My friend told that the chemical toluene is poisonous. Is it so?

All the chemicals are poisons. The dose makes the poison. Toluene is an aromatic solvent and is poisonous.

Toluene is a colourless, voletatile, flammable liquid with an odour, resembling that of Benzene. It is obtained from crude oil or can be synthesized from benzene and is used as a solvent and as a raw material in chemical industries.

Toluene is used as an industrial solvent for paints, pharmaceuticals and rubber. It is found in petrol, paints, varnishes, paint thinners, printing inks, glues, rubber, adhesives and shoe polish.

Inhalation of toluene put in plastic bags may cause sudden death and this is the most serious risk. In many countries the poor inhale this to forget their hunger. The solvents make them addicts.

Long time exposure to toluene and other solvents cause the damage of central nervous system, heart, kidney, liver, blood and lung.

Almost 50% chronic solvent abusers are women in their best childbearing age. When I asked them for the reason the prompt answer was we felt happy and liked the smell.

I had a colleague, a laboratory medicine M. D. whose husband was a gynecologist. In his small cabin where there was no window he used to prepare the stains from his patients. He used regularly a small amount of toluene for more than 25 years. Suddenly he became sick, later he was diagnosed to have an incurable form of leukaemia and within three months he passed away. It was because of the exposure to toluene vapours for a long time.

When you buy a fresh newspaper or magazine, the solvent smell is due to presences of toluene. Therefore, the newspaper may be kept outside till the vapours are gone. Newspapers or magazines which are immediately packed in plastic foils after printing are dangerous because they contain more vapours. These are very dangerous to our health and environment.

Plastics

The name plastic comes from plasticity of many of the plastic products. It is the general name for a wide range of synthetic polymerization products. These are composed of addition or condensation polymers and may contain many additives to produce the necessary products. It can be formed to any products or film or fibres. Plastic is commonly classified based on the polymers, for example polyvinylchloride, polyethylene, acrylics and many others. Plastics are long chain of atoms bonded to one another in all forms. The majority of plastics are made of polymers of carbon and hydrogen alone or with nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur and chlorine.

What are the kinds of plastics and their uses?

• Cellulose based plastics: celluloid is an ivory replacement product and rayon, a sort of artificial silk.

• Phenolic plastics: used in colouring, telephone, radios, billiard balls, clocks. Sheets, canvas, linen, paper and tubes are also produced.

• Polyvinylchloride and polystyrene: used in plumbing, house siding, computer enclosures and food packaging.

• Nylon: used in toothbrushes, gears in cars, nylon stockings and clothes.

• Polyethylene and acrylic: containers, plumbing and fittings, mattresses, furniture, thermal insulators, coatings, adhesives, in boats, in aircrafts, polyester and terylene clothes, Teflon coated frying pan, Gore Tex, the breathing wears, Tupperware, fibreglass boats and floating toys.

What are effects of plastics on health?

The plasticizers of PVC are adipates and phthalates which are present in all food and water containers. These reach the liquids very easily and according to World Health Organization (WHO), these are carcinogens.

Polystyrene is also a toxin; its production pollutes the atmosphere and destroys the ozone layer. Through food containers it reaches food and disturbs the hormonal function of our body. It is a suspected carcinogen.

Bisphenol A from thermoplastic polymers releases into food and liquid acts like estrogens, the female sexual hormone and the effect of this hormone to men is not good! It results in insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Recently it was banned in USA. Europe and several other countries are still sleeping.

Formaldehyde from plastics could be allergic.

Is bisphenol A, a carcinogen?

Bisphenol A mimics estrogens, the female sexual hormone and is linked to breast and prostate cancer. It is found in polycarbamate plastics and in the lining of some food cans. It can reach into food and beverages.

Avoid hard, clear plastic bottles including baby bottles and give up canned foods.

It is recently banned in USA and in EU.

What are the effects of plastics on environment?

Plastics are very durable. It is not possible to degrade plastics in nature and burning these releases toxic gases into the environment. Almost all the products release their toxic monomers or other additives used in their production. All the containers for food, milk, water and soft drink release the possible substances in food and liquid and these are carcinogens or suspected carcinogens. Recycling of plastics may be very difficult according to the industry. In few countries like Germany, the law makers stipulate stringent laws to regulate the industries and shops to take back the plastic waste of their products. All the countries may follow the example of Germany which implements environmental laws effectively.

