Or you could just leave your baby in gramma's attic for a couple days
By adamg - 8/28/09 - 9:21 am
A local company wants parents of newborns to spray them with dust, Mass. High Tech reports.
The MIT-inspired idea behind Baby Boost is to get farm-fresh plant and animal proteins into young lungs, on the theory this will stimulate their immune systems and reduce their odds of developing asthma and other immune-related ailments as they grow up up in the antiseptically sterile urban bubbles created by crazed parents with bleach wipes:
Dao said he and other researchers have assembled a prototype of an automatic air freshener that uses the Baby Boost technology. "Instead of releasing a scent, it releases proteins," he said.
The story does end with a cautionary note from some Debbie Downer editor about lack of clinical studies, etc.
Comments
Interesting!
Been thinking about this for several years, actually; why is it so that kids nowadays seems to be allergic to just about everything? Not hard to answer; the parents aint letting their kids play around in the mud and the trees anymore, not letting them eat anything without washing their hands thoroughly and so on.. I remember when I was a kid, I used to play around with my cars and my dolls (yeah, both of them) outdoors, in the sand, in the grass, in the trees.. And I havent got a single allergy. The chances are that this is just by accident, but I dont think so. I think getting used to bacteria is really important if the kids aint gonna get asthma etc they gotta get used to extraneous matter.
This is so true. Kids never
This is so true. Kids never get dirty and they're always coated in antibacterial everything, and they're always sick. I'm quite amused that so few people have actually made that connection.
Doesn't quite work that way...
... because hereditary conditions and associated allergies can't be prevented by early exposure.
They can be mitigated somewhat. I did the insanely-careful stuff until WarriorBabyGirl was one, but she'd already inherited my eczema (which I inherited from my mom, who inherited from her dad). By keeping her away from cow's milk until she was thirteen months old, she can drink without breaking out in hives. She seems to have a slight sensitivity to eggs, but much less than my reaction to milk. She also doesn't break out from touching dog or cat fur.
At 1, I started tossing her into the garden or the backyard to play in the dirt. No wipes when we go to the Waverly splash park. Tomatoes, peppers, chives and basil from the garden, and she eats the nectarine in her stroller at the Farmer's Market (bought from the "no-spray" vendor).
I wouldn't buy that "protein" spray. Let kids play in the dirt. Yeesh.
Just get a dog. Problem
Just get a dog. Problem solved.
Materials science
I was just thinking last night that the coatings industry[1] will be more and more important for biotech. Instead of all-day suntan lotion, we could have once-a-year sprays.[2]
[1] Yes, it's not the same thing, but it's kinda the same thing by Friday-in-August standards.
[2] I know, we exfoliate. But it's an easy fix. One line of dialogue: "Thank God we invented the, you know, whatever device."
Totally Ridiculous
I used to do research on indoor air quality and endotoxins. Totally stupid to spray kids with nasty shit.
Much easier and cheaper "solution"? GET A DOG!
Another solution: keep pigs in the back yard.
Pigs and dogs are vastly better suppliers of the requisite allergens for early exposure. That, and they are far more fun than an air freshener AND they have appeared repeatedly in epidemiological studies of endotoxin in the prenatal and perinatal environment!