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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1982)
Energy Hints A re your heating bills zoom ing out o f sight? The Energy Saving Center offers energy-saving tips to keep your costs under control. •A n easy way to save energy and money is to turn down your thermo stat. F or every degree you lower your thermostat below 70° you save 3 percent on your fuel bill. You and your family can still be warm if you Doctors study chemical illnesses • When people get sick they go to the d octo r, but if the illness is caused by an agricultural chemical the doctor rnay not im m ediately know how to handle the problem, and that's trouble for both the pa tient and the physician. '. According to Sheldon Wagner, physician at the Oregon State U ni versity Environmental Health Sci- * ces (. enter and A gricultural Ex periment Station researcher, when you consider the large number o f in secticides, herbicides and fungicides ip use in agriculture today, and the Urge number of people who are apt to come in contact with them, such a scenario is not only possible but likely to occur. Wagner, w ith the help o f OSU Ix te n s io n toxicologists Jim W itt, Fiank Dost and others, is working to get inform ation on these chemi- ixils to doctors by conducting a se nes o f seminars and meetings for medical personnel in several Oregon «ties. ; " I hcsc seminars are valuable for doctors because otherwise the mate rial on agricultural chemicals, espe cially those recently developed, isn't there to gel," said Wagner. ” lnfor- Ciiation on insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides isn't in medical jo u r nals. but rather in a wide variety o f Scientific journals that most doctors don't have tunc to read.” C om plicating the situ atio n , *q- Wording to host, is the fact that most doctors get little or no training in toxicology during their medical Schooling. " A t present, the public and the medical profession have only the news media as a readily available source o f information on agricultur al chemicals, but this information is insufficient and often superficial,” Wagner said. "W hen people are told by radio, newspapers or TV that if they come in contact with a certain chemical they will become ill, you have to ex pect that some will go ahead and gel sick,” said Wagner. As toxicologists, W itt, Dost and Wagner evaluate the effects agricul tural chemicals have on human health. “ The material we present to phy sicians on these chemicals is in fo r m ation gathered from published scientific sources and research done by the chemical companies, the En vironm ental P rotection Agency, other toxicologists and ourselves,” Witt said. Over the past two years agricul tural chemical workshops for medi cal personnel have been held in Portland, Salem, Pendleton, C o r vallis and M e d fo rd . Wagner ex plained that once the Oregon Medi cal Association agreed to sponsor the workshops, the physicians rec ognized them as necessary continu ing education sessions on an impor tant topic and began attending in large numbers. ” I hesc seminars and workshops arc unique among Extension educa tion programs because the Exten sion Service has neve( tried to reach the medical community with such a program u n til n o w ,” said W itt, 'These short courses bring together several disciplines including medi cine. chemistry, toxicology, physiol ogy and others that are essential in evaluating how agricultural chemi cals affect the human body.” In a d d itio n to the workshops, W itt, Dost and Wagner have also spoken to local medical societies in Oregon and other states, and have participated in public meetings with physicians concerned about use ol agricultural chemicals. Plans call for the workshops to continue on an as-needed basis. A one-day a g ric u ltu ra l chemicals workshop for emergency medical technicians is planned for Septem ber in Eugene. add an extra layer o f clothes. For example, by wearing a heavy long- sleeved sweater, you can turn your heat down about 4 degrees and still feel comfortable. •Cold air can get into your house in unsuspected ways. O nly a small amount seeps in around doors and windows. Most gets in under base boards, through w a ll ou tlets, behind the outlet and light switch. It will fill the gap and plug the leak. around exhaust fans, or through holes where pipes and telephone wires come through walls. You can caulk these holes or fill them with insulation. Foam rubber gaskets, called w in d jam m ers, can be in stalled behind electric outlets. Windjammers can be purchased at your local hardware dealer. T o in stall, turn o ff the electricity, remove the cover plate and place the gasket •Fireplaces lose most of their heat up the chimney. A roaring fire in an open fireplace can remove more heat from a room than it puts into the room. One way to stop this loss is to check your fireplace damper. A well-designed damper can be adjust ed according to the type o f fire. Re member to close the damper entirely when the fire has gone out. Glass fireplace enclosures also offer a sim ple way o f stopping fireplace heat loss. • A free energy aud it o f your home tells you where you are losing heat and how efficiently your fu r nace works, how much insulation you need and how to plug those heat leaks. Call the Energy Saving Center at 248-4636 for information on how to get a free energy audit and 4 Vi percent loans for weatherizing your home. <VUY FredMever 60 years . M ix Prices good W ed., Nov. 3 thru Tues.. Nov. 9, 1982 041226440027 Eacboftheseadvertised items must be readily available at or below the advertised price in ^ 5 ^ n ^ re ? T fe y e ^ to re ^ x c e p ^ io rris o rn ? ? r!3 "? 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