Why are carrier bags unsafe?

This information may help people to think and handle plastics in the proper manner. It is important to know that the fresh food or cooked foods packed and stored in the coloured plastic bags are contaminated with poisonous substances like PVC monomers, phthalates and other poisonous additives.

Note: Classical Tiffin box is the safe carrier to hold food free from chemical poisons.

Dirt and waste – we and others in our world

In tropical regions of our world water is always scarce and it is one of the main reasons of dirt everywhere. But for centuries we used natural products (banana leaves as plates) and our nature has no problem to decay them in this high temperature with the help of the bacteria which do good to us and to our environment.

Now we have substances, human–made and Bacteria or God has no chance to decay them. We all use it without thinking the future of our children or grandchildren. We make the whole environment dirty with all possible poisons and live in the middle of that in good houses. Are we so foolish to think that inside the house the air is healthier?

I think, our mind has become dirty and so we make the environment and our world dirty.

The persons who preach us are also not better than us and they have already spoiled the whole world including the seas and oceans. Look at the chemicals, plastic and other wastes including radioactive wastes in our waters. Look at the pictures taken at the bottom of North Sea, Baltic Sea and many other seas in our world during the 1960s and 1970s where you can find these wastes and majority of the plastic bags lying there are more than 30 or 40 years old. They are still intact and the poisons are released continuously.

We all have our old and present sins.

Keep your neighbourhood clean that should be beginning of cleanliness in all places including your mind? Live with nature and not against nature.

Long-term cell phone usage can 'spark tumour rise'

German Environment ministry with five leading cell phone producers agreed few months ago that children below 12 years may get health problems if they use cell phones. They advised the children to avoid cell phones. For the adults they wanted study further. Now this is from Britain.

A new British study suggests that the long-term use of mobile phones can create up to 1,500 cases of brain tumours per year over the next twenty years.

The team led by Radiation expert, Dr. George Carlo, reviewed 23 major studies on the effects of cell phones on users to conclude that people using phones for 10 years or more had 34 percent more chances of developing brain tumours.
The report included over 12,000 patients who had developed brain tumours and 25,000 who were tumour-free and has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“This information confirms our fears, giving serious concern for all of us and the future generation,” the Daily Express quoted Carlo, as saying.

However, the Government and the Mobile Operators Association maintain their stand that mobile phones are risk free.

ANI http://beta.thehindu.com/health/article41721.ece

Federal Office for Environment Protection warns of dangers of the nano-technology

Translated from German

Frankfurt/Main (AP) the Federal Office for Environment Protection (UBA) warns in a new study of possible health dangers from products, which are manufactured with nano-technology. Affected are among other things food, articles of clothing and cosmetics. In the published investigation on Wednesday the UBA recommends to avoid products with the tiny particles as for a long time as “their effects in the environment and on the human health is still to a large extent unknown”.

Besides the authority in Dessau Roßlau requests the policy makers to create legal basic conditions for safe handling nano-materials. It demands a marking obligation and a population register for products with nano-particles. According to the report more than 800 enterprises would be affected in Germany, which are active in the nano-technology.
The technology is among other things applied, in order to restrain into textiles the growth of bacteria and thus to prevent or suppress bad smell or used in sun creams to stop UV rays hold and to prevent the formation of a grey veil in the chocolates. Nano-technically optimized plastics can lower the weight with cars or airplanes and help thus to save fuel.
“With the development of Nano-technology new products and applications increasingly become significant”, explains the authority. In the market come a rapidly growing number of products, which probably positively influence the “environment and economy”. But the effects of the nano-materials in the environment and possible health risks for humans are still insufficiently investigated. Nano-particles with increasing application were spread nevertheless increased in ground, water and air.
Particles released produced pneumonia in rats
The respiratory system is probably the most important way for nano-particles to enter inside the body, which are not visible with the naked eye. This is proved by scientific studies would be present, it was said. Therefore the particles could penetrate deep into the lungs and cause inflammations there. In the animal experiment with rats the particles damaged DNA. Besides it is reported that nano-particles from carbon can cause illnesses, which are similar to those from asbestos fibers with animals.
From food nano-particle can enter into the gastro-intestinal tract. The few available studies refer according to data of the authority a very small amount can be absorbed through the skin into the body. The UBA explains however: “Intact healthy skin is obviously an effective barrier to titanium dioxide nano-particles.”
The experts of the UBA regard it “urgently required” as to recognize and evaluate health risks of the nano-technology. The manufacturers would have to reveal in addition their results for risk evaluation. If the possible risks can be identified and minimized, the Federal Office for Environment Protection supports the promotion of the nano-technology in applications which reduce environmental pollutions.

