Knock On Effects

The article below is interesting for its general implications. If it is accepted that ‘flu can have secondary effects then do other virus infections do the same? It is claimed that some medical issues often follow such an infection.

If one infection can lead to others of differing types because of the complexity of the human body and invading entities then why is not possible for chemical and allied reactions to be the consequence of other conditions?

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H1N1 Flu Linked to Serious Bacterial Infections in Children

ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2010)

The H1N1 influenza pandemic has led to a sharp increase in the number of children with a serious "secondary" bacterial infection called empyema in children, suggests a study in the October issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

"Cases similar to those described here are likely to continue until the pandemic is over and thus represent an opportunity for prevention," the researchers write, led by Dr. Krow Ampofo of University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City.

They emphasize the importance of keeping children up to date with recommended influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, and prompt antiviral drug treatment for patients who develop influenza signs and symptoms.

H1N1 Linked to Increased Rate of Empyema in Children

The researchers analyzed data on children diagnosed with empyema at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City from 2004 to 2009. Empyema is an infection involving the pleural tissues surrounding the lungs, most often occurring as a complication of pneumonia. Empyema is a serious condition, frequently requiring a chest tube or surgery to drain infected fluid from the chest.

During the last three months of the study period -- the spring and summer of 2009 -- there was a severe outbreak of H1N1 influenza in Utah. During this time, 604 children were diagnosed with H1N1 infection. Of these, 117 were hospitalized -- a rate of 19 percent.

From May through June, 2009, there was a significant rise in the number of children with empyema, compared to previous years. Twenty-one cases were diagnosed -- nearly double the average of 10.8 cases during the same time of year in 2004 to 2008.

Cases of empyema peaked in June, 2009, when 12 cases are diagnosed. This compared to an average of 3.5 children with empyema per month in June of other years. (In a typical year, most cases of empyema occur during the winter months, when seasonal influenza and other respiratory diseases are at their peak.)

All of the children diagnosed with empyema during from May to June, 2009, had a "flu-like illness" before hospitalization. Most children with confirmed influenza were infected with H1N1. The most common bacterial causes of empyema were strep bacteria, including pneumococcal bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae).

In patients with influenza, pneumonia and other secondary bacterial infections can occur. Empyema is an uncommon but serious complication of pneumonia.

Data on 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the United States suggest that secondary bacterial infections contribute to many deaths in patients with H1N1. With proper treatment for empyema, there were no deaths among the children in the Utah study.

The study can't prove any cause-and-effect relationship between H1N1 and the increase in children with empyema. However, the reported "temporal association" suggests that doctors should be alert for pneumonia, empyema, and other secondary bacterial infections in children with H1N1.

Young children (along with older adults, pregnant women, and people with certain medical conditions) are a high-risk group for serious complications of H1N1 influenza.

"There is an urgent need to better understand bacterial complications of pandemic influenza," Dr. Ampofo and colleagues write. "In the interim, influenza vaccines, antiviral agents, and pneumococcal vaccines should be used to prevent cases of secondary bacterial pneumonia whenever possible."

Unquote.

I have seen one theory that a number of deaths during the Spanish Flu’ epidemic of 1918-19 may have occurred because of heavy dosages of aspirin. At that time aspirin in high dosages was not thought to have serious consequences but now we do know.

Your Place Or Mine?

This article needs no comment, it says it all.

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Scented consumer products shown to emit many unlisted chemicals

Physorg.com - October 26, 2010

The sweet smell of fresh laundry may contain a sour note. Widely used fragranced products, including those that claim to be "green", give off many chemicals that are not listed on the label, including some that are classified as toxic.

A study led by the University of Washington discovered that 25 commonly used scented products emit an average of 17 chemicals each. Of the 133 different chemicals detected, nearly a quarter are classified as toxic or hazardous under at least one federal law.

Only one emitted compound was listed on a product label, and only two were publicly disclosed anywhere. The article is published online today in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review.

"We analyzed best-selling products, and about half of them made some claim about being green, organic or natural," said lead author Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs.

"Surprisingly, the green products' emissions of hazardous chemicals were not significantly different from the other products."

More than a third of the products emitted at least one chemical classified as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and for which the EPA sets no safe exposure level.

Manufacturers are not required to disclose any ingredients in cleaning supplies, air fresheners or laundry products, all of which are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Neither these nor personal care products, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, are required to list ingredients used in fragrances, even though a single "fragrance" in a product can be a mixture of up to several hundred ingredients, Steinemann said.

