[blindkid] Fw: [R-BLASTOMA] Warning: don't blame yourselves forbaby's RB!

[elizaellett at yahoo.com]

Thank you Debbie! I needed that today, a lot. 
Eliza
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
Sender: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:56:29 
To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet BlindKid Mailing List<BlindKid at NFBnet.org>
Reply-To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,
	\(for parents of blind children\)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [blindkid] Fw: [R-BLASTOMA] Warning: don't blame yourselves for
	baby's RB!


I read this post on a listserv for parents of children with retinoblastoma, and want to share it with all parents who worry that they may have somehow done something that caused their child to have an illness or disability.  

Debbie

_________
It is nice that people, lawyers as well as proper scientists, try to find out if there are certain chemicals etc that can cause things like RB. That can help in banning dangerous products and help us avoid unnecessary risks.

But for most of us, noone did anything, drank anything, inhaled anything, or in any other manner did ANYTHING whatsoever that caused the problem.

Unless there had been mutations, there would not be humans, nor flowers. We all come from one cell organisms with no organs whatsoever.
nature wants diversity. Or, maybe she doesn't, but it happens and we benefit from it, since diversity made us the beings that can see, hear, walk, eat, think, and feel, instead of just being amoeba-blobs in the ocean.

Mutations cause genius, stronger muscles, new eye colors, but also disease.
In some cases, what seems like a disease at first, proved to be what benefited the individuals getting that mutation, and made them a whole new species.

The amoebas didn't work in a hazardous environment or drink too much alcohol or smoke: Sunrays are enough radiation to make it happen, as is cell division.
The one cell organisms developed despite "doing everything right".

Now, yes, I know we can do things to try and hurt our unborns or newborns, but most of you probably have not. A certain number of children every year WILL be born with RB no matter what we do.

So, if you KNOW or think you were exposed; go ahead and get this properly investigated. That is good.
But if you can not remember anything special, then "cosmic rays" etc is probably the cause in the sense that none of us can eat, drink, breathe or just exist without being exposed to toxins - not the ones we recently started to create chemically, but fully normal ones that have always been around:

Rays from the sun.
Oxidants from the food.
Cell divisions needed to make and keep our bodies.

So don't spend too much time trying to find out what did it - it happened. 

If you are planning to have children - avoid toxins, especially inhaling them voluntarily - can't help putting some anti-smoking advice here - and eat fruits and vegetables a lot. 

But even if all mothers were isolated and given healthy foods, lovely meditations, and a radiation free environment, an almost constant percent of them would have babies with problems. Some genetic, some from other causes.

Just so you know in case you worry about not being able to "recall" what "caused" the RB.

-- 
Anna Olsén
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