Associated Press
http://de.news.yahoo.com/1/20091021/twl-umweltbundesamt-warnt-vor-gefahren-d-1be00ca.html

Poisons in our household Cleaning Solutions

Almost we clean everything in our household with chemicals. These are in the form of different solutions and liquids used.

They include:

• WC-cleaners
• Shoe polishers
• To remove the sedimentation of hard water
• To clean the floors, windows, carpets
• To open the blocked pipes, toilets
• As disinfectants
• As antiseptics
• Washing soap and other additive to wash machines
• In insecticides,
• Used in dish washers
• In furniture polishes
• In metal polishers
• In nail polish cleaners
• To clean stains, including paint stains

If we see them carefully then we find these substances are containing strong acids, alkali, oxidation agents, organic solvents and pesticides. These must be kept in places beyond the reach of children.

How toxic are these substances?

The chemicals in our household cleaning products are very toxic. Through inhalation, absorption through the skin or ingestion along with food or water or soft drinks makes us sick.

As a clinical toxicologist I have seen many poisonings with children and sometimes it is lethal.

Whose mistake is this to have excess of poisonous cleaners in our home?

The industry makes overstated advertisement and promises to bring the sky down to the earth for a product of poor quality. In the modern world the alluring advertisements in TV are so effective that you stand suddenly in front of this product in the shop and buy. The law-makers must make laws so that everything, including the toxicity, should be written clearly on the label so that the consumers could avoid this. It is in our hands to make the industries produce safer and poison-free products.

What are the important things I must know now?

Two important things you must know, one is you must know the poisons in your home cleaners and also the toxicity of the poison.

Second thing is you must know the alternative cleaners.

What are the alternative cleaners?

These are the traditional substances we have been using with good results:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Corn starch
• Soap
• Borax
• Lemon juice

Vinegar is made from apple juices, grain or wine and has approximately 5% acetic acid, a mild organic acid. It can dissolve mineral deposits, grease, remove soap and wax build-up, polish some metals and deodorize. Diluted with water it can clean brick or stone.

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate which is naturally occurring material, present in most organic life. It is mostly used in the non-toxic household cleaning product next to vinegar. It can neutralise acid, deodorize and scrub shiny materials without scratching.

Cornstarch is made from corn and is used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs and to starch clothes.

Soap is a traditional cleanser and can be used in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry.

Borax is sodium borate and it is a naturally occurring mineral best known as water softener and laundry booster. It is also used in all household cleaning.

Lemon juice contains citric acid. It is a deodorizer, used to clean glass and remove stains from aluminium, porcelain and clothes.

If you have problem with ant population, use this non-toxic backing powder and turmeric powder and the ants run away. Never use other chemical poisons. They are dangerous for you, your children and to your environment including your drinking water.

What benefit I have more from these cleaners?

These are non toxic, multi-purpose and cheap to purchase. Television advertisements are the costliest ones, if a cricket player appears in it, it is the costliest and it is you who is going to pay everything. Spend your money, for you, for your family but not for unnecessary things.

We have in Germany a petrol bunk chain which sells petrol and diesel always cheaper than the others. They write in their petrol bunk clearly, “we don’t sponsor sportsmen and so it is cheaper here”.

We have to sponsor our sportsman, but not very excessively.

Is it correct that my house must be always clean or sterile?

It must be clean but not sterile. If it is sterile always people living there are in danger to go out where a lot of bacteria dance always. We also need the minimum contact so that the body could produce the valuable antibodies. That is healthy. I have experienced this problem several times in my carrier.

Clean and then keep it dry which prevents many insects including cockroaches and others to come and breed there.

