Hidden Dangers !

Have you ever wondered why your face feels so fresh when you wash it each morning ?  Or why toothpaste is so efficient at clearing away the gunk that seems to coat your teeth overnight ?  Despite both soap and toothpaste feeling incredibly slippery they contain tiny abrasive micro-beads and until recently these have been a form of plastic.

Unfortunately, that is not good for either the planet,or us humans that live on it.  The residue from a face wash or a tooth clean goes down the plug hole and eventually finds its way into the worlds oceans via the sewers, and from there is ingested by sea creatures that enter the human food chain.

The scientists discovered that these micro-beads tend to adhere to tissue in the human body and be attacked by our natural defence mechanisms, resulting in scar tissue. As a result, about eighty percent of soap and toothpaste manufacturers have discontinued using this form of exfoliate.  That includes giants such as Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Coles, Woolworths and Aldi.

Plastic has been replaced with natural substances such as silica, pumice, clays, rice powder and fruit kernels.  Now there are new warnings from the science community.  It seems that replacing plastic with natural material has changed nothing in regard to these substances entering the human food chain, and becoming a health hazard.

Now the race is on to develop some sort of substance that will have exfoliate qualities but which will quickly degenerate during the sewer treatment process and become harmless when it reaches the oceans.   This seems to be a problem exacerbated by city living.   The waste water in country towns usually was dissipated back into the soil and never found its way to an ocean.  Unfortunately, not a practical solution for city life.

Another note from the scientists that will make mobile phone users ponder.   There has been a lot of conjecture as to whether radio frequency radiation is harmful to the users health.  Those who are constant users have the habit of holding a mobile phone in close proximity to their brain and exposing it to what may be a hazard.

The US National Technology people conducted an interesting experiment involving rats and mice.  This was a two year experiment in  which each rodent was bathed in the radiation for ten minutes a time, followed by a ten minute break for  nine hours each day.

Interestingly, the mice showed no indication of health problems but radiation  exposure produced a different result with the rats.  Both male and female rats were more likely to experience cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes damage to heart tissue.  In addition, male rats exposed to high levels of radiation  had an increased incidence of malignant tumours in the tissue that covers nerves to the heart.  Strikingly, the rats exposed to radiation lived longer than the unexposed rats used as a control measure.

Make of that what you will.  There was no indication of radio frequency exposure causing brain cancer - which had been a worry to many people - but different outcomes between mice and rats is hard to explain.   The size difference seems to infer that children may be less harmed than adults by the frequent use of mobile phones.

The message seems to be unclear.  Perhaps the wise will insist on brevity in mobile phone use - and deliver a bonus to all others who happen to be within audible distance !