Topic: Chemicals in cut toilet rolls?

[fat larry]

My wife works in a school and they've been advised not to cut up toilet rolls cos of chemicals released? We were just about to cut some rolls in half to make starter pots but she has been told it by someone at school and someone out of school. I've searched toilet rolls chemicals here and on google but find nothing. Surely it';s just the same old chemicals manufacturers chuck in everything these days, no more or less dangerous...

[katynewbie]

>:(

Sheesh!! Now you tell me!!! Just when i have put the first Broad Beans in loo rolls!! lol

I didnt cut them tho, left them whole to let the roots go down and settle and so that i can plant them out without disturbing them.

I figure that the best i can do is the best i can do!! No chemicals anywhere else and if there is a tiny bit in the cardboard it will be dissipated by the time i eat my lovely beans!!

Fingers crossed!!

 ;D

[Tulipa]

I have worked in pre-school and school and have been told the same thing, that they must not be used.  I use newspaper pots instead for that reason and put the loo rolls in the recycling bin.

[kenkew]

For goodness sake, you breath in more chemicals than a loo roll contains. Stop over-reacting.

[CotswoldLass]

Having started all kinds of seedlings - from sweet peas to sweet corn - in loo rolls over the year, I'm with Kenkew on this one.........

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think there comes a point where health and safety degenerates into pure silliness. if there was anything noxious in the cardboard, does anyone think they'd be allowed to sell the product for bum-wiping? What if whatever it is got on the paper and someone suffered ill-effects?

[Melbourne12]

From what I understand from my wife, who is also a primary school teacher, the ban on loo rolls for DT, which came in a while ago, was because of the health hazard  ::) from people's hands as they changed the loo roll getting germs onto the tube, not from the chemicals in the cardboard.

Edit: If anyone is going to worry about this, they'd better wear a full biological protection suit on the average lottie!  ;D

[agapanthus]

Good God!!!!!!!! Will it never end?????????????????????

[agapanthus]

p.s. What about the chemicals in newspaper??

[Jesse]

Are you sure it's because of chemicals? Our schools won't allow toilet rolls but that's because of the hygiene thing, toilet rolls could have been touched with dirty hands. Never heard of a chemical problem and frankly it wouldn't worry me, there are much more important contaminants to worry about than loo rolls.

[grawrc]

Well since we plant the loo rolls in the soil, it can't be any more noxious than the horse and chicken manure the plants love....?? :-\

[Roy Bham UK]

This is what I used last spring with great success, I got the idea after seeing JRP’s website of recycling, what I like about this idea is that the water is capillary fed from the bottom via the inverted handle. I grew broad beans, runner beans and peas with these, three per pot. They neatly sit side by side too, oh and no chemicals to worry about either. ;D

[Mrs Ava]

Very nice Roy!
You read my mind about the newspaper agapanthus.
And if you are worried about germs on loo rolls, use kitchen roll instead?

[moonbells]

We used to collect loo roll middles for the holiday club at Church until a couple of years ago. The health and safety guidelines permit the use of kitchen rolls but not loo rolls because of the contamination. 

It's a fair comment - I once read that the aerosol created by the average loo flush will send droplets of... whatever... several feet.  If you aren't in the habit of dropping the loo seat cover before you flush, then you're effectively spraying the bathroom with dilute pee.  :o :o

If you keep your toothbrush within a few feet...  :-X

(You can test this - put a sheet of newspaper between the seat and the cover, flush and then hold the sheet up to the light. It will be damp... the demo works better with tissue paper and if you put ink in the water!)

Since I read this I have always really washed my toothbrush just in case!  :-\

moonbells

[grassroots]

p.s. What about the chemicals in newspaper??

  What about  the chemicals in the ink  ???

[Svea]

If you aren't in the habit of dropping the loo seat cover before you flush, then you're effectively spraying the bathroom with dilute pee. 

that's why we drop the loo seat in this house before flushing - oh, and it's really bad feng-shui to flush with the lid open as you are flushing your good luck away (it feng-shui is your sort of thing ;))

[Columbus]

Hi all,

The ban on using loo roll centres in schools has to do with the risk of contanimation from fecal material and everything that goes with that.
I think first concerns were raised in the Preschool Playgroups Association who work with smaller children and was taken up by schools later. There is also a ban on using polystyrene as it swells in the airways or stomach and doesn`t show up on x-rays if swallowed.
For grown up sensible people like us ... :D... or in our own homes we have to make our own decisions. I think occasional exposure to a bit of muck makes for a stronger immune system.

Col

[agapanthus]

For grown up sensible people like us ... :D... or in our own homes we have to make our own decisions. I think occasional exposure to a bit of muck makes for a stronger immune system.

Col
[/quote]

Totally agree with you Col.

[Travman]

For goodness sake, you breath in more chemicals than a loo roll contains. Stop over-reacting.

I think there comes a point where health and safety degenerates into pure silliness.

Good God!!!!!!!! Will it never end?????????????????????

Can you over-react to safety in schools ?
Can the safety of our children be  pure silliness?
Should safety end ?
I have got to say no, no and no.
We have all cut corners(even though wrongly) regarding our own safety and sometimes of our own children...But should someone else do the same to our own kids when there may be a risk?........ I think not.
They used to say asbestos was perfectly safe and stop over reacting, they even used gave us asbestos mats  in chemistry at schools !!!!!! before the hazards were understood and then rightly stopped.
was that a over reaction?
was that silliness to stop using it ?
should we end finding dangers to our kin?

It may be only a loo roll, but a risk is a risk
and NOBODY as the right to ignore a hazard to my kids knowingly.

That my rant over :)

PS. I have planted in our own loo rolls before with my kids.

[Columbus]

Hi all,

I don`t use loo rolls for seedlings I re-use plant pots that people would`ve put into land fill.

But I can`t find anything on chemical emissions from cardboard, toxic or otherwise, that are released through cutting paper with scissors. If anyone has evidence to support this idea can they please post it here.

Until then I will continue to believe that someone got confused about chemicals and and fecal deposits left on the card. We are all responsible for hygeine standards in our own lives and probably know nothing about practices in other peoples homes.  :o

It is right that children are protected from certain kinds of risks and I`m confident that school staff are doing their utmost to protect children, encourage good hygeine in schools and prevent the spread of stomach bugs etc. If anyone feels differently they should speak to the head of the school or a governor.

When I was a boy there was a card pinned on the loo door that had come with a bottle of domestos, it read:
" John and Mary thought they knew
much better than their mummies,
They ate their tea with hands not washed
Now both have painful tummies"

Its probably still there.

Col