House lizard is a very useful animal because it eats all the insects inside the house which could give problems to our health.

Dandruff – a simple, but effective treatment

Here is an important information from my elder sister Ms. R. Dhanalakshmi, Madurai, Tamil Nadu for a simple, but effective treatment to remove dandruff.

Take few Indian vegetable lady’s finger (Vendakkai, Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus) and crush it well. Warm it in a frying pan and rub it well on your head skin. After 15 minutes, wash your hair with lot of water and a mild shampoo or Shikakai powder (Acacia Concinna). In 3 to 15 days the dandruff will disappear.

Try this method and it has no side effects.

Acacia Concinna, known as fruit for hair, shikakai is made from a shrub Acacia Concinna. The powder of shikakai is immensely used to strengthen the hair roots and promote their growth. Further, it clears the dandruff and cleans the dirt accumulated on scalp. The regular use of shikakai enhances the bounciness and silkiness of hair.

If you use shikakai it is also good for our environment. Soap is not good for our environment.

Environment - Unforgettable Incidents during my Profession! Pentachlorophenol – Wood Preservative

I got a blood sample from a child and the doctor told me that he could not understand the perplexing symptoms and requested me to find out some clue from the blood. We conducted all the analytical studies in blood and urine qualitatively and quantitatively in the lab of clinical Toxicology and found that the amount of one poisonous chemical was increased ten fold compared to the reference values of an adult.

I talked to the mother about the possibility of exposure to this poisonous chemical. There was no chance for exposure and the parents were very much worried. Finally I asked the mother to send her child to the Kindergarten Monday to Friday, go to the doctor, take blood sample from the child and go for holidays with the child for a week to a North Sea Island where even cars are banned and there were no chances of any exposition.. Returning back she had to go to a doctor and take blood sample from her child once again. She did exactly what we told. In Friday’s sample the child had this poisonous chemical, about ten times higher than the reference value of adults. When they returned from the island, the poison level was in the lower part of the reference value. We made a guess and we gathered the details about the Kindergarten. In the kindergarten there are wooden benches and wooden play equipments of children, such as, ship, slide, swing and seesaw. All are very clean and in very good condition. We gave the blood values to the doctor and he forwarded to the government departments, nobody wants to believe. Somebody from the Government rang my boss and asked him whether I am a reliable chemist and his answer was, “leave this as my problem and as long our toxicologist is doing good to the public we inform all the people concerned about this”. Such a trusting boss must everybody have to do good to the patients.

Finally the concerned authorities decided to send the blood to a high security toxicological lab belonging to the Central Government. After two days my values were confirmed and the two Kindergartens were closed. We checked further the city’s other Kindergartens and everywhere the problem was the same. All these wooden things were removed and the contamination was also controlled.

The important chemical was at that time used as a wood preservative, the notorious pentachlorophenol. This was also by product from orange T and the chemical waste from the company contained high amount of pentachlorophenol. Instead of disposing it properly it was mixed with the paints which have been used for the benches and other wooden articles in the kindergarten. This sort of poisonous tourism was a cheap disposal of the deadly wastes in poor countries at the cost of the population there.

During the second half of the 1980s, this chemical was found in all the human beings in the world including Eskimos and persons living in the Amazon regions of South America.

Fortunately the half-life period of pentachlorophenol is 30 hours and it could be excreted from the body without much problem.

Long-time exposition could be detected in hair and nail.

Pentachlorophenol was banned in Germany in the 1990s.

Environmental Poisons – Toys: Unforgettable Incidents!

Chinese toys: I was staying with my niece at Karaikudi, Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu. In the next morning I was sitting on the compound wall and her son was playing there. After ten minutes I noticed that he was taking something which was pink in colour from his pocket, smelling it and putting it back in his pocket. At first it did not draw my attention. Since he was repeating this several times, I asked him to show it.

It was a broad tree shaped synthetic toy, very soft and smelt heavily on some organic solvent. I called my niece and advised her to throw it immediately in the waste box and not to buy any cheap toy made and marketed by China. Your child could become easily addicted to organic solvent without its own mistake. It is the duty of the parents to learn and know more about these kinds of dangers which could be avoided completely.

The important message is that poisons are everywhere in the environment. If we know this we can avoid much hidden poisons. When you confront with these poisons, never ask why should I do this, but be happy to have this chance to do that which is important for the health of all.

