Flea abatement chemical ruins woman’s health

Here’s a heartbreaking story about a woman in Scotland who called the housing authority to help with a flea infestation, and after her home was sprayed, she had such a severe reaction that she ended up in the hospital. She now suffers lingering health problems and financial uncertainty.

“Environmental Health came round and sprayed my home on Friday, August 1. That day I started to feel a bit strange. I felt worse the next day, and thought ‘there’s something not quite right here’ and then felt worse again the following day when I realised that something had to be done. I knew something was definitely amiss.”

She had developed various worrying symptoms, including numbness below her left knee, meaning she had problems walking, a numb neck making it difficult to lift her head and she was short of breath.

“I also had tunnel vision on my right eye and was having blinding headaches - it was terrible. I contacted the NHS who told me to take a paracetamol, but I was then rushed into hospital where I spent three days.

“When I was away from my home environment I’d started to feel better, but when I went home I felt worse again, and when I had friends round they would feel ill as soon as they came in.”

Not only has her health suffered, Jane says, but she has been hit hard financially. “I have had to take the cat to the vet several times which is not cheap, and have had to boil wash my clothes which has ruined some of them.

“I have also had to get rid of antique bed linen and remove my own furniture from the property, and I filled half a skip. I’ve also had to buy protective clothing with breathing masks.

“I am about £1000 out of pocket in expenses, and as I work from home I have lost a lot of business.”

She estimates that she has lost 400 hours of work - totalling around £7000 in capital terms - and feels that professionally she may never recover.

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OMG, SCENTED LAPTOPS!

You know, it’s hard to surprise me about crazy ass things done with synthetic fragrance, but this threw me for a loop. A laptop manufacturer is saturating laptops in fragrance to “create a more intimate feeling with our laptops.” Are you kidding me?! (I can’t stop laughing, sorry.) Can you imagine what this would do to a canary? Good gawd, I have to wait a few weeks for new electronic equipment to outgas enough for me to use it without getting sick; I’d probably roll over in a coma if I was exposed to a SCENTED LAPTOP. Gads, the whole idea just kills me. What will they think of next?

On Tuesday, Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Asus unwrapped four laptops imbued with scents aimed at evoking a mood or attitude. From the glossy black version, “Musky Black,” comes a waft of cologne. “Floral Blossom,” a pink machine, has a tropical, flowery scent. Then there’s the invigorating “Aqua Ocean,” packaged in a peppy blue laptop. And yes, there’s “Morning Dew,” a green machine with a clean, grassy aura.

Really.

I have no home page category for this post! Guess I’ll put it under Humor.

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