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| Books can kill!!! |
| 07.06.04 (10:30 am) [edit] |
Just received this article and i thought i'd share with you. Humble apologies if you've seen it all before.
St. Petersburg Times
If books could kill . . .
MARGO HAMOND
Published July 5, 2004
We are worrying about the wrong things, says Laura Lee in
100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday Life and What You Can
Do About Them. The most dangerous threats are right under
our noses.
Candles. Screwdrivers. Teddy bears. Books.
Books?
Here's Lee's warning.
-- MARGO HAMMOND, Times Book Editor
Books are an often overlooked hazard, sending more people to
the emergency rooms than many common sports. In case you
were looking for an excuse to put down that copy of
Tolstoy's War and Peace, here it is: in the United Kingdom
more people are hurt by books (2,707 a year) than by
training weights (1,884), trampolines (1,902) or cricket
balls and bats (1,174). Lest you think only British books
are hazardous, you should know that 10,683 U.S. citizens
lose their battles with what the National Electronic Injury
Surveillance System categorizes as "books, magazines, albums
or scrapbooks" in an average year, and another 1,490 are
clobbered by magazine racks or bookends. What are so many
people doing wrong?
"From working with books for many years," said Karen Miller
of the American Library Association, "I could offer up
things like broken toes when books fall, losing one's
balance when reaching for books and repetitive stress from
shelving them. Magazines could also be dangerous if the
staples are loose and scrape the skin."
The heft of books is a special problem. Back injuries from
moving overloaded boxes of books are common. Heavy
schoolbags also are a concern.
In 2003, a Hong Kong schoolboy was killed when his heavy
book bag pulled him over the railing of his high-rise
apartment. . . .
Second-hand book use can also be hazardous to your health.
Researchers in Bogota, Colombia, tested the book dust in
twelve libraries and ran skin tests on fifty-seven
librarians. About 12 percent of the librarians had allergic
reactions to the book dust, but the doctors found no
evidence of common allergens. This led researchers to
conclude that new respiratory allergens may be lurking and
evolving in the stacks.
Book exposure may even get you high. Mycologist (fungus
doctor) Dr. R.J. Hay, of Guy's Hospital in London, reported
to a British medical journal, the Lancet, that various fungi
that feed on the pages of old books could be a source of
hallucinogenic spores.
"The source of inspiration for many great literary figures
may have been nothing more than a quick sniff of the bouquet
of moldy books," wrote Hay.
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posted by: ratmagick (reply)
post date: 07.06.04 (10:41 am)
arrrghhh i dont wanna die!!!
posted by: mabraven (reply)
post date: 07.06.04 (10:45 am)
Reply to: ratmagick
I don't either!! Time to get out the bubblewrap suit and face mask!
posted by: librarianguish (reply)
post date: 07.08.04 (2:09 pm)
No - just think of reading as an extreme activity! We are the literary daredevils, braving dust and hallucinogins (!) and staple scrapes every time we read! suddenly the bookworm becomes oh so cool!
posted by: mabraven (reply)
post date: 07.09.04 (2:15 am)
Reply to: librarianguish
Reading as an extreme activity? I like that - hey, surely that means we are entitled to sponsorship deals and freebies and stuff!
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