So Steinemann and colleagues have used chemical sleuthing to discover what is emitted by the scented products commonly used in homes, public spaces and workplaces.

The study analyzed air fresheners including sprays, solids and oils; laundry products including detergents, fabric softeners and dryer sheets; personal care products such as soaps, hand sanitizers, lotions, deodorant and shampoos; and cleaning products including disinfectants, all-purpose sprays and dish detergent.

All were widely used brands, with more than half being the top-selling product in its category. Researchers placed a sample of each product in a closed glass container at room temperature and then analyzed the surrounding air for volatile organic compounds, small molecules that evaporate off a product's surface.

They detected chemical concentrations ranging from 100 micrograms per cubic meter (the minimum value reported) to more than 1.6 million micrograms per cubic meter.

The most common emissions included limonene, a compound with a citrus scent; alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, compounds with a pine scent; ethanol; and acetone, a solvent found in nail polish remover.

All products emitted at least one chemical classified as toxic or hazardous. Eleven products emitted at least one probable carcinogen according to the EPA. These included acetaldehyde, 1.4-dioxane, formaldehyde and methylene chloride.

The only chemical listed on any product label was ethanol, and the only additional substance listed on a chemical safety report, known as a material safety data sheet, was 2-butoxyethanol.

"The products emitted more than 420 chemicals, collectively, but virtually none of them were disclosed to consumers, anywhere," Steinemann said.

Because product formulations are confidential, it was impossible to determine whether a chemical came from the product base, the fragrance added to the product, or both.

Tables included with the article list all chemicals emitted by each product and the associated concentrations, although they do not disclose the products' brand names.

"We don't want to give people the impression that if we reported on product 'A' and they buy product 'B,' that they're safe," Steinemann said. "We found potentially hazardous chemicals in all of the fragranced products we tested."

The study establishes the presence of various chemicals but makes no claims about the possible health effects.

Two national surveys published by Steinemann and a colleague in 2009 found that about 20 percent of the population reported adverse health effects from air fresheners, and about 10 percent complained of adverse effects from laundry products vented to the outdoors.

Among asthmatics, such complaints were roughly twice as common.

The Household Product Labeling Act, currently being reviewed by the U.S. Senate, would require manufacturers to list ingredients in air fresheners, soaps, laundry supplies and other consumer products.

Steinemann says she is interested in fragrance mixtures, which are included in the proposed labeling act, because of the potential for unwanted exposure, or what she calls "secondhand scents."

As for what consumers who want to avoid such chemicals should do in the meantime, Steinemann suggests using simpler options such as cleaning with vinegar and baking soda, opening windows for ventilation and using products without any fragrance.

"In the past two years, I've received more than 1,000 e-mails, messages, and telephone calls from people saying: 'Thank you for doing this research, these products are making me sick, and now I can start to understand why,'" Steinemann said.

More information: More information on volatile organic compounds is available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(http://www.epa.gov … iaq/voc.html)
and the National Library of Medicine (http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=31

Provided by University of Washington (news : web)

Unquote.

Could someone please persuade GP’s to avoid poisoning their waiting rooms?

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

London used to be called “The Smoke” for very good reasons. In that time the air was usually polluted and dirty. There were times, too often, when it was filthy and all pervading. Almost all the old smoke is long gone but the air is now as bad.

You will know the reasons for that. What is different is that the old smoke and dirt could be washed out and with care clothes restored to cleanliness and without the staleness nastiness of the time.

As for the locomotive in the picture, I knew it well and its class. They were almost part of my upbringing, the old Midland Compounds this one coming out of St. Pancras Station.

We have been up and down to London on a run of events for one reason or another. However we now have to maintain a complete changed of clothing for such visits. On our return they have to be bagged and then washed and keep totally apart from any other clothing.

The reason is the nature of the chemical pollution, notably “fragrances”. We do not use any products with them, personal or household. The contamination is derived entirely from other surfaces they might come into contact with, for example seating, or from the air around.

The stink on them cannot be washed out fully. As we go on using them, despite the washing in non fragranced organic products, it seems to increase visit on visit. Then we have to dump perfectly wearable clothing because it has become so bad.

When we complain about this, we are told airily to “avoid” the problem. We might be able to in a complete vacuum, but there are slight technical problems with that. The only other way would be to stagger about in the full array of protective clothing and face masks with high power filtration systems.

