Prove it. But if you happen to be right, I told you so.”

Now here we are less than one week later with yet another exciting finding about Epsom Salt being able to reduce the risk of Cerebral Palsy in half during labor! And here again is the March of Dimes pushing their way to the front of the crowd. This time by someone higher up the chain, Dr. Alan Fleischman, who is the medical director of the March of Dimes. And once more, the exact same type of sentiments in which he essentially says, “Prove it.”

There are two things that are happening here. The first is that 2 separate research scientists have made TWO incredible findings that reduce the risk of brain and spinal defects in infants. Both of which also should help scientists start steering towards a cure. Instead of now being a guessing game, it’s like being handed a map of why it happens and what can be done about it. But instead of receiving accolades, they get their hand slapped by the March of Dimes with a “I’ll believe it when you show it to me.” attitude. So much for gratitude.

The second thing to note here is that the March of Dimes is a huge charitable organization that takes in millions of dollars every year for their research programs and none of these findings came from them. Besides holding some fantastic looking fund raising events, what do they have to show for it? And why aren’t they more excited about these findings that actually bring great hope to their cause? While I certainly can understand their cautious stance, it does lead one to question why they’ve decided to take such a pompous stance.

I think I understand a little. Imagine being paid to do a job trying to resolve a problem and you’re paid very well to do that job. Then two other people come along with solutions that help solve that problem. What would your reaction to your boss be? If you wanted to continue getting a paycheck, it would be, “We need to make them prove it” Talking things out make things so clear, doesn’t it?

The March of Dimes is a great charitable organization, but these findings have come from outside of their walls. Maybe you should know what they’re using their money for and start holding them accountable. Their rep clearly stated that they knew about the benefits of Folic Acid, so why weren’t their scientists the ones to discover this? It’s going to be interesting to see how this pans out as these findings are RE-proven for the benefit of the March of Dimes, so that they can piggyback on the new rounds of testing and tout the findings as their own.

Share This Article!
Ask | Blinkbits | Blinklist | Blogmarks | co.mments | Connotea | De.lirio.us | del.icio.us | Digg | Fark it! | Feedmelinks | Furl.net | Google | LinkaGoGo | Ma.gnolia | Netscape | Netvouz | NewsVine | Reddit | Spurl | Squidoo | Stumble Upon | Technorati | Windows Live | YahooMyWeb