I am not against Chinese toys. The German market is also full of Chinese products and my electric shaver which I use every morning is made in China. But there is a big difference in the method of procuring the products from China by Germany and India. We, in Germany stipulate all the technical specifications to the Chinese companies and they produce accordingly products for us. This means which raw materials they must use or which they must not use since they are banned by German laws.

It could also be done in India; it is the duty of the concerned authorities to enforce the right guidelines. It is the duty of the consumers till then to avoid buying such poisonous toys or other products.

Why did I write this book “Environmental Poisons and Illness?

It is my thirst to know more about the modern and emerging India that brought me to Chennai and I stayed alone at first 2006 December to 2007 May here and afterwards for four months from November 2007 to March 2008. Before that for decades my contact to India is Dinamalar, India Today and The Hindu. I talked to many persons, hundreds, even thousands to make a picture of real India. It was interesting and at the same time in most of the points it was also very shocking.

I discussed with many persons and understood the mechanism of life here almost after 40 years. Several good as well several bad things I came to know. The values of my old 1970 India were no more there in many fields. I have seen the aggressive markets where the multinationals do their business. Things which are prohibited even in their mother or father countries are sold here. To my surprise I found several things are very costly here but the services are very poor, particularly in the insurance sector. I could roughly compare the situation what we had in West Germany during 1965 and 1980. The situation was exactly like here now, everybody was busy in making money, nobody bothered about the environment and eating processed food from USA was considered a big fashion. The household and industrial wastes are dumped every where. Many parents had less time for their children. Nobody was prepared to listen us. We warned that the bad effects would only be seen in their children or grandchildren. In the beginning or middle of 1980s the problem started and in some of the areas it is still there. Crores and crores of rupees are spent from the taxpayer’s money to rectify these scandals. This had affected the health of the children and adults also. As a rich country we did more than enough although we have to do more and I am proud of this. What about the multinational companies who produced the poisonous waste; they disposed it illegally in Germany or in other developing countries in all continents. They earned very well, paid less tax because of their countless daughter companies throughout the world, came out well with very little fine for some of their responsible managers in the court of law.

The government, NGOs and the clinical toxicologists started informing the people about the importance of our environment because the party formed by some leftist students, “The Greens Party”, entered slowly in the assemblies and parliament. Their main programme is only to save the nature and environment and wanted to punish all who did or do bad to these including small or big industries. This was a boon to Germany because the other four important parties took nature and environment in their party programmes. If it could have been happened in India also then we could be very happy and this would be the only possibility to change things in the long run. At the same time we must give the persons living here all the necessary information which they need. Give the mothers all the necessary information, she can give further to her children and it goes automatically to the coming generations. The aim of my books is to give people enough useful and practical information and make them socially aware. Then the chances of cheatings and exploiting may become less.

So I have taken four fields where I did lot of research and pioneering work to inform our people about the chances and risks. What we did was not only applied research but also the treatment of several different difficult patients. As the head of the department of clinical toxicology I am the right persons for all the questions of the illegal drugs, prescription drugs, environmental medicine including residue analysis and in occupational medicine. We work with doctors closely to solve the problems in all these fields. We have also worked with many important pharmaceutical companies and other industries. But, in this job, hard but healthy critism is very important and it is also accepted by many.

Most of them know much about the environmental pollutions, poisons and illness but wait for the others do something. The rest has no idea and do the same thing as always. The same procedure as every year is only in their thoughts and deeds. But many live now may experience the after effects of this pollutions and their dangerous and life threatening effects in their life. I wonder how these people live in their homes when they make the public place so dirty. Here the so called educated people are also not better than others. Our culture and tradition are pure, then from where we got the dirty genes so that we make everything dirty. I have given here information about almost all the poisons we may confront in our life and with this knowledge you could react always right.

Here also prevention is better than cure and very healthy and cheap. The parents must learn and then teach their children. This is the only applicable and possible solution.

The environmental poisons are everywhere. Even all the mothers’ milk in this world is contaminated, but breastfeed as long as you can and it is always the healthiest for the baby. More research must be done to know clearly about the dangerous environmental illness.

We all are sitting in the same boat, do something to your environment or die!