While reading an otherwise totally unrelated article about overparenting in a recent (11-17-08) issue of "The New Yorker", I found the following interesting paragraph:
"As for children’s safety, Honoré makes what will no doubt be the controversial recommendation that we stop fretting about it. He quotes Samuel Butler on the subject: 'Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.' Allergy rates in children are rising throughout the industrialized world. Honoré blames this on oversanitized environments: 'Just look at what happened in Germany. Before unification, allergy rates were much higher in the western part, even though the Communist-run eastern half had much worse pollution and more children living on farms. After the countries reunited, East Germany was cleaned up and urbanized—and allergy rates soared.'
Perhaps Dederon has some hidden medicinal qualities...
"As for children’s safety, Honoré makes what will no doubt be the controversial recommendation that we stop fretting about it. He quotes Samuel Butler on the subject: 'Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.' Allergy rates in children are rising throughout the industrialized world. Honoré blames this on oversanitized environments: 'Just look at what happened in Germany. Before unification, allergy rates were much higher in the western part, even though the Communist-run eastern half had much worse pollution and more children living on farms. After the countries reunited, East Germany was cleaned up and urbanized—and allergy rates soared.'
Perhaps Dederon has some hidden medicinal qualities...