There is a worse and even more worrying effect. It is that if the visits made are close to each other then the progressive effect of the reactions on health worsens.

The nastiest, undoubtedly, is the creeping fatigue that is progressive. After our recent run of visits it has taken days of rigorous control to come round to any sort of normality. Paradoxically, the exercise we take to assist this is more demanding physically than the business of the visits we make.

So the fatigue does not arise from increased activity, mental or physical.

Just how many people, I wonder, are being worse and worse affected in this day without being able to identify or to understand what is happening to them.

It is all too likely that some time soon if the wrong conditions arise there will be a widespread health set of issues which nobody in authority will be prepared to recognise or address.

Air Pollution Natures Way

The article below I found interesting and not just because I like checking up on what volcanoes are doing. This is about air pollution created by nature. The eruption is creating calls for research, assessment and measure for prevention because of the severe effects caused by air pollution.

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Mounting Research Shows Increased Health Risks from Volcanic Air Pollution

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2010)

Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's big island has been erupting on its east rift since 1983.

But, in March 2008, an additional eruption vent opened at the volcano's summit, resulting in about triple the amount of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) emissions drifting to the local community of Ka'u, raising health concerns over the risks associated with exposure to "vog," as the islanders refer to this volcanic air pollution.

A University of Nevada, Reno researcher seized the opportunity to build upon her previous research of health risks associated with exposure to vog.

Bernadette Longo, assistant professor at the University's Orvis School of Nursing, embarked on a study to compare local health clinic records for the 14 weeks prior to the March 2008 eruption on the summit, to the health clinic records March through June 2008, when the volcano's SO2 emissions tripled.

Her team's research, published in an article in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health last month, found that the clinic saw three times as many headaches and twice as many severe sore throats after the increase in volcanic emissions.

In addition, there was a 56 percent increase in cough, and a six-fold increase in the odds of having acute airway problems -- more serious respiratory problems usually requiring immediate breathing treatments or transfer to the nearest hospital for emergency care.

"The results suggest that children and adolescents are likely to be the most sensitive to SO2 exposure, which is especially concerning," Longo said. "Children tend to be mouth-breathers. When we breathe through our noses, our noses act as filters, removing about 85 percent of the harmful substances before they can reach our respiratory system and lungs," she explained.

"But, when children breathe mostly through their mouths, they don't get the benefit of the nose's filtering system."

Longo said that in addition to children, the elderly, smokers and those with existing conditions such as asthma and emphysema are also especially at risk. She has been conducting research on vog for eight years and has identified those exposed to Kilauea's vog are at greater risk of developing acute bronchitis than those not exposed to vog.

Longo also conducted studies published earlier this year in a Family and Community Health article, showing that a large percentage of the SO2 was penetrating indoors, into the Ka'u schools and hospital, especially when air conditioning wasn't installed or in use and windows were left open.

As a result, the area's schools have installed air conditioners and the hospital's ventilation system has been improved, with more improvements planned as funding becomes available.

This past summer, Longo worked with local health-care agencies and emergency-room doctors to help provide education to the community about using air conditioners if they have them, closing windows and avoiding outdoor activity during the times of heaviest exposure, 7 p.m. to 10 a.m., each day.

"It is fairly safe for schoolchildren and residents to exercise, go fishing or play outside in the afternoons, when the trade winds keep the vog out of the area," Longo said. "If people take the necessary precautions, they can lower the health risks posed by the vog, and ultimately, that is the purpose of our research," she said.

Collaborating on the most recent study with Longo was her Nevada colleague, Wei Yang, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics; Dr. Joshua B. Green from the Ka'u Hospital and Rural Health Care Clinic; and advanced practice nurses Frederick and Vickie Crosby, from the Ocean View Family Health Clinic.

Dr. Green, also a Hawaii State Senator, said that as a result of the studies, they've been able to get more doctors and nurses into the area to provide care. He says he will continue to use the research findings to garner additional support to study the effects of vog and minimize its health impacts on the island's population.

"The research has spurred quite a lot of conversation at the Department of Health, and there was a special task force created in the House of Representatives to study it," he said. "This research will help some of those recommendations to be implemented.

It's very important that we have scientific assessment of the effects of the vog. We need to continue this work in the years to come to see what the long-term effects are on our people."

Unquote.

