Here's your question:

What can bloggers do to better inform you on health-related topics that affect you and your family? What would you like to see more of from bloggers, as opposed to (or in cooperation with) reporters who contribute to the online editions of more traditional media? How can their impact be greater?

Here's the reason for it:

I'm headed to New York tomorrow for a "Blogger Health Summit" at Consumer Reports' headquarters on Thursday. Their (Consumers Union's) idea is to get bloggers, reporters, and the folks at Consumer Reports together to discuss how we can share information with consumers to empower them in making choices for their health. In extending the invite to ZRecs, the organizers cited our highly engaged readership as a sign of our "unique relationship with consumers and an uncommon perspective on their needs."

We're proud of how well our readership's experience on children's safety and health issues has grown in tandem with our own. As we continue to dedicate time to these topics (which is the opposite of selecting writing topics based on the search engine optimization that drives a lot of consumer blogs), we attract additional, often dedicated regular readers who are very well versed in these issues, and they help expand our knowledge base. Meanwhile, previous rounds of new readers learn along with us while helping us stay grounded and providing crucial encouragement. The environment that fosters - both for us and, we hope, for our readers - is really useful for moving some of these issues forward.

There are going to be a lot of brains in the room on Thursday, and I'd like to make sure we're representing our readership there. We have issues we want to raise and topics we want to discuss with them (not to mention my being completely thrilled to get a tour of the CR testing labs), but I'd like more than anything to know what you think we should be talking about.

So I'm asking: What can bloggers do to better inform you on health-related topics that affect you and your family? What would you like to see more of from bloggers, as opposed to (or in cooperation with) reporters who contribute to the online editions of more traditional media? How can their impact be greater?

I'll leave comments on this open through tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, and will check them for inspiration and any proposed discussion points before heading to the summit. So speak up!