Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

[AlaskaDenise]

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/77739.html

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=480 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=artByline>DAVID BELCHER</TD><TD class=artDate align=right>January 01 2007</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

We present you with a radical idea. Then you tell us whether it's a winner or a lost cause

My plea for an immediate end to Britain's number-one public health outrage, committed daily in Scotland by thousands, is best highlighted by reminding you of an infamous London journey - immortalised in verse - that was once undertaken by an elderly man from that Indian region known as the queen of the Himalayas.

For, as an unknown poet has written: "There was an old man from Darjeeling/Who got on a bus bound for Ealing/A sign on the door/Said 'Don't spit on the floor'/ So he carefully spat on the ceiling."

That ancient limerick might serve only to provoke a snigger, but the amount of spitting that blights every public arena - highways, by-ways and all forms of transport - is no joke. It could even kill you. Because it's a disgustingly sad fact of everyday life that you can expect expectoration at its most noxious wherever you go.

From bustling city centres to sedate suburban avenues; in country lanes and on railway station concourses: whichever public thoroughfares you traverse, it seems impossible to avoid those germ-dispensing enemies of the common good who proudly, loudly hawk up phlegm from the depths of their lungs and then ostentatiously spit the contagion out.

In 2006, Britain's streets are paved not with gold but with the disgusting silvery-green of the sidewalk oyster. Primarily practised with energy and expertise by the young, spitting has become a super-cool cross between mating ritual and declaration of self (I am foul and witless, therefore I spit). Heck, it's almost a national sport - and none of us should bet against some vote-grabbing quarter-wit of a politician proposing spitting as a Team GB freestyle speciality for London's 2012 Olympics.

It is no coincidence, health experts agree, that the deadly condition tuberculosis, primarily a disease of the lungs, is on the increase. TB has been on the rise since the 1980s, mostly in Africa where it is horribly paired with HIV/Aids, but also in Britain, a country from which it was almost eradicated by a major post-war health initiative. With a deadly global avian flu epidemic apparently lurking just round the corner, can you think of a better time for the lethal hail of spittle to be halted?

As winter draws deeper and chillier, it's certainly time, too, for a change of bronchio-nasal practice among public-transport passengers. For as anyone who travels by bus will be all too aware, winter is characterised by over-amplified mucoid misery and sickening supersonic snottering as folk with colds that run like rivers indulge in non-stop sniffing, hacking, retching, coughing and choking. And all because too many people are ignorant of a socially responsible art which sounds funny but is gravely serious: nose-blowing.

It is thus essential that we revive an apparently terminal victim of changing fashion. Supported by compulsory seminars on discreet nasal clearance and the overnight re-installation of signs on buses saying Do Not Spit Anywhere, we must bring back the handkerchief.

We should also revive a nationwide public health campaign featuring the health slogan to beat all health slogans: "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases - trap them in your handkerchief."

.

[chicken little]

Re: Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

"trap them in your handkerchief" my foot! Handkerchiefs are revolting..they are a snot-trap and need to be laundered..yuk. Use a tissue please and toss it in a bin.

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief...

"Use of handkerchief instead of facial tissue paper is often seen as old-fashioned and, especially in North America, unhygienic. On the other hand, some see it as a more environment-conscious choice. In Japan and Sri Lanka, carrying or using a handkerchief is considered to be well-educated."
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[Jonesie]

Re: Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

Beijing clamps down on spitting
By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Beijing



With the Beijing Olympics now only two years away, the authorities have launched a campaign against one of the city's least pleasant habits: spitting.
The local government says it is part of a campaign to raise the ethical and cultural standards of the city ahead of the 2008 Games.

Foreign visitors to Beijing are often astonished by its citizens' capacity for expelling mucus.

Spitting is not just confined to the open air.

The floors of shops and restaurants are often peppered with phlegm.

But Beijingers are now being told they must abandon this cherished tradition.

The Beijing Capital Ethics Development Office has declared spitting the city's number one bad habit.

Special bags

Police have been ordered out on to the streets to track down offenders. Closed circuit television cameras will be used to catch them in the act.

"This year we will intensify our law enforcement efforts in this field," Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing's Capital Ethics Development Office, told a news conference.

"We will require law enforcement officials to step up the frequency of fines."

For those who simply cannot kick the habit, there is an alternative. Hundreds of uniformed "mucus monitors" will patrol the streets handing out free spitting bags.

"You have to spit into a tissue or a bag, then place it in a dustbin to complete the process," Ms Zhang said.

She said that there would also be a renewed crackdown against the city's second biggest headache - littering.


Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4762436.stm

Published: 2006/03/01 11:54:31 GMT

? BBC MMVII

[Jonesie]

Re: Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

China's war on spitting
By Holly Williams
BBC, Beijing


China's government has come in for some harsh criticism over its handling of the Sars crisis - for its slow reaction to the outbreak, and its cover up of the real spread of the disease.
Many people hope that the scandal will encourage the government to change and become more open.


But in Beijing, authorities fighting Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) have said that it is not the government that needs to change, but people's personal habits.
Despite Officer He's blue uniform with silver epaulets, he is not a policeman or even a security guard. As a member of Beijing's anti-spitting team, he is on the look-out for offenders.

"If we catch people spitting we fine them 50 Yuan and make them clean it up," he said.

The fine is about $6 - more than half a week's income for many people here.


I once caught 19 people spitting in one day. But since the new fines came in I've caught hardly any
Officer He, Beijing anti-spitting team

The amount has just been boosted ten-fold because the government became worried that spitting could be a means of spreading Sars.

The weighty fines could be why Officer He does not seem to be catching anyone.

"I once caught 19 people spitting in one day. But since the new fines came in I've caught hardly any," he said.

But just to make sure, the squad has also started an education campaign. They set up a desk on a busy shopping street, handing out leaflets, as well as tissues and plastic bags.

"We teach people to spit into tissue, then put it in the plastic bag and throw it in the bin. It's good for the environment," Officer Jia explained.

With all that plastic, that's questionable.

But China's anti-spitting campaign is not just about cleaning up the streets and fighting Sars, it is about image.


If I had a nice job in a luxury hotel, I wouