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In India, it's the done thing. It's done to get the newborn swallowing. Typically, a relative who's in the delivery room dips a finger in honey and applies a li

by ajays 16y ago

In India, it's the done thing. It's done to get the newborn swallowing. Typically, a relative who's in the delivery room dips a finger in honey and applies a little bit to the roof of the mouth (of the newborn). In fact, there's a saying, "I gave you honey" (said by an older person to a young 'un), which means, "I gave you life", which comes from this procedure. Look at the population of India. Do you think the "botulism spores" have caused any damage? Compare the rates of allergy in the US (for instance) and India. When I was in India, I hadn't even heard of something called "allergy". And in the US, it's all around.

georgieporgie 16y ago
Look at the population of India. Do you think the "botulism spores" have caused any damage? Besides the obvious, "YES!", what effect does your statement have on the fact that American babies have died from botulism spores found in raw honey? Have you verified that, of Indian infants who died, all were tested for botulism? I suspect you haven't, and it sounds like maybe you're just ranting about the tangential subject of cleanliness and allergy. But hey, maybe a few dead babies and some hookworm (42.8% infection rate) is better than popping a Claratin.
- ajays 16y ago
  From 1979 to 2006, there were 26 cases of infant botulism in Canada (whose numbers I could find), and it isn't known how many got botulism from honey. So the data is not there for an "advanced" country like Canada; what are the chances that there's such data in India? Do you have any references to back up your _fact_ that babies have died from botulism spores that definitely _came_ from raw honey?
kenjackson 16y ago
India is not the US. And while that seems snarky I mean that botulism is complex. While honey may be the carrier to infants in the US, honey in India, due to several other factors, may not have the same incidence of spores. That is a recommendation in the US or Argentina, may not apply to India or Africa. Here's a good paper on infant botulism: http://www.iss.it/binary/publ/cont/ANN_09_20_Fenicia.pdf http://www.iss.it/binary/publ/cont/ANN_09_20_Fenicia.pdf From this you'll see that things are not very black and white. It's understanding a relatively rare condition w/ imperfect data.

by ajays 16y ago

georgieporgie 16y ago

Look at the population of India. Do you think the "botulism spores" have caused any damage? Besides the obvious, "YES!", what effect does your statement have on the fact that American babies have died from botulism spores found in raw honey? Have you verified that, of Indian infants who died, all were tested for botulism? I suspect you haven't, and it sounds like maybe you're just ranting about the tangential subject of cleanliness and allergy. But hey, maybe a few dead babies and some hookworm (42.8% infection rate) is better than popping a Claratin.

ajays 16y ago
From 1979 to 2006, there were 26 cases of infant botulism in Canada (whose numbers I could find), and it isn't known how many got botulism from honey. So the data is not there for an "advanced" country like Canada; what are the chances that there's such data in India? Do you have any references to back up your _fact_ that babies have died from botulism spores that definitely _came_ from raw honey?

kenjackson 16y ago

India is not the US. And while that seems snarky I mean that botulism is complex. While honey may be the carrier to infants in the US, honey in India, due to several other factors, may not have the same incidence of spores. That is a recommendation in the US or Argentina, may not apply to India or Africa. Here's a good paper on infant botulism: http://www.iss.it/binary/publ/cont/ANN_09_20_Fenicia.pdf http://www.iss.it/binary/publ/cont/ANN_09_20_Fenicia.pdf From this you'll see that things are not very black and white. It's understanding a relatively rare condition w/ imperfect data.