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...
>:(
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
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.
For goodness sake, you breath in more chemicals than a loo roll contains. Stop over-reacting.
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.........
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?
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
Good God!!!!!!!! Will it never end?????????????????????
p.s. What about the chemicals in newspaper??
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.
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....?? :-\
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
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8772/milkpot13im.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/215/milkpot27fn.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6504/milkpot39yw.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1259/milkpot45me.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/167/rootcap32te.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/1740/milkpot55qc.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
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?
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
Quote from: agapanthus on February 03, 2006, 19:19:14
p.s. What about the chemicals in newspaper??
What about the chemicals in the ink ???
Quote from: moonbells on February 03, 2006, 22:48:04
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 ;))
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
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.
Quote from: kenkew on February 03, 2006, 18:18:24
For goodness sake, you breath in more chemicals than a loo roll contains. Stop over-reacting.
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 03, 2006, 18:57:33
I think there comes a point where health and safety degenerates into pure silliness.
Quote from: agapanthus on February 03, 2006, 19:18:06
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.
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
Quote from: Columbus on February 04, 2006, 15:46:03
They ate their tea with hands not washed
Now both have painful tummies"
Col
I was about to say: does nobody wash their hands any more? I think I must wash mine at least 30 times a day amd mostly when I'm at school working with kids.
The ******* (fill your own word in) political correct / health & safety lobby have so much to answer for. Every kid of my era grew up making things from loo rolls - including trumpets or "dorty-dorts". All that is now denied them - and for what? They are now so germ-free that when something serious strikes, the body has no natural resistance - built up in the past by playing in "dirty place". Kids no longer have that inbuilt sense of self preservation, because they are no longer allowed to do things where they might "hurt themselves", or somebody will find someone else to sue.
When I was young, I broke pretty well every bone in my body except my neck - and I learned from it. I owe my mental & physical development to a brilliant Senior Scout Master. who fostered a sense of achievement and adventure to the point where I believe that I became of some use to the society that I lived in. Nowdays, he would not be let near kids in case one got a few bruises.
God help us now, if we should ever again need "The Few". They would be found to be now non-existant.
JeremyB
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
But you could argue that the human life expectency is rising every year and the child death rate is falling....... Could this be due to not be exposed to hazards ,toxins and poisons that kids were exposed to in the past :)
So the idea of people being germ-free with no natural Resistance is not necessarily correct..
On the loo roll issue....
could it be that the bleach content in the recycled tube is higher then it should be?
mix this with other products such as PVA glue or certain paints and there may be a hazard.........
And i am no health and safety/political correctness nut...
my kids will be still be digging in the allotment upto their neck in manure, planting out the loo roll beans ;D
Quote
PS. I have planted in our own loo rolls before with my kids.
;D Tee hee Travman ;D can you grow kids in them too? ;D Anyway according to the media there are more germs on your chopping board than on your toilet seat ::) As a kid have you never shared an ice cream with a snotty nosed mate :P ;D never did us any harm :D
Buy some pots you cheapskates
(Yeah! But then we have to buy all those dangerous chemicals to clean 'em.)
All this rubbish about germs....for goodness sake, if anyone's bothered about growing seeds in spent bog rolls then stop licking envelopes!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Hate to have to tell you folks but ....
It has been well documented, in certain, recent, ground-breaking research papers, that there is a type of latent fungus in cardboard toilet roll 'middles'.
The effect on the environment from disposing of the 'middles' in landfill sites etc. appears to be minimal but recycling them can have consequences - especially if the recycling is related to the production of food-stuffs.
The latent fungus has been named as 'Andrexymous Kytensorft' - a creeping organism that can be identified by its colour: Usually 'Peach', 'Baltic Blue' or 'Pure & Simply White' (depending on the colour of the tiles in your bathroom)
Other evidence that your middles have been infected include:
1. A small labrador puppy running into your greenhouse and stealing your seedlings - leaving a trail of compost behind it.
2. A fluffy kitten appearing on your bathroom windowsill and tempting you to use it instead of toilet paper.
BRING BACK IZAL ... THAT'S WHAT I SAY!
Keep safe people 8)
Thank you Trixiebelle,
Thank you thats the evidence we`ve been waiting for.
I`m glad to be around such well-educated, grown-up, sensible people.
Your over-whelming weight of evidence and detailed statistical data is irrifutable.
Thank you for your research now that the risks have been quantified by such an highly-qualified source I can doze easily in my potting shed.
Pass the soap, Col :D
Don't get me started on soap ......
Go on get started on soap, go on do it, you know you want to....
COL: I will NOT be drawn into your obvious ploy to incite 'Soapist Hatred'.
I spit on your Dove Bar and poke fun @ your Coal Tar.
Call me soapist if you will. I've been called worse. Someone once called me on a MOBILE PHONE!!!!!!!!
How many germs were on that handset I'll never know.
Dettol ... the answer to global warming and a grubby ring.
Ring tone ... sorry, missed a word out :)
Trixiebelle,
It seems to me that the research budget for your soap project is somewhat less than that for the more child-centered investigation of toilet roll middles (see how I cleverly avoided the repeated use of the word centre).
To be frank your soap project is bubbling away and you seem to be frothing at the mouth. Your arguements do not flow and you have lost your audience. (I have no idea what you are rambling on about). My best advice is to focus on your specialist area and not to water down your efforts as they will inevitably go down the drain.
Col, Any spitting and the lab rats will wash your mouth out (with soap and water) :D
COLUMBUS! "To be frank ..."
You're not Frank are you????
No I`m Col, short guy, blue jumper <<<< over there
So what is the average lifespan of a gardener then?
It sounds a very dangerous hobby and life threatening situations at every turn.
I thought it was all about nature, fresh air and healthy living. Not goggles, breathing apparatus and a full isolation unit to plant seeds in. :)
OK. I'm convinced. No more growing in loo rolls. From now on I'll do the sensible biodegradable thing and eat 'em.
I've spent ages collecting loo rolls and persuading others to save them for me, I'll be damned if I'm going to not use them because little kids in Primary schools contaminate theirs!!! Also I'm too poor to be infected by Andrexymous Kytensorft, I buy the cheap stuff.
;D Well I'm not using them, not because of the germs but because I saw no better growth from using them than just sowing in pots, I planted some peas beans and leeks last year using both methods and there was no difference. 8)
I've used them since some clever person invented these free seed growers. I'll continue to use them. ( I've also been around over 1/2 a century longer than any primary school child!)
i've saved 4, just 2 to go and i'll plant 3 trial sweet peas (doing the double long push and pinch trick), whether i die in the attempt or no !
:P
I don't think you lot are taking this seriously ;D
I got 26 uncut rolls in a seed tray y esterday - I'm too scared to cut em in half. Should see some results by June.