Children Health

A 2-year-old boy pulled unconscious from a Canyon Country pool and revived by a bystander was in good condition Wednesday at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The unidentified toddler apparently fell into the pool at his family's apartment complex in the 18700 block of Mandan Street around 9 p.m. Tuesday, fire officials said.

It may have been the kindest cut of all. More than 50 children got their hair shorn Sunday to raise money for cancer research. "We tried to time it right before school as a back-to-school event," said Suzanne Lazarus, assistant director of development at the City of Hope, which organized the event. "But we didn't anticipate the heat." The event was held at the Over The Rainbow Children's Salon in Northridge, where Lazarus takes her own children for haircuts.

Taking aim at a time-honored fixture of the school lunch box, a growing number of schools are outlawing the peanut butter sandwich in an effort to combat a steady increase in allergic reactions among children. Experts estimate that about 5% of the nation's children under 6 are allergic to peanuts, making it one of the leading food allergies for youngsters. In severe cases, exposure to the legume can be life-threatening. Most of the peanut bans appear to be taking place in private schools.

Taking aim at a time-honored fixture of the school lunch box, a growing number of schools are outlawing the peanut butter sandwich in an effort to combat a steady increase in food-allergic reactions among children. Experts estimate that about 5% of the nation's children under 6 are allergic to peanuts, making it one of the leading food allergies for youngsters. In severe cases, exposure to the legume can be life-threatening. Most of the peanut bans appear to be taking place in private schools.

A federal appeals court dealt a crushing blow Friday to the Food and Drug Adminstration, ruling that it has no authority to regulate nicotine as a drug and cigarettes as drug-delivery devices. The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed a lower court decision, represents a major setback for the administration's efforts to restrict tobacco use by children.

The bedraggled girl walked six dusty miles to a gas station pay phone and punched in 911. Then she did what she was taught never to do: She told. Help me, she said to the sheriff. My father beat me when I ran away from an arranged marriage with my uncle. I was his 15th wife. With one phone call to an outside world she scarcely knew, the battered 16-year-old gave voice to silent women who live within the secretive constraints of polygamy.

Vice President Gore will announce at the White House today that USC and UCLA will join seven other research centers in receiving federal grants to study environmental health threats facing children, administration officials said. The Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health Research will address two primary areas--the causes of asthma and the effects of pesticide exposure.

Ouch . . . it's that time of year again. Children entering kindergarten face the double whammy of preparing for their first day at elementary school and the pain of receiving their state-required immunization shots. With the first day of school just around the corner, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has issued an advisory that children must be immunized.

The death notice arrived in the form of a blood test from an AIDS clinic. Ennie cried her heart out, but when the tears would come no more, she picked up the telephone. "I was raped by my own dad when I was 16," Ennie said the morning after learning she was infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Her last name is not being disclosed to protect her privacy. "The love I had for him failed after that, and I couldn't stand seeing him. But I called him yesterday.