I recently had my second grandchild.
And it’s pretty exciting to
know that I’ve got a future generation.
And I am an optimist. 
And boy, my two-year-old is smarter than heck.
But the other side of it is, I’m really worried about
what kind of a world these kids are coming into.
I’ve been a pediatrician in Eugene for 35 years.
And it’s been an honor
to be able to take care of kids
and been a rewarding profession.
Increasingly, we’re seeing behavior problems in children.
There’s been increasing concern 
about the effects of environmental toxins.
When I use medications in my practice,
I know that they’ve been studies extensively for safety.
The concern I have is the lack of safety studies 
in use of herbicides and pesticides in the environment.
These agents have been identifies as neurotoxins.
We’re seeing exposure in children 
during the period of time that their brains are developing.
Some of these problems, 
neurologic problems in children, may be coming 
from exposures to pesticides and herbicides in the environment.
There’s a shocking lack of 
information showing safety of these products.
Recently, I’ve been in contact with
people from Beyond Toxics and 
I’m really thrilled to understand that there’s
increasing efforts to identify these potential problems.
The lack of thought process around 
how parks are maintained 
with the thought of safety for our children
is appalling to me.
We are beginning to see changes.
There are places in the country now that are
herbicide, pesticide free in the parks.
There’s a groundswell of support for this.
And that gives me optimism for the future.
I’ve got these two grandkids.
They go to the park every day.
And to be straight, I don’t know
what things are like there. 
I practice organic gardening and landscaping because
I want my lands to be safe. 
I want them to be a place that my grandkids can come and play
and I don’t have to worry about it,
unlike so many other places 
where I have to think about:
are they going to be ok?
They can run around at my place
without any worries.
Being an optimist, I believe that
with the leadership that’s coming from 
Beyond Toxics and other similar environmental organizations, 
there's hope.
