I've been working with Representative Dan Burke (D-Chicago) on a bill to ban the use of lindane (a toxic pesticide that can kill you) for use in lice or scabies treatments. Although a few dozen countries have banned the toxic chemical, we still let people put it on their kids' scalps in this nation. And, by the way, it poisons the water at something like 6 million gallons per regular use flushed down the drain. Drink up! To lindane!
The bill is HB 1362. It's here. I heard today the Medical Society will come out against the bill because a few doctors say that it is the only thing that works for some patients. Well, DDT would probably work as another pesticide to kill lice, but that's not such a smart idea. Neither is lindane (in my view). Check out www.ilga.gov to see what happens, and check out www.lindane.org for details on this nasty little chemical.
3 comments:
MDS - So state your position. Are you for or against lindane use on lice?
For that matter state your position on DDT. While you imply you'd be for lifting the ban, you are cowardly in your approach.
Malaria is responsible for the devastation caused by Malaria throughout Africa, not DDT. DDT causes its own devastation, just as lindane causes its effects on the environment in which we live.a
Solving problems piecemeal and on the cheap is a waste of money and effort. So you save a person from dying by Malaria, only to die of malnutrition or war or dysentary. It's development that communities in Africa need, and not of the phoney World Bank/IMF sort either.
I don't agree and I think you are putting words in my mouth.
That said, see further comment on your blog.
When it comes to head lice, none of the products are 100% effective and getting lice and eggs removed is required to win no matter what.
Given this as the bottom line, the use of lindane or what's poised to replace it (malathion, yikes!)is hardly in anybody's best interest beyond pharmaceutical profits.
Lots of superfund sites where lindane has been manufactured, it pollutes the water, and FDA has a black box on it. Shampooing with chlorinated hydrocarbons where your brain sits is a bad idea all the way around and I mean all the way around.
Hey mom. Let me write you a prescription for lindane in acetone. It's listed as a probable carcinogen and known neurotoxic chemical. Use it on your family?!?!
What doesn't get absorbed and stored ad infinitum by your fatty tissue will go down the drain, pollute the water and be right back at you for showering or to drink when you turn on the faucet in the kitchen.
And to think all ya ever really needed was a quality lice comb.
Good docs don't prescribe prescribe pesticides for people with head lice. SAY NO TO LINDANE!!
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