My experience in online purchase

I purchased some electronic items and books online on a few occasions in the last 4-5 years. Till date my experience was good. However, recently I booked a tablet at a website as it was the lowest price compared to other sites. Some reviews in the site showed satisfied customers. However, I did not get the item in the committed 21 days period. 

Meanwhile, I came to know about several complaints on this online shopping site in several complaint forums. I contacted the customer care and they promptly registered and sent a mail and then I got a mail from business executive saying that the product is much in demand and they need another 7-8 business days for delivery. I contacted once again after a week and this time my mail to a contact mail ID resulted in automated reply to file complaint through their website, in which I did not register while ordering the tablet. After some attempts with customer care, finally I got the item. 

The above experience taught me a lesson to search for complaints on the site which we want to use in internet, so that we can take an informed decision.

There is a website www.akosha.com in which one can file their complaint against the companies. Depending upon the work, they do for free or charge some amount. The representatives will try to resolve the issue and if not possible at the end, they help the aggrieved to file complaint in local consumer forum.

Ergonomic hazards for dentists

Sometime back, I visited a dentist for tooth extraction and root canal treatment (RCT). Recently, my spouse too had dental care for which I accompanied her. I found that dentists have to stand for 30-45 minutes for 3-4 teeth extraction and if it is tough tooth, more time is required. Further, due to limitations like access, illumination and view, dentists struggle to hold the tooth and extract or give RCT. The patient will be bearing the pain. But, at the same time dentist too suffers as he has to take various postures to do his work. It is my opinion that dentists will suffer back, neck, wrist and palm related problems over a period of time, if they do not limit their work hours and do not take gaps between their consultations/dental work. However, dentists appear to be very busy with their appointment diary full. Some yoga or similar exercises also will help in maintaining a good health to dentists.

Some of the hazards to dentists and patients during their work are,

• touching different patients sometimes with bare hands
• splashing of water droplets on them
• poor ventilation
• need to answer calls from mobiles with fingers that have touched already the patient, leading to spread of bacteria
• use of common items like vaseline, cotton, bottles, etc which will be used for other patients also

Liposuction - precautions to be taken

It is reported in a local daily that a person died due to infection spread in the body after injury to intestines during liposuction in which about 12 kg fat was removed instead of below 6 kg. 

Generally, liposuction process is used for removal of fat at one place and if body mass index, BMI is more than 32.5. Otherwise, one has to go for bariatric surgery. 90% of persons gain their weight in two years after the liposuction.

The risks in liposuction can be read here.http://ehealthmd.com/content/liposuction-what-are-risks

Information about bariatric surgery can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bariatric_surgery

What Confuses Everybody About Universal Wastes? Lamps

What Confuses Everybody About Universal Wastes? Lamps

Questions exist in minds of persons about how to handle mercury/fluorescent lamps as they contain some amount of mercury, which is highly toxic and is hazardous. Instructions are not available from the manufacturers to address the issue. Can we dump it as municipal waste or treat it as hazardous waste is a question needs to be answered. In view of lack of guidelines, managements often question the cost of treating and land filling these lamps as hazardous waste. The above link gives some guidelines in this regard. It is stated that as per Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), if the mercury concentration is less than 0.2 mg/lit, it can be treated as municipal waste. As per EPA observation, most of the mercury lamps fail the test.

Popcorn lung affected person awarded US $7.2 million

A person was awarded US $ 7.2 million having been affected with popcorn lung problem i.e  a form of obstructive lung disease that makes it difficult for air to flow out of the lungs and is irreversible, due to the inhalation of artificial butter flavor chemical (diacetyl) in the microwave popcorn, which he ate daily.  It is reported that he ate two bags daily for 10 years. He claimed that there are no warning labels on the popcorn bags about the dangers. Though the manufacturing company and super market that sold popcorn argued that the person got the problem from chemicals he used for years in his profession as a carpet cleaner, jurors agreed to the compensation claims made by the affected person.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57516710-10391704/colorado-man-wayne-watson-wins-$7-million-in-popcorn-lung-lawsuit/ 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Colorado-man-wins-7-2m-in-damages-for-popcorn-lung/articleshow/16483617.cms

It is reported that major manufacturers of popcorn stopped using diacetyl and are using 2,3-pentanedione which is also found to be a respiratory hazard. 

http://www.livescience.com/23360-microwave-popcorn-lung.html

The symptoms of popcorn lung disease include, scarring and hardening of lung tissue, dry cought, shortness of breath, night sweats, fever, skin peeling. 

Information on flavor related lung disease can be found from NIOSH website here. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flavorings/

Statement from former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, India - Nuclear power is safe

Please read the link http://in.news.yahoo.com/nuclear-power-safe-air-travel-kakodkar-093819120.html. Different people see differently of various options for electric power generation. People oppose setting up of mines, power generation plants, let it be hydel, coal, gas, nuclear based plants. They say it is better to go for solar/wind/geothermal/tidal power. But, any small increase increase in the unit price will draw huge protests. But, at the same time, everybody wants cheap electricity for their homes and to energize their power operated equipment. Nobody wants to use simple methods which our parents and their parents used and also no attempt is made to reduce wastage of power.
Imagine what will happen to human beings after 50-100 years when all fossil fuels are exhausted. What amount of hazardous waste will be generated in the form of batteries that are required for storing the power generated from solar/wind based plants.
When people are requested to stop power for one hour to observe 'earth hour', hardly anybody switches off power, because we can't live without power even for one hour. If power plants trip or shutdown and power disruption occurs, hundreds will call offices of local power distribution companies immediately to know about power restoration. This is the state of affairs.
A balanced view has to be taken and go for options in which benefits far outweigh the risks. Talking from air conditioned rooms without considering the sufferings of common man will not help. Today, contribution from nuclear  power may be less, but when all other resources are exhausted and then going for nuclear or any other source is definitely not a viable option. The way we manage our limited income and try to build retirement corpus, we have to manage by using power from all sources and also get ready for future.

Reasons for injuries

Four states of mind are responsible for 90% of injuries at home and work place.  The four states are rushing, frustration, fatigue and complacency. The errors they lead to are failure to keep eyes on task, failure to keep mind on task, moving into or being in the line of fire and somehow losing balance, traction or grip.

Read the full article here.