Poison

[Millymollymandy]

I very probably don't know what I'm talking about but wasn't flouride (?) put into the drinking water decades ago in order to help combat tooth decay?

I really should google before I mention things like that but I'm sure I read/heard about that somewhere recently.

I think also I am one of those people who have a bad reaction to bleach/chlorine as I just cannot bear the smell which seems to stick up my nose for hours, and when I was little I had a seriously bad allergy which baffled the doctors and apparently I was very sick indeed. In the end it was put down to swimming in a chorinated swimming pool and not having washed it out of my very long hair. Mum says she washed my hair (somehow!) whilst I was extremely sick and hey presto I got better very quickly afterwards. I haven't had a reaction to swimming pools since but I really, really can't bear the smell of them and haven't been in a public pool in decades.

[MKG]

For goodness sake!!

The amount of chlorine used in supermarket produce is minimal. It really is! It's absolutely harmless unless you have a particular sensitivity, and it's difficult to envisage a world which caters specifically for minority sensitivities.

Having said that, I choose not to buy anything which has been chlorine treated. I grow my own or buy stuff which has not undergone such treatment. This is not rocket science, but I think I wouldn't panic overmuch if I discovered that, by accident, I had actually ingested treated produce. Think about your root crop store - untouched by any such chemical. How sure are you that after, say, three months, there has been no adulteration? I couldn't possibly be sure about that, and nor could anyone else. Make your decision at that point - are you going to eat regardless and take a chance, or are you going to take advantage of a simple disinfection routine?

I'm firmly in the eat it and see category - but being there puts me well and truly in the high risk area. Let's not beat about the bush - moaning about disinfection whilst at the same time insisting upon misguided cleanliness is hypocritical in the extreme. You want natural - take it and accept all it entails. You want scrupulous cleanliness - the supermarkets provide it in spades.

As you can see, I'm not in the best of moods tonight.

Mike

[Green Aura]

Someone finished off your home brew again, Mike

[oldjerry]

Or perhaps you didn't wash your veg thoroughly.


Seriously, and a bit boringly,I agree with all that. As my old Granny Mabel was wont to say..'Eat a peck of dirt before you die'.........................(mind you she spent most of her life in an asylum).

[MKG]

Yes - it was a bit of a rant, wasn't it? Apologies, folks

Mike

[cocobelle]

A certain amount of dirt, I'm sure, strengthens the immune system. Don't really like the idea of using chlorine to wash the veg but if it suits one persons needs....however I would rather make the choice myself of whether or not I want to wash my food in chlorine rather than have a manufacterer or shop do it for me. That way I am given a choice.

[StripyPixieSocks]

A weak bleach solution is used by alot of brewers . breweries to disinfect their equipment... we certainly did from time to time and I'm still here to tell the tale *twitches* :D

[gregorach]

isnt the Milton/similar sterilising solution for babies bottles chlorine based?

if its safe for babies bottles, cant hurt on the veg!

As the toxicologists always say, the dose makes the poison.

for 15 years in late 60's onwards I lived in perhaps the only place in the UK (Anglesey) where the mains water was flouridised.Many people think flourine (is that vastly different from chlorine? Dunno) is linked to immune deficiency probs

Fluorides are not fluorine, in much the same way that chlorides (eg sodium chloride, aka table salt) are not chlorine.