Why Americans believe that fur coats are dangerous to health
'30.01.2019'
Source: Rambler
A fur coat is perhaps one of the most discussed items of clothing. Some dream of it, others condemn the first. But few people think that a fur coat can become a source of toxic poisoning, allergies and even parasites, because, having bought a fur coat, we hang in the closet not just a new thing, we broadcast dressed skin of a dead animal.
Despite the fact that the coat is seemingly made of natural material - animal fur, it can contain a number of toxic substances, writes Rambler.
American scientists from the University of Michigan decided to conduct a study of water bodies near the farms where they raised fur-bearing animals, and found in them an elevated content of phosphorus and nitrogen. Extrapolating the data to the entire territory of the country, they calculated that every year the environment receives a gift from animal farms in the form of 1 000 000 kilograms of various phosphorus compounds. Both nitrogen and phosphorus contribute to the overgrowth of water bodies, disturbance of ecosystems and destruction of fish. Information about this published on the English site The Human Society of the United States.
In addition to fur farms, the environment for polishing natural fur is polluted by the environment, because the skin of a killed animal must be blown out so that it does not rot, and the fur often needs to be dyed. In the manufacture of hides, highly toxic for humans substances: formaldehyde, alcohol, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric and acetic acid, resins, dioxins, heavy metals, oils and dyes based on cyanide, caustic soda, naphthalene and many others.
According to some reports, those who live close to tannery or work in them are five times more likely to suffer from leukemia.
Scientists from the Kiev Institute of Ecohygiene and Toxicology believe that chemicals cannot be completely removed when washing the fur. It still remains chrome, which causes irritation of the skin and mucous membranes, and cadmium, which is very toxic to children.
According to the stories of former workers at the fur dressing shop, manufacturers try to save on everything and often resort to tricks with the help of toxic chemicals: they smooth out insufficiently smooth skin by immersing it in baths with polymers, and use pentachlorophenol, which is prohibited in many countries, to protect it from rotting. This substance can poison rats, insects, and you can use it as a herbicide and fungicide.
In addition, natural fur can easily cause an allergic reaction: approximately 15% of allergic people in the world are allergic to precisely different types of fur. It is expressed in different ways: someone begins to cough, sneeze, may have an asthma attack; others have reddened and watery eyes, the mucous membrane of the nose swells, acne appears on the face, or irritation of the skin where it comes into contact with the fur.
Russian allergists indicate that most often there is an allergy to long fur, that is, first of all, black fur and red fox fur and polar fox fur, in addition there is an allergy to nutria fur and even rabbit fur. Kiev immunologist Oleg Nazaruk adds to this allergy to astrakhan, muton, mink, chinchilla. When the first symptoms appear, you should refuse to wear a fur coat and consult a doctor in order to undergo allergy tests and receive the necessary treatment. Allergists pay attention - if you have an allergy, for example, to rabbit fur, then it is better not to buy a fur coat from its fur.
But allergies and heavy metal poisoning are not all the grievances that products made from natural fur can bring. It turns out that fur is a paradise for parasites and harmful insects, which, unlike humans, quickly get used to toxins. In a fur coat made of natural fur, there may be eggs of a meatfly, which lays them there even before the skin is tanned. A skin beetle can live in fur: an adult insect reaches only 3 mm in length, and its eggs cannot be seen at all without a microscope; a grain skin-eater can settle in the fur, which will gladly switch to a fur coat from infected bread products.
In the fur coat can live moth larvae, and all species: wool, fur coat and furniture.
Finally, dust mites live in a fur coat, which, like all insects, get used to toxins; These microscopic creatures can cause not only allergies, but also bring the owner of a fur coat to asthma.
When fur coats from lynx, wolf, squirrel or, say, a bear come in for sale, it should be understood that the beast was wild and was hunted. Therefore, the probability that the fur coat was made in an artisanal manner increases dramatically, and at the same time health risks increase. At least in the fur of a wild animal, fleas or ticks will continue to be found, and in much more severe cases, the skin of an animal may contain pathogenic bacteria, which, with reduced immunity, the owners of such fur coats can provoke various infectious diseases in it.
Old-fashioned methods for processing skins do not involve the use of formaldehyde and polymers, and if you are not to be afraid of allergies to this chemistry in such cases, then getting some infection is not so difficult. Cases when the killed animals infected with rabies, still remove the skins for further use, abound.
Before you pay money for an expensive fur product, you should carefully examine it, touch it and even smell it. High-quality processing of the skin provides for a strong pile, which, after squeezing in a fist, will not leave a single pile on the palm. If after treatment the chemicals were poorly removed from the skin, then around it there will be a persistent and unpleasant aroma. All formaldehydes have a pungent, odor-like odor for plastic, and other compounds resemble acetic acid fumes. An industrial-treated pelt does not have a frankly chemical smell and, in contrast to the artisanal method, it does not crunch when soft to the touch and when squeezed. And in order not to risk your health, you should not buy a fur coat made from the fur of a wild animal.
