Thanks for the washing the hands tip. One can't be too careful.
I forgot to add to that very good suggestion - something I had to learn the hard way - being highly allergic to many things carried in the air, and having lungs that cannot clean themselves of inhaled irritants like very tiny sawdust particles, I have to be very hygienic after exposures - the missing link to avoiding reactions was to vacuum or rinse my hair in the sink, on top of immediately throwing the work clothing into the washing machine - if covered with stuff, remove your clothing outdoors if you can, put it in a plastic bag, and carry it to the laundry room - else you risk contaminating the carpets and walls with particulates as you walk inside the house to disrobe.
Lastly, be extremely careful when cleaning the dryer lint filter after you've washed the contaminated clothes - that lint will contain the toxins - you need to wear a mask/respirator, bag the lint, and throw it out - don't use a vacuum cleaner even if it has two-stage HEPA filtering - you'll get exposed again when changing/cleaning the filters. Learned that the hard way too - kept having allergic reactions while cleaning the lint trap after being exposed to pollen, bacteria, fungi, or mold - the living critters in particular are a serious allergy for me - the water in your washing machine does not get anywhere near hot enough to kill those things, detergent does not kill anything at all, just makes it easier for dirt to come off, so the bugs end up in your lint trap. They also cross-contaminate other clothes in the washer, so always wash dirty clothing separately. And if you or your kid's clothes get fecal matter on them (hey, mistakes happen), or you get dog shit on you, seriously consider throwing them out instead of washing them - you'll coat the inside of the washer with bacteria, contaminating future loads (haha!) unless you sterilize the washer with those enzymatic cleaning tablets first. Of course you can add bleach to whites to kill bugs, but can't use bleach on colored clothes, and color bleach substitutes don't contain chemicals that kill bacteria etc.
Oh, one final tip - even with your protective gear, you should always take a couple capsules of Activated Charcoal after being exposed to lead, mercury, and heavy metal - it will safely bind to the metals and excrete them from the body - it's what hospitals frequently use to save patients from overdoses of certain drugs. Same thing goes if you have amalgam fillings worked on - that can cause mercury poisoning (did happen to me) - need to take charcoal before and after the dental work - if you have any amalgam fillings, best to get rid of them - they slowly poison you over time, and if your body has detox problems (like me), it can't excrete the stuff fast enough (if at all), so it gets stored in tissues, especially the brain - NOT GOOD.
The Thought Police: To censor and protect. Craig Bruce