Is there any other form of extensive air pollution that comes to mind?

Blocking HIghs

Before the Clean Air Acts of 1955 and later, given the air pollution then in urban areas the weather conditions could have a critical effect on health. A long “blocking high” which meant light or little wind, fog and often persistent low cloud could give air that was literally filthy in the age of coal.

Everything could be covered in soot and other particles. Keeping clean was difficult, the smell was pervasive and the fatigue induced debilitating to the many people who had lung or other problems. As the days wore on it simply became worse and worse.

It was in December 1952 that for a few days “The Great Smog” almost reduced London to a standstill when the air was thick with filth. I was there a couple of weeks afterwards and it still stank and many people were almost shell shocked.

The authorities moved quickly to fiddle the figures, reducing the period when deaths could be attributed to the illness contracted at that time. Had it been left then the figures of deaths given would have been much greater. What is not known is how many people were seriously damaged but survived some years or how many people had their live shortened in later life by the long term effects.

It is my view that we are now coming closer to something like this with the air pollution now evident. As I know from frequent visits in London nowadays the air is often quite bad. The problem is that the measures for this are related to a limited number of particles, notably traffic and industrial.

What is being missed is the gathering amount of other substances from persons and the use of many devices in most buildings outputting forms of gas and particles. The many air conditioning systems pump out heat and bad air. Also the huge increase in the number of food outlets add to the problem.

Yet much of this pollution is more dangerous because it cannot be washed out. The chemical content of personal products and air fresheners is made to be far longer lasting and designed to carry distances. Worse still it adheres and transfers easily from one surface to another.

In global terms it does not take much of a change in weather patterns to move systems about from year to year or over periods of several years. In the South East corner of England, possibly with many of the most polluted urban areas we have had a number of blocking highs this summer.

This may have delighted the manic heat seeking weather forecasters but it has been bad news for those who prefer the clean fresh wind and wet air from the lows.

I wonder if we might have a winter with a number of periods of blocking highs. If so what will be their consequences? Not only will there be bad air pollution but more heat output will worsen the problems.

There is a potential health disaster here in the making, remember 1952.

More On Silver

This came from the Nanowerk web site and deals with silver particles. These are now routinely put into many products, including fabrics, as antibacterial. The words to consider are impact, transformation, complex, chemical and physical properties. If it difficult to understand what is happening in the sewage and water then what is going on in the body and brain. Silver is only one small item in a host of others.

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Researchers identify silver nanoparticles in sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plants.

By Michael Berger 2010 copyright Nanowerk.

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Silver nanoparticles are one of the most extensively used type of nanoparticles in consumer products due to the unique antibacterial activity of silver. There have been raising environmental concerns over their adverse ecological effects, along with ionic silver potentially released from the particles (see for instance: "Toxicity of silver nanoparticles increases during storage").

"To predict the environmental impact of engineered silver nanoparticles, their characterization from environmental matrices should be pursued, yet no field-scale studies are available to date" Bojeong Kim, a research associate at The Center for NanoBioEarth at Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences, tells Nanowerk.

"In addition, analyses examining the sizes, morphologies, elemental compositions, degrees of crystallinity and atomic structures, coatings, and aggregation states of nanosized silver particles in the environment are rare, limiting our ability to conduct a sound risk assessment. Absence of such information may be due to technical difficulties of retrieving trace levels of the silver nanoparticles from very complex heterogeneous systems."

Kim is first author of a recent research paper in Environmental Science & Technology ("Discovery and Characterization of Silver Sulfide Nanoparticles in Final Sewage Sludge Products") that was motivated by the fact that silver nanoparticles in consumer products are likely being released during and/or after the product's lifetime.

The silver nanoparticles will likely get into wastewater streams and subsequently enter wastewater treatment plants. During wastewater treatment processes, silver nanoparticles may be incorporated into the sewage sludge matrix and concentrated over time.

"Therefore, we looked for the presence of silver nanoparticles in sewage sludge materials that were collected from a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant located in a metropolitan area of the Midwest region of the US" explains Kim. "We successfully identified and characterized the silver nanoparticles that were present in the sewage sludge materials using analytical high-resolution TEM."
This analytical high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study by the Virginia Tech researc field-scale nanoparticle-level information of silver sulfide (Ag2S) that was present in the final stage sewage sludge materials. They also developed and refined a sampling and TEM-sample preparation protocol for this type of very complex, heterogeneous environmental material. hers, led by Michael Hochella, provides for the first time

"Certain types of metal-based nanoparticles can transform once they are released into different environments, possessing completely different properties than those of the mother – or original – material" says Kim. "This is certainly true for the case of silver. The type and source of silver that enter the wastewater plant can vary, but they are likely to form silver sulfide in the presence of reduced sulfur under anaerobic conditions in the plant.

