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Cancer

23 posts
  1. Jennings Dustin T
    Jennings Dustin T avatar
    10/8/2014 1:10 PM
    Had a golfer today randomly come up and talk to me about cancer risks in the workplace. Obviously any outdoor job runs the risk of skin cancer. He claims (from an unknown source) that the #1 job in America for cancer risk (all types) is a grounds superintendent. I have never heard such claims, but he said he used to be a horticulturalist and said that he's had bouts with cancer himself. I cannot find any research to back his claims but it's caused me to be a little curious.

    As long as I am safe with pesticide applications and apply sunscreen everyday I should be cancer free at least from factors associated with my career. Right?



  2. James Schmid
    James Schmid avatar
    1 posts
    10/8/2014 2:10 PM
    Nobody knows what the long term risks for modern pesticides are. Many of the molecules have only been in existence for a decade or two, so it is impossible to know the long term effects on human health.

    "safe" pesticide application is a relative term. You can work "more safely" with them by reducing risks, but there is no such thing as completely "safe" use of pesticides.

    You will be at higher risk of skin cancer than those who work in office buildings. Sunscreen will reduce that risk over not using it, but your risk will still be higher than those who dwell indoors.

    Or at least thats what I figure



  3. Andy Jorgensen
    Andy Jorgensen avatar
    1 posts
    10/8/2014 4:10 PM
    Best method is use sunscreen and get checked at least once per year. I personally go to the dermatologist quarterly. Every time I go, they cut something off of me. It costs me about $30 each visit and in my eyes in money well spent. My dermatologist told me I have everything going against me, I'm 36, blonde hair and blue eyes and I work outdoors. She has said the best move I have ever made was getting checked. So far I've only had a few close calls, but glad it was caught early on enough for me to continue doing what I love.

    If not for the cancer risk, what about the damage the sun is doing to your skin.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/06/bill-mcelligott-sun-damage_n_1573546.html



  4. Zachary Wignall
    Zachary Wignall avatar
    1 posts
    10/8/2014 4:10 PM
    .



  5. Ronald Conard
    Ronald Conard avatar
    4 posts
    10/9/2014 8:10 AM
    Zachary Wignall said: I will not bore you all with all the statistics of skin cancer and the list of dangerous chemicals in out sunscreens. But my wife will. My wife has developed an organic sunscreen that comes without all the BS (chemicals) that works great. It is coming with the option of infusing with or without natural bug repellents. It will be debuting at the Carolina Golf Show or visit http://www.organicbronzingstation.com to learn more the sunscreen, other natural organic products, and her story. FB, Twitter, and Instagram as well. Thanks.


    A serious subject and we get spammed....



  6. Sandy Clark
    Sandy Clark avatar
    0 posts
    10/9/2014 9:10 AM
    I am fair skin due to Scottish ancestory and have had more than my share of basal cells cut off. Had something on top of my head in June and my skin doctor wasn't available so had a younger female doctor take care of freezing the thing off. she thought I would be a good candidate for using this cream since my face has had sun damage going back to my daily surfing days. Put the cream on 4 spots, rubbed it in as told and the first week was fine. Second week it started to work. I looked like Freddie Krueger and was in agony for the next week and a half. Skin is now really great by my standards. It was pretty much a chemical peel. Saw my regular doctor last week and of course he took off a basal cell between my shoulders and uglied up my arms and hands but he said he would never have used the cream on my entire face all at once. His method would have been to do sections during the winter months. Moral of my story is yes, get checked at constant intervals but for goodness sakes, ask more questions than I did! Other doctor did not clearly explain how thoroughly this would work. Attacks all the damaged areas and for most of us in the business, that is our entire face, even with sunscreen. Painful to the max , especially daily putting on sunscreen because I still had to spend part of my time in the field but it was successful. Pesticides, who really knows. We have crap in our houses and under our sinks equally as bad or worse. As stated earlier, time will tell.



  7. Christopher Thuer
    Christopher Thuer avatar
    101 posts
    10/9/2014 4:10 PM
    Had an employee corner me once asking if what I was spraying was going to give him cancer.....as he was taking a drag on a cigarette. Not unlike the others who are concerned about the noise level of the machines they operate....after arriving to work with their car stereos so loud we can hear them coming from a mile away with their windows rolled up.

    Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN

  8. Zachary Wignall
    Zachary Wignall avatar
    1 posts
    10/9/2014 8:10 PM
    you got served not spammed Richard



  9. Larry Allan
    Larry Allan avatar
    0 posts
    10/10/2014 8:10 AM
    Zachary Wignall said: I will not bore you all with all the statistics of skin cancer and the list of dangerous chemicals in out sunscreens. But my wife will. My wife has developed an organic sunscreen that comes without all the BS (chemicals) that works great. It is coming with the option of infusing with or without natural bug repellents. It will be debuting at the Carolina Golf Show or visit http://www.organicbronzingstation.com to learn more the sunscreen, other natural organic products, and her story. FB, Twitter, and Instagram as well. Thanks.

    The dose is the poison. Natural vs synthetic has little to do with it. Ricin comes from Castor Beans, Heroin from pretty flowers, Chlorthalonil from a lab.
    Organic to my way of thinking convinces the stupid something is safe because it's natural. Drink too much water and you will die...too much salt and you will die. Both very natural...Both deadly in the right dose. LD50 is really the only method to test acute toxicity Tylenol has a much lower LD50 than any of the pesticides we use by a long shot.

    PS....is it just me or do the lower case "w"s appear to be washed out looking on the monitor?



