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I picked up this brochure tonight, just out of curiosity on what it had to say on controlling fleas, etc., without using toxic pesticides (as I have a little dog), and I found this curious info which I quote: "A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT CHEMICAL FLEA CONTROLS: The modern chemical flea collar has its origin in nerve-gas chemical warfare, finding its efffectiveness in permanent nerve damage. Your pet will breath and absorb those chemicals into its body fluids until the skin tissues reek of the deadly agent, thereby paralyzing the feeding and transport mechanisms of the skin parasites. Beware the following substances which are currently used in chemical flea collars. PIPERONYL BUTOXIDE: This chemical is an incredible synergist that enhances the efforts of pyrethrum, but unfortunately, upon exposure, suppresses the enzymatic detoxification processes in the human and pet liver. PIPERONYL BUTOXIDE MAY INCREASE YOUR SUSCEPTIBILITY TO A WIDE RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS. (ed., my emphasis there -- but it merely supports my theory that genetic susceptibility may not be something merely on our, the victims', side - but may itself also be being caused by our toxic environment. Note that this substance may inhibit liver enzymes, as a lack of crucial enzymes is currently being studied as one reason for a person's susceptibility, as it would allow build-up of toxins to dangerous levels. And again, there may be no one exact 'cause' but rather a synergistic effect of many substances, which leads to the possibility of there being as many causes as there are potential victims - makes it tough to fight tho'.). DDVP - DIMETHYL DICHLOROVINYL PHOSPHATE: This ingredient is a spin-off of nerve-gas warfare research and is found in many plastic flea collars. Its action is that of a nerve gas and permanently paralyzes the insect's nerves. Poisonings of animals have been reported as a result of wearing these collars. CARBAMATE, CARBARYL, SEVIN: Carbamates (ed., a group of pesticides on which I've previously posted other info regarding its toxic effects), like other nerve paralyzing chemicals, jam and overload the nerve messages causing convulsions, mental confusion, nausea, heart and respiratory depression. *********** Doesn't it seem like we're surrounded by an increasingly complex and scary world, which we've in large part created ourselves? We can't even comprehend all the possible interactions not only between these chemicals, but many others, including drugs, as in the example I brought up previously regarding the pill and organophophate pesticides. The info I posted before contained a reference which seemed to imply that the pill could also add to one's susceptibility to this pesticide by contributing to liver function (enzyme/plasma?) suppression. Scary stuff I think! That's why I think some of the research to date on toxins and pd have given varied results. I doubt it's a one to one correspondence between a particular pesticide and pd for most people, but rather it's more the synergistic and cumulative effects of alot of different types of exposures. And as a final point, whether I may be the original source of my susceptibility to these toxins via the genes or lack thereof with which I was born, or that other toxins have in fact themselves triggered my susceptibility and opened the door for the others to wreak havoc, I still don't accept the fact that my "susceptibility" might in turn let our abuse of the environment off the hook. If I'm susceptible to an increasingly artifical and toxic world, I DON'T THINK I'VE GOT THE PROBLEM, no matter the real reason for my susceptibility. The problem may be that we've outdistanced the ability of our physical/genetic make-up to keep pace. Technology is running the race either on steroids or bionic legs, and poor ol' evolution's running on two normal human legs and can't keep up! Oh no Mr. Bill! Wendy Tebay