Therefore, the potential transformation processes and their products need to take into consideration to predict the environmental fate and entire life cycle of engineered nanoparticles."

In recent risk assessment studies, not only for silver but also other engineered nanomaterials, sewage treatment plants are considered to be key intermediate stations that control the most prominent flows of nanoparticle between anthropogenic and natural environments (see for instance: "Discovery may help manage nanoparticle wastes from consumer products").

The Virginia Tech team points out that the speciation of silver nanoparticles collected in settled sewage sludges is also valuable information to wastewater treatment plant managers for operation planning and control.

This is because the inhibitory action of engineered silver nanoparticles on bacterial communities and biofilms has been well-documented, but once they undergo transformation processes, like forming silver sulfide complexes/precipitates with sulfide, their toxicity will differ.

While this current study provides for the first time nanoparticle-level information of the silver sulfide present in sewage sludge products, and further suggests the role of wastewater treatment processes on transformation of silver nanoparticles and ionic silver potentially released from them, future studies of size-dependent reactivity, particularly solubility, of silver sulfide nanoparticles will be useful in understanding the environmental fate, influence, and entire life cycle of engineered silver nanoparticles.

As Kim points out, "first of all, at a field scale, we still need detailed information regarding silver nanoparticles levels and speciation in wastewater streams, treated plant effluent, and receiving streams from the plant. Working with very complex environmental samples is always challenging, but such studies will be very useful in understanding the environmental fate, influence, and entire life cycle of engineered silver nanoparticles."

"Secondly, the presence of silver sulfide nanocrystals in sewage sludge materials is now identified, and it is necessary to investigate the time-dependent changes in their chemical and physical properties when they enter different environments later in their life. For example, this would be the case for using the sewage sludge materials containing silver sulfide on agricultural lands as a soil amendment."

"Finally, size-dependent reactivity, particularly solubility of silver sulfide, needs to be studied. silver sulfide is known to be one of the most insoluble minerals with extremely low water solubility. The size of silver sulfide shown in our study ranged from 5 to 20 nm. At the nanosize regime, its solubility may differ from that of bulk silver sulfide, but no one has studied this systematically, yet."

Unquote.

Remind me, where does sewage come from?

Scratching Itch

While any sensible progress in this field is welcomed, those affected by chemical contamination and medical practitioners should not be lulled into thinking that this is the answer to determining the full nature of any reaction.

There have been times when official bodies have accepted skin tests to be the sole determinant of an allergy or the effect of particular chemicals or complex product.

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Better Animal-Free Test for Chemicals That Can Cause Contact Dermatitis
ScienceDaily (June 1, 2010)

Scientists are reporting development of a fast, simple, inexpensive method for determining whether chemicals in consumer products and workplaces may cause skin allergies in people, a method that does not involve use of animals.

Their study appears in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal.
Itai Chipinda and his colleagues note the existence of public sentiment against the use of animals to determine whether ingredients in consumer soaps, shampoos and other consumer products, and workplace chemicals, may cause skin sensitization and contact dermatitis.

Chemicals cause dermatitis by bonding to proteins in the skin, and then aggravating the immune system so that redness, irritation, itching, and other symptoms occur.

Existing chemical tests use substances like glutathione that mimic skin proteins and bond to allergy-causing ingredients. None, however, are suitable for use in detecting the critical early stages of skin sensitization, the scientists say.

Instead of glutathione, Chipinda and his team developed a test with nitrobenzenethiol as the skin protein surrogate. When used on 20 different chemicals known to cause skin irritation, the test produced positive results.

It produced negative results when used to test substances that usually do not produce skin sensitization.

"This simple, rapid and inexpensive absorbance-based method has great potential for use as a preliminary screening tool for skin allergens," the report states.

Unquote

For myself whilst some products certainly affect the skin, others present a nasty hit in the lungs and other reactions. At present there is a reluctance to test for these or to seek a methodology for analyzing the full scope of effects.

