by B. B. Hilsen
What is Green, a symbol of the Holiday Season, and makes you sneeze? The answer could very well be your Christmas Tree. Allergists have long suspected that live Christmas trees are the culprits behind some folks' runny, itchy noses during the holidays reports an article from the Orlando Sentinel written by Linda Shrieves. "I've been in practice for over 30 years and every year between Christmas and New Year's we have everybody come in with recurring sinus infections, states Connecticut allergy specialist Dr. John Santilli.Dr. Santilli placed a live Christmas tree inside an intern's apartment and took air samples for two weeks. (Santilli keeps his Christmas tree on a porch until Christmas Eve.) For the first three days, the mold counts inside the apartment hovered around 800 spores per cubic meter of air, compared with a normal range of 500 to 700 spores per cubic meter. But by day 14, the mold count had skyrocketed to 5,000 spores per cubic meter. "The longer you keep the tree up, the worse it gets," said Santilli, who presented his study at a recent national meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Dallas.
Determined to prove his point by the second week, the tree was putting out a bucket of spores. That's when it gets to be a problem, especially if you have asthma or are prone to sinus infections."Santilli says the dead tree begins decaying shortly after it's cut. Though most of us don't associate mold with Christmas trees, "Mother Nature's cleanup crew is the mold, he said. "The molds take over and start decaying it."Although the medical community has long known about "Christmas tree allergy," what causes the sneezing, runny noses and watery eyes has been open to debate: pollen or mold? It is theorized that as many as 7 percent of people with allergies also may be allergic to their Christmas trees.
This comes from Canadian researchers interviews with 1,657 patients in 1969.That team suspected the culprits were pollens that stuck to the Christmas tree and balsam resins. Santilli, thinks his new research proves that mold may be the biggest problem. A Minnesota based company markets an EPA approved GREEN Mold and Mildew preventer called Vital Oxide. Vital Oxide is completely odorless, and is water based. This is a perfect product to use to keep the mold problem at bay states Tom Heller, managing partner of WorldWide Oxide, the distributor of the EPA approved GREEN Vital Oxide. For more information visit then company website at www.worldwideoxide.com.
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