"I was listening to Radio Five Live yesterday morning when I heard a most interesting discussion. The question was posed for the listener, 'What is the most expensive and dangerous substance in the world?'
Naturally, oneself thought of those precious elements such as gold, uranium,etc.The presenter's guest then told the listener that one cup of the white powder would be enough to wipe out every single person in the whole world! I know that by now, all you 'Brains of Britain' out there will be shouting the answer back at me and calling me all the elephant names under the sun like, 'Dumbo', but I am still finding it hard to get my head around.
The answer is, believe it or not, a commodity that so commonly used today by the fashion conscious and the vanity brigade. It is a protein and neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and is the most acutely toxic substance known to man. We British bricks know it as Botox.
Many women who try it once try it again and again without any worry about the potential risks to facial disfigurement. Once the beauty bug is caught, many even progress to cosmetic surgery under the knife or have all manner of foreign matter inserted inside parts of their body.
Getting back to Botox. Now, I don't know about you, but wouldn't one think that something so powerful that even the most experienced homeopathic chemist in the world would never be able to identify a safe amount for use, would be kept under strict lock and key of the world's greatest scientists?
Not so it would seem! Anyone can walk into any chemist on the high street any day of the week during their lunch break and and have the stuff injected into their facial brow and cheeks by the new temporary assistant Tracy, who recently hailed from the Job Centre, after having worked three years packing supermarket shelves in Tescos, and who incidentally couldn't read, let alone obtain a training certificate of competence if a £1,000 prize depended on it!
I often wonder about the balance of society's sanity today when I now live in a country where excellent jam makers can no longer present their goods to sell at The Women's Institute Charity Day and boisterous children cannot play conkers or games like leap frog in the playground any more because of 'Health and Safety' procedures. But allow dear little Tracy to create a world of Frankensteins and you won't hear one word of complaint or concern from our political lords. William Forde: October 27th, 2013.