Work Is A Four Letter Word

Articles appeared in the media about an employee who was dismissed for failing to wear make up as instructed by her employers. So I decided to join in the debate as follows:

Further to the media comment on the case of Ms. Melanie Stark and her dismissal from Harrods said to be because of her reluctance to wear cosmetics as required by the Harrod’s Dress Code.

I note that for males, cosmetics are not required but that apparently anti-perspirants and deodorants are stipulated.

There are added issues here which are not covered in the media.

The first is that increasing numbers of people at the present time are becoming adversely affected by these products. The degree and nature of reaction can vary and often it is very difficult to pinpoint the agent or agents in the products that are causal to the reactions.

Nevertheless, there is now an increasing literature on the subject and in many parts of the world the reality of multiple chemical sensitivity or other significant medical problems that can develop is widely recognised, although not in the UK.

Who might contract these problems is also a question. However, it seems very likely that someone who already has some form of compromise to the immune system or has suffered a severe viral or chest problem can be vulnerable.

If a person either already has a continuing issue or could be at risk then avoidance of products or substances is a logical and sensible course of action to take. If a person is already having more substantial reactions then avoidance might become critical.

There are other issues of long term health notably where sprays may be involved. One is that little is known of the long term effect on the vital organs but there is now increasing evidence that heavy use of the relevant chemical agents is a common factor in endocrine and other impairments of the reproductive systems.

To put it crudely, heavy use of some male deodorants might have significant effects on the lungs and reproductive systems of males.

The advent of fine particle (nano) technology has increased the impact and effect of very many products. I note that the HSE now has advice and warnings about work places in which nano particles may be present. One key disease is Pulmonary Fibrosis, which is both debilitating and incurable.

The extreme end of toxic/allergic reaction is anaphylaxis, the highly dangerous and potentially terminal immune system shock which can lead to a collapse of the brain and breathing function within a few minutes.

You will appreciate that these factors are very different from the wearing of a uniform, or clean tidy dress, or combed hair etc.

It is my view that an employer who insists on high levels of chemical usage by all staff as a necessary condition of employment is both discriminatory against those with any skin, breathing, or allergy issues and possibly in some circumstances depending on the pollution levels within the store an active danger to long term health.

The Weighting Game

The groans can be heard for miles. As if there is not enough comment, advice, information or preaching about body weight and the rest around the web and the media.

Like many other matters these days a good deal of it can come back to the chemistry. For much of what is on offer these days is the product more of that than of the ways and means of the past.

One issue has been sweeteners. Sugar used to be expensive but became cheaper and cheaper and so we became bigger and bigger. So less sugar but we cannot learn to do without the sharp heavy hit sweet taste so in come the artificial replacements.

Now it is turning out that these are no better and indeed could stimulate the appetite as well as doing other kinds of harm. This article illustrates the issue:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110627183944.htm

Just what most people can do in the modern world is difficult to work out. The one thing that is certain is that it will not be easy.

Issues Of Toxicity

Three links below connecting to various aspects of toxic effects. The Dr. Mercola web site is an American one which covers a great deal of ground. It is sometimes on the strident side but much of it is science based albeit with a bias to the dangers of modern consumerism.

The first link deals with commercial moisturizers to the effect that they are doing you far more harm than good.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/21/is-your-moisturizer-causing-skin-cancer.aspx

The next is that covering the skin with spray tan to avoid one thing can put you at risk of another serious issue along with the other effects of chemical tanning.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/12/dangers-of-spray-tan.aspx

Last, but far from least is how you test and what for. The test results may only be as good as the testing procedures. Given that modern technology can enable a product to be formulated to avoid showing on tests this is important. It is very likely that tests put in place only a few years ago may be inadequate to deal with recent product development

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0020887

All in all, they point to a range of problems that are now worsening.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Many people will be active in their gardens at this time of the year and the farmers have been busy in the fields.

One thing common to them is the amount of weed killers, pesticides and other plant control substances that are being scattered about. Usually, scant attention will be paid to the small print on the packet, in the delivery system or on the tin.

In some cases it seems that all that effort might lead on to the growth of bigger and better weeds, never mind resistant bugs of one sort or another:

http://discovermagazine.com/2011/mar/10-rise-of-the-superweeds

The article below is concerned with glyphosate and the major products it is present in:

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GTARW.php

There is more on the subject here:

http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/686959/revealed_the_glyphosate_research_the_gm_soy_lobby_doesnt_want_you_to_read.html

And to add to all that:

http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/roundup.html

So when you do have a bit of time to sit on the grass or sunbathe make sure you have a good shower afterwards.  Or perhaps a spell in the decontamination cell.

You could just leave a lot of it alone, say the dandelions, they are edible and can being used in various brews, temperance as well as alcoholic.

Advertising Break

It is rare for an advertisement to feature in these pages, but the one above comes to you from The Daily Mash, whose mission is truth in politics.

Since I have been using this product now for seventy years and more, or if not many like it, I can assure everyone that it certainly works.

The real secret is to have a vitamin free diet as well.

To ensure that there is a measure of balance and to allow for the other side to make a case you could try this link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531092000.htm

Keep slapping it on!

Taking A Dip Into The Past

One thing leads to another. The question was who exactly was Anna Beddoes the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and wife of Dr. Thomas Beddoes? Wikipedia has a decent entry on Dr. Beddoes which only takes you so far but another web site has a picture of the lady, above.

Beddoes was a leading scientific figure of his time, although little known today. Both Michael Faraday and Sir Humphrey Davy were with him in their early careers. His connection to the Edgeworth’s brought links to the major literary and political figures of the period.

Davy was the man who amongst his scientific achievements identified chlorine as an element which caused me to look at that subject. This took me to my local swimming pool, as I keep saying, all things are connected.

Several years ago I had to give up the daily swim I enjoyed because it became clear that the increasing skin problems being experienced were the result. Talking to the pool manager, who we knew, he told me that in recent years the chlorine level in the pool had been increased to near maximum because of the levels of other substances from people that were impacting on the effect of the chlorine.

We are aware of the issues that can arise from extensive use of petro-chemicals and from other causes, but looking at chlorine and all its derivatives and uses it is astonishing to see how their use has been extended in recent decades.

Clearly this element and all that has followed from it has advanced our ability to do many things and create many products that are both useful and necessary to modern living. But are we now making too much use of all the things in which chlorine based substances can be found?

Just how much and in what context can it become toxic? Well Chlorine Gas certainly is and I have a reliable source in Grandad who landed in the military hospital as a result of encountering it during WW1. Apparently, use may result in some types of plastic pipe cracking. One wonders how many plumbing problems may be arising these days. It has caused the collapse of a swimming pool, I understand.

Using the RATS Scale, I would put my skin reactions at Scale 3, bad enough to require avoiding it and given other problems necessary. On reflection it is likely that over time I started with minor, Scale 1 issues which worsened over time.

Looking around it does seem that there are other people who cannot use modern chlorine treated pools and unluckily in the UK other types are hard to find. Also, there are other allergies to products where the key substance is hard to identify.

Given the increases in both asthma and skin problems and the difficulty of working out what may be amongst the complex reasons for all this there are many possibilities.

Could one of them be simply that there is too much chlorine based stuff around in the home and outside?

Keep Taking The Pills

Used with care, sensitivity and managed properly within clear limits both antibiotics and antibacterials have their uses in medical treatments and such. However when they are stuffed into all sorts of things; used without discrimination and on the largest possible scale for production and marketing purposes there will be consequences.

The same can be said of many other substances in the past and present. It is a matter of human experience that misuse and overuse will have adverse effects. Some of these will be quite nasty.

Recently, but not much in the UK, typically there has been attention paid to these issues. It is often difficult to understand because of the science and the complexity. But the sooner we accept that we could be doing more damage than good then we might begin to control ourselves.

The link below gives more links to recent other research on antibiotics.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110601161127.htm

The picture above is a typical factory farm situation. Very often the cattle and in other places other animals, birds and fish may be routinely given antibiotics in their feedstock. These find their way into water systems and your food.