Our mission is to transmit health information more systematically and more understandably. Research produces facts that are all too often packaged for other researchers. We want to deliver this information to the biggest audience possible. This process of education began with the Barney Safety video itself. Many of those letters in particular were concerned about issues of child abduction.
Abduction is such a scary issue for parents.
It plays upon their heartstrings. In the video, Barney uses song and example to urge his viewers never to chase toys or pets into the street, always to wear safety belts in the car, to avoid the stove, the iron and other hot things, and to practice a number of other behaviors that promote child safety. The Barney video concentrates on promoting safe behavior meant to prevent injury. Nor is the disjunction between perceived and real dangers to children an isolated occurrence. Even public health experts seem to hold widely divergent views on what dangers pose the greatest threats, as evidenced in an informal survey Langlieb and associate Elaine Eggleston circulated among some Public Health colleagues earlier this year.