Burning warning re scented candles

We’re printing this twice-told tale to serve as a burning warning for everyone. The story goes that somebody lighted a scented candle in an air-conditioned room. As you’ll probably swear, a scented candle’s oh-so-soothing scent is like a balm to work-weary muscles and frazzled nerves at the end of a long, hard day. But sad to say, this person died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Because of the lack of oxygen in the room, the burning of the candle could not fully oxidize, thus forming dangerous carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide prevents oxygen exchange in the lungs, causing the victim to doze off to a state of unconsciousness. Eventually, the victim dies in less than an hour.

* * * Watch out for bagteria

Watch your bag; it could be harboring bacteria – or should we say bagteria. A health team went to the mall, randomly stopped 50 women, and took samples from the bottoms of their bags. The team swabbed the entire lengths of the bags’ bottoms with cotton swabs and placed these swabs in special containers. And here’s what the swab team found: Nearly 1/4 of the handbags tested showed evidence of E. coli growth. (Note: This does not mean that the rest of the bags were clean or germ-free. They still could have carried traces of microbes [like hepatitis], which might may escaped the microscopic eye of the swab team.) While most of its strains are harmless, there’s one Escherichia coli strain – O157:H7 – that produces a powerful toxin that causes severe illness in humans. E. coli enters the body when it contaminates the food we eat; through hand-to-mouth contact with people who have handled items laden with bacteria; or through swimming in microbe-infested waters.

Such contamination may end up in severe bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, with the victim getting well in five to 10 days without treatment. However, in some two to seven percent of infections, usually involving children under five years old and the elderly, the pathogen causes hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening condition where the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys malfunction.

So, what do we do to guard against bagteria?

A microbiologist who examined the samples taken from the 50 handbags prescribes that women wash the outside of their bags (or backpacks, briefcases, totes, carryalls) at least once a day with soap and water to help remove any bacteria lurking in the shadows. If your bag can’t take any washing, scrub its outside with a soaped-up facecloth or a disinfectant wipe to get rid of those nasty germs – considering the fact that we often just carelessly put our bags on the floors of public restrooms, at our feet in restaurants, the soiled floors of the car, etc. Be careful where you sit your bag. Do not put your bag on the table where you will eat or on a kitchen counter. Do not put your bag on a wet or damp surface as bacteria/viruses thrive in wet environments.

And as Mom or our grade school teacher used to solicitously nag us, "Wash your hands – especially before and after eating, and after using the toilet."

The gruesome fact is some people don’t bother to wash their hands after using the toilet. Then, too, even if we take the bother to wash our hands after using the public toilet (say in a mall or restaurant), we touch the germ-infested doorknob on our way out. Solution: Use the paper towel you wiped your hands with to open the door and then dispose of it in the nearest waste bin (never, never put it in your bag). A hand sanitizer always comes in handy, too!

Hopefully, getting rid of this bagteria is, uh, in the bag!

* * * For ‘greener’ computers

A green computer? Computer giant Dell has pledged to eliminate key hazardous chemicals from its personal computers (PCs), laptops, and other products in its ongoing campaign to green the electronics industry. This announcement comes in the wake of an international survey, released recently by Greenpeace, that reveals that consumers, including those in the Philippines, are prepared to pay more for "greener" computers and that companies must be held liable for their products when they become hazardous waste.

Dell posted this announcement on its website, where it said it was committing to phase out the use of two key groups of chemicals known to be hazardous to the environment: all types of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and the plastic polyvinyl chlorine (PVC) by 2009.

Says Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace Southeast Asia toxics campaigner based in the Philippines, "Dell’s decision to remove these harmful chemicals reflects a move within the electronics industry in the right direction to become cleaner and it is clearly the direction that consumers want. Consumers not only want greener PCs – they are also willing to pay extra for them (in the Philippines, 62 percent are willing to pay an average of $118 more). They are also demanding that the computer manufacturers live up to their responsibilities and ensure that when their products reach the end of their lives, they do not become hazardous waste which contaminates the environment."

According to Greenpeace, because of the lack of proper measures for e-waste disposal in the Philippines, discarded electronics are incinerated, dumped in landfills, or end up with backyard recyclers, exposing workers, poor communities, and the environment to poisonous heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and halogenated substances such as BFRs and PVCs.

Hewlett Packard, LGE, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Sony Ericsson have made a commitment to eliminate the use of some hazardous chemicals from their products in the near future. Acer, Apple, Fujitsu-Siemens, IBM, Lenovo, Panasonic, Siemens, and Toshiba have so far not made any commitment.

For more information, call Beau Baconguis at 0917-8036077 or Lea Guerera at 0916-3744969.

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