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
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