Insecticides and fungicides may be dangerous in different ways. That does not necessarly mean that one is less toxic than the other (in the long run). Some pesticide problems may not show up for many years and in a way unexpected such that that "route" was never tested for. The following recent research scientific paper is just one example of "the unexected/not tested". Title: Combined exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides impairs parturition, causes pup mortality and affects sexual differentiation in rats Authors: P. R. Jacobsen, S. Christiansen, J. Boberg, C. Nellemann and U. Hass Authors affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Søborg, Denmark Published in: International Journal of Andrology, volume 33, pages 434��"442, (2010). ABSTRACT: "Risk assessment is currently based on the no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) for single compounds. Humans are exposed to a mixture of chemicals and recent studies in our laboratory have shown that combined exposure to endocrine disrupters can cause adverse effects on male sexual development, even though the doses of the single compounds are below their individual NOAELs for anti-androgenic effects. Consequently, we have initiated a large project where the purpose is to study mixture effects of endocrine disrupting pesticides at low doses. In the initial range-finding mixture studies, rats were gavaged during gestation and lactation with five doses of a mixture of the fungicides procymidone, mancozeb, epoxyconazole, tebuconazole and prochloraz. The mixture ratio was chosen according to the doses of each individual pesticide that produced no observable effects on pregnancy length and pup survival in our laboratory and the dose levels used ranged from 25 to 100% of this mixture. All dose levels caused increased gestation length and dose levels above 25% caused impaired parturition leading to markedly decreased number of live born offspring and high pup perinatal mortality. The sexual differentiation of the pups was affected at 25% and higher as anogenital distance was affected in both male and female offspring at birth and the male offspring exhibited malformations of the genital tubercle, increased nipple retention, and decreased prostate and epididymis weights at pup day 13. The results show that doses of endocrine disrupting pesticides, which appear to induce no effects on gestation length, parturition and pup mortality when judged on their own, induced marked adverse effects on these endpoints in concert with other pesticides. In addition, the sexual differentiation of the offspring was affected. This as well as the predictability of the combination effects based on dose-additivity modelling will be studied further in a large dose-response study." -------------------------------------------- The first part of the INTRODUCTION SECTION of the full paper may be of interest: "Animal laboratory experiments have shown that in utero exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) including some pesticides can cause adverse effects on male reproductive development (Foster, 2006; Gray et al., 2006; Hass et al., 2007; Metzdorff et al., 2007; Christiansen et al., 2008). Individual pesticides alone have so far not been shown to contribute to adverse human effects at relevant exposure levels. However, some studies indicate increased prevalence of cryptorchidism and decreased penile length in sons of women working as gardeners or Many EDCs have been found as mixtures in humans (Blount et al., 2000; Swan et al., 2005), including children (Brock et al., 2002; Swan et al., 2005; Main et al., 2006). Damgaard et al. (2006) observed an association between congenital cryptorchidism and the levels of certain organochlorine pesticides in mothers’ milk (Damgaard et al., 2006). Earlier, Pierik et al. (2004) identified paternal exposures to pesticides and smoking as factors associated with these congenital malformations. These initial observations in epidemiological studies points in the same direction as laboratory experiments with oestrogenic or anti-androgenic chemicals in which substantial mixture effects occurred even though each individual chemical was present at low, ineffective doses (Rajapakse et al., 2002; Silva et al., 2002; Hass et al., 2007; Metzdorff et al., 2007; Christiansen et al., 2008, 2009). Some pesticides such as vinclozolin and procymidone antagonize competitively the androgen receptor (AR) binding of androgens and affect mainly the reproductive development in male offspring (Kelce et al., 1997; Ostby et al., 1999). Other pesticides such as mancozeb and propineb act mainly via disruption of the thyroid hormones and are mainly suspected to disrupt brain development (Hurley, 1998; Hass & Axelstad, Personal Communication). Our detailed research on prochloraz, combined with studies on other azole fungicides such as tebuconazole and epoxyconazole, indicates that these pesticides have the ability to react through several endocrine disrupting mechanisms, and to induce various endocrine disrupting effects (Vinggaard et al., 2005a,b; Taxvig et al., 2007). We have shown that prochloraz induced anti-androgenic effects in rats in vivo in a Hershberger test as well as in a developmental toxicity study (Vinggaard et al., 2002, 2005a). In addition, our studies show that prochloraz increases gestation length and indicate that prochloraz may also affect thyroid hormone levels and cause effects on the sexually dimorphic development of the brain (Vinggaard et al., 2002, 2005a). Both tebuconazole and epoxyconazole increase gestation length and pup mortality and furthermore, these pesticides virilise female pups, and affect steroid hormone levels in foetuses and ⁄ or dams (Taxvig et al., 2007)."

So my wife's friend calls me and tells me she is at my house. My wife is taking a quick nap in her dress because we have somewhere to go about an hour later. I picked her heels off the floor and hid them because I knew if someone came over the first thing she would do is look for heels to put on. So I sneak my wife's friend in the front door with her daughter. I am very tall but couldn't believe how tall they were with the heels they bought on. They must have been `12" because even at my height they seemed just a little shorter than me. They could barely walk in them. I go into my bedroom and tell my wife that someone was here to see her. She said "what, I didn't hear the door?" She got up and immediately said "where are my heels? I left them right there on the floor. Who is it at the door?" I told her someone from church I didn't recognize which she didn't think much about because she was always talking to people at church I didn't know. So she said "whatever, I don't want to keep them waiting" So she walks out of our room into the entry way and stands awestruck when she sees them. My poor wife was in shock as they walked up to her to hug her and her head had to tilt all the way up to see them. I thought it was so funny that she was just taller than them at church and now looked so tiny next to them. In her pantyhose feet she was towered over by her friend and her daughter. They teased her and patted her on the head calling her shorty. It was so funny.

I hate hats too and living in SD there are times in the winter when I need one but my head itches so bad I cant stand them. As for hair extensions, no I wouldnt. I would never spend that kind of money on it for one thing and it would drive me nuts when my head itches like it does all the time. I worked with a girl who had them. She was half white and half black. She spent a lot of money to have them put in. This was when she was in high school. Then she couldnt afford to have themmaintained so you could always see the little rubber band things in her hair and it really looked stupid. Now she is attending hairdresser college and she has them in again and I still dont like them.So NO not for me.

Nope, no professional nail treatments for me, either. Way back, when I was young, I often wore polish on my fingernails, and occasionally on my toes if I was wearing sandals. I've worn only athletic style shoes for almost 40 years now, so nothing but necessary clipping of toenails. And fingernails I trim as needed while watching TV. Have any of y'all tried a glass emery board? They are great for leaving a smooth edge on your nails, it's all I use now. When I was young (and slim) I always wanted long fingernails. I have no idea why, it was just sort of 'the thing to have', I guess. But no way my nails would grow, they chipped, split, broke, anything but grow long. Probably because I did so much with my hands. But now that I am older, and have no desire for long nails, they grow long, strong and fast! But I keep them just a tad longer than the tips of my fingers. Anything longer is just a nuisance! Rusty