Will Healthy BMI French Moms Have Smarter Kids than US Moms?

Updated on Tue, September 28, 2010 by Anne

Mothers breastfeeding their babies in Paris, France, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2008, during a worldwide breastfeeding event. Many French women gathered in Paris, joining other women in other countries, in a bid to raise worldwide awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding babies, as part of the World Breastfeeding Week.In America the only discussion about a mother’s responsibility to her unborn child comes mainly from the pro-life movement. When the topic is a fertilized egg, women often run a gauntlet of taunts and waving placards in many US cities, just to obtain the legal medical services available to them as pregnant women.

As long as the fertilized egg stays safely embedded in the mother’s womb, America doesn’t care so much about maternal health or the mother’s responsibility to bear a healthy baby. Being Americans, the idea that our babies are doomed in advance to a series of health problems and a shrinking brain is not a pill we’re inclined to swallow.

Can you imagine a scene in America, like the one of French women breastfeeding in Paris in 2008? President Clinton signed the Treasury Postal Appropriations bill, which included Rep. Maloney’s Right to Breastfeed Act, into law in 1999.

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Michelle Obama's First Year: No Redos Required

Samantha Appleton - the White HouseMichelle Obama sat down informally with reporters to discuss her first year as America’s First Lady. Mrs. Obama didn’t know Wednesday afternoon that PETA would agree to take down their anti-fur posters with her photo front and center.

In doing so, PETA may have another objective in mind, as Michelle Obama makes it clear that she hopes to nurture a generation of healthier children.

“I want to leave something behind that says because of the time that this person spent here, this thing has changed,” she said. “I hope that will be in the area of childhood obesity.”

The First Lady made it clear that she will campaign aggressively on children’s obesity topics, even if they require her to get involved with policy issues. Mrs. Obama begins her campaign next week by addressing the nation’s mayors on children’s obesity.

In pulling their Michelle Obama foursome anti-fur campaign, PETA immediately asked for a stop to Ringling Bros. baby elephant named Barack.

My instincts say PETA might go for the brass ring with Mrs. Obama, especially on the topic of fast-food beef consumption. McDonald’s and Burger King , along with other fast food brands, are at the center of kids’ obesity.

New research demonstrates clear linkage between eating beef and losing intelligence. Between the environmental impact of lowering beef consumption and tackling kids’ obesity, Michelle Obama made well confront the fast-food industry, and with PETA’s help.

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