Baby Formula

Westminster officials are warning parents not to use its tap water for infants younger than 6 months old or to make baby formula with it because of elevated levels of nitrate found in one of the city's 11 wells. City officials issued the warning yesterday - the second incident involving the water system in less than two months - after taking its Cranberry Water System off line to flush out the nitrates. "The well will stay out of service until we have two weeks of sampling below the maximum contaminant level of 10," said Jeff Glass, assistant director of the city Department of Public Works.

OK The Walking Dead , I see you, doing your thing. This Sunday night's episode was by no means earth shattering, but in keeping with the style of season three, there was plenty to satisfy us fans and keep us coming back next week: humans were killed (albeit inconsequential humans), questions were answered (Where is Carol? Who was on the phone?) and the plot was advanced. We were left with Michonne strolling up to the prison fence, injured and covered with a camouflage of zombie entrails, and carrying a supermarket basket full of powdered baby formula.

Two pieces of news yesterday about the health benefits of DHA may benefit Martek Biosciences Corp., a Columbia company whose production of the omega-3 fatty acid has been a major force in the market for baby formula. A small-scale study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and released yesterday, showed that DHA could help prevent children with high cholesterol from developing heart disease. Meanwhile, new dietary guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture also released yesterday claimed that DHA, which is found in shellfish and fish, may also help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Martek Biosciences Corp., known for its algae-derived supplement for baby formula, said yesterday that it plans to pay up to $90 million in stock for a Colorado company that markets the same nutrient for use in foods and drinks consumed by adults. The Columbia company said the acquisition of privately held OmegaTech Inc. will ready it for a future in which the supplement, DHA, could be a standard added nutrient in everything from cheese to nutrition bars. The naturally occurring nutrient has been shown to aid infant eye and brain development, while an increasing number of studies by the National Institutes of Health, Martek and others show it also may boost the health of adults.

Carnation recalls baby formula bearing perilous instructionsCarnation Inc. has recalled a batch of baby formula that instructs parents not to dilute the concentrate with water when they are actually supposed to do just that. The product is Carnation Alsoy soy formula for infants, which can cause dehydration, diarrhea, cramping and vomiting if it's consumed undiluted.The mislabeled cans were distributed in Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. The 13-ounce cans have the following code on the bottom: 6150EWAC047.

As Baltimore's side streets remained snowbound two days after a record-setting snowstorm, the city's efforts to clear neighborhoods have been slowed by equipment failures in almost half of its plows. While 101 snowplows continued to clear major streets yesterday, another 87 sat idle in repair shops with transmission problems, broken salt-spreaders and other troubles, city officials said. "The equipment failures are starting to hurt us," Mayor Martin O'Malley said. "This is a lot more snow than we're used to, and every imaginable thing is happening - engines are blowing up, plows are breaking, windshield wipers aren't working."

If you haven't yet experienced the joys of airline travel this summer, there is still time to book your flight and get in on all the fun. This was already shaping up as a stressful travel season, what with higher ticket prices, long lines at check-in counters and security checkpoints, packed flights, etc. Then came news of the terrorist plot in Great Britain to blow up airliners with liquid explosives, which, as you can imagine, jacked up passenger stress...

Almost 30 years ago in the movie "Shaft," detective John Shaft made an impact on the fashion world with his turtleneck sweaters, leather jackets, bell-bottoms and Afro. Tough, sexy, suave, Shaft was, as the movie tagline went, "Hotter than Bond, Cooler than Bullitt." If you think Samuel L. Jackson looks as cool in this year's Shaft as Richard Roundtree did in the 1971 version of the movie, you've got Giorgio Armani to thank. Armani, Jackson's designer of choice for the role, reportedly told Jackson: "I'll design the clothes.

The old joke says parents carry pictures of their children in their wallets - where their money used to be. Babies are expensive. But many parents spend far more than they need to. The reason is easy to guess - having a baby is an emotional event in life. It's common for couples, especially first-time parents, to develop the attitude, "Only the best for my baby." Where emotion is involved, poor spending choices often follow. "Marketers take advantage of that," said Kimberly Danger, author of 1,000 Best Baby Bargains.