Flowers Of The Field

If safety, the environment and health are critical factors in the application of nanotechnology to pesticides then why are they not in the use of fine particles in household, personal care and beauty products?

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New approaches needed to gauge safety of nanotech-based pesticides
Published: esciencenews dot com Monday, October 4, 2010
12:33 in Physics & Chemistry

Nanotechnology is about to emerge in the world of pesticides and pest control, and a range of new approaches are needed to understand the implications for public health, ensure that this is done safely, maximize the potential benefits and prevent possible risks, researchers say in a new report.

In a study published today in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, scientists from Oregon State University and the European Union outline six regulatory and educational issues that should be considered whenever nanoparticles are going to be used in pesticides.

"If we do it right, it should be possible to design nanoparticles with safety as a primary consideration, so they can help create pesticides that work better or are actually safer," said Stacey Harper, an assistant professor of nanotoxicology at Oregon State University.

Harper is a national leader in the safety and environmental impacts of this science that deals with particles so extraordinarily small they can have novel and useful characteristics.

"Unlike some other applications of nanotechnology, which are further along in development, applications for pesticides are in their infancy," Harper said. "There are risks and a lot of uncertainties, however, so we need to understand exactly what's going on, what a particular nanoparticle might do, and work to eliminate use of any that do pose dangers."

A program is already addressing that at OSU, as part of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.

The positive aspect of nanotechnology use with pesticides, researchers say, is that it might allow better control and delivery of active ingredients, less environmental drift, formulations that will most effectively reach the desired pest, and perhaps better protection for agricultural workers.

"If you could use less pesticide and still accomplish the same goal, that's a concept worth pursuing," Harper said.

But researchers need to be equally realistic about the dangers, she said. OSU labs have tested more than 200 nanomaterials, and very few posed any toxic concerns – but a few did. In one biomedical application, where nanoparticles were being studied as a better way to deliver a cancer drug, six out of 40 evoked a toxic response, most of which was linked to a specific surface chemistry that scientists now know to avoid.

"The emergence of nanotechnology in the pesticide industry has already begun, this isn't just theoretical," said David Stone, an assistant professor in the OSU Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology.

"But pesticides are already one of the most rigorously tested and regulated class of compounds, so we should be able to modify the existing infrastructure."
One important concern, the researchers said, will be for manufacturers to disclose exactly what nanoparticles are involved in their products and what their characteristics are. Another issue is to ensure that compounds are tested in the same way humans would be exposed in the real world.

"You can't use oral ingestion of a pesticide by a laboratory rat and assume that will tell you what happens when a human inhales the same substance," Stone said. "Exposure of the respiratory tract to nanoparticles is one of our key concerns, and we have to test compounds that way."

Future regulations also need to acknowledge the additional level of uncertainty that will exist for nano-based pesticides with inadequate data, the scientists said in their report. Tests should be done using the commercial form of the pesticides, a health surveillance program should be initiated, and other public educational programs developed.

Special assessments may also need to be developed for nanoparticle exposure to sensitive populations, such as infants, the elderly, or fetal exposure. And new methodologies may be required to understand nanoparticle effects, which are different from most traditional chemical tests.

"These measures will require a coordinated effort between governmental, industry, academic and public entities to effectively deal with a revolutionary class of novel pesticides," the researchers concluded in their report.

Source: Oregon State University

Unquote

Everything said here applies to all those products now being put on the market and already available in supermarkets and other outlets.

Procter & Gamble Upset by Mama

There are things you do not expect in life. One was I did not ever think I would take a look now and again at something titled Big Green Mamas. But stranger things have happened. Anyhow it makes a change from Disused Railway Stations.

The post you may be interested in is below and relates to Procter and Gamble and their legal and PR machinery in action. P&G are a mega international company with ambitions to control the market for personal and household products and brook no complaints or opposition.

It seems that the fact that they damage my skin, cause me to have lung problems as well as other nasty effects does not allow me to imply that they might not be safe for other people.

Moreover, if I am searching for products that are safe their makers will not be allowed to claim this because it indirectly implies that P&G stuff is unsafe rubbish and more or less distilled or crystallized sump oil ramped up with toxic propellants, colourants, addictive chemicals and who knows what.

Of course such allegations are wholly and entirely false and defamatory against an organization motivated only by love, joy and the happiness of all nations.

http://thegreenmamas.blogspot.com/2010/09/join-womens-voices-for-earth-to.html

Please make up your own mind.