  10. Ronald Conard
    Ronald Conard avatar
    4 posts
    10/10/2014 8:10 AM
    Zachary Wignall said: you got served not spammed Richard


    Come on now Richard, were you really trying to help a brother out or were you trying to make a buck for your wife?



  11. James Schmid
    James Schmid avatar
    1 posts
    10/10/2014 9:10 AM
    Larry Allan said:
    PS....is it just me or do the lower case "w"s appear to be washed out looking on the monitor?



    I think the sunscreen is beginning to effect your vision



  12. Zachary Wignall
    Zachary Wignall avatar
    1 posts
    10/10/2014 9:10 AM
    Your right Richard and others. I am sorry it is came across as spam. It is a very serious subject that I was not that knowledgable about until my wife had started her co. a year ago.



  13. Andy Jorgensen
    Andy Jorgensen avatar
    1 posts
    10/13/2014 11:10 AM
    My sisters sells sunscreen and sunscreen accessories (http://www.skinshark.com). Has nothing to do with her father or brother having multiple skin biopsies. More so, she just wants to make a buck.



  14. Gary Carls
    Gary Carls avatar
    20 posts
    10/13/2014 12:10 PM
    Dustin,

    Like others have mentioned, I get checked by my dermatologist every 6 months and they usually freeze a few pre-cancer spots off each time. Only place I had to get actual skin cancer removed was at the back of my head where it was in the hairline and covered by a hat most of the time I was outside. A pretty good incision that needed 12 stitches to close. While being safe now is great my dermatologist says much of this can often go back to sun exposure even as young kids. Everyone in this business should spend the money to get checked.

    Gary K. Carls, CGCS, President - Oakland Turfgrass Education Initiative

  15. Jennings Dustin T
    Jennings Dustin T avatar
    10/13/2014 2:10 PM
    Gary Carls, CGCS said: Dustin,

    Like others have mentioned, I get checked by my dermatologist every 6 months and they usually freeze a few pre-cancer spots off each time. Only place I had to get actual skin cancer removed was at the back of my head where it was in the hairline and covered by a hat most of the time I was outside. A pretty good incision that needed 12 stitches to close. While being safe now is great my dermatologist says much of this can often go back to sun exposure even as young kids. Everyone in this business should spend the money to get checked.


    thanks for the info. I apply sunscreen very generously almost everyday. I think i'll look into getting a regular check-up. My main concern though has always been pesticide use. I hear of guys spraying all the time with little to no PPE. ie. spraying with shorts and short sleeves on, no mask, etc. I almost always wear a mask and goggles at the very least.



  16. Sean Hoolehan
    Sean Hoolehan avatar
    0 posts
    10/14/2014 11:10 AM
    Your likelihood of coming down with a cancer is most likely genetic not environment. If you have the genes that are more susceptible to cancer and you live with increased risks like smoking, sun exposure, diet, etc.. you increase your chances greatly. One of the great things about the ACA (Obamacare) is that you can not be excluded due to preexisting conditions including genetic screening, and it won't be long before this is much cheaper. If you have a family history of cancer you should be [u">more [/u">cautious. If you do not have a family history, you should still be cautious because living healthy has more impacts on our life than just cancer. Our genes are why some people smoke, drink and eat junk food and still live to a ripe old age and why some of the most healthy people we know sometimes get cancer and do not survive. It's why some people respond to treatment and some do not. Science has only begun to crack the genetic codes that affect our health, but they do have a lot of information on our probability of coming down with cancer, but who really wants to know.



  17. Larry Allan
    Larry Allan avatar
    0 posts
    10/14/2014 11:10 AM
    ! would bath in Daconil and spray naked, if it were not so offensive to the membership



  18. Clay Putnam
    Clay Putnam avatar
    33 posts
    10/14/2014 12:10 PM
    Larry Allan said: ! would bath in Daconil and spray naked, if it were not so offensive to the membership


    Lar, no offense, but that's a strange urge my friend.



  19. Clay Putnam
    Clay Putnam avatar
    33 posts
    10/14/2014 12:10 PM
    Just got back from the dermatologist's office. Have a healthy divot in my forehead from yet another biopsy sample sent to the lab.

    I visit the dermatologist multiple times a year and I can't recall the last time I walked out without a stitch or wound of some sort from a scalpel, liquid nitrogen, or the "Blue Light" special therapy. Let this be a lesson to the youngsters out there to lather up in sun screen. I have been told the symptoms of today are a result of 20-30 years ago. I can live the rest of my days in a cave and I will still generate more skin cancer. Wish I knew then what I know now.



  20. Wahlin Scott B
    Wahlin Scott B avatar
    10/14/2014 2:10 PM
    I provided my crews with sunscreen and used it myself. I bought it in one gallon containers with a hand pump. I went through about 1.5 gallons per year in South Florida.



  21. Zachary Wignall
    Zachary Wignall avatar
    1 posts
    10/14/2014 2:10 PM
    Take special caution in reading what's on your sunscreen label as you know it will be absorbed into your skin and blood. oxybenzone, methoxycinnamate, and PABA are the most common and are are linked to cancer. Sunscreens may be approved by FDA but have not been regulated since 1978. If you were unaware of this you have other choices to choose from.



  22. Clay Putnam
    Clay Putnam avatar
    33 posts
    10/14/2014 5:10 PM
    Zachary Wignall said: Take special caution in reading what's on your sunscreen label as you know it will be absorbed into your skin and blood. oxybenzone, methoxycinnamate, and PABA are the most common and are are linked to cancer. Sunscreens may be approved by FDA but have not been regulated since 1978. If you were unaware of this you have other choices to choose from.


    I use mud.



  23. Zachary Wignall
    Zachary Wignall avatar
    1 posts
    10/14/2014 6:10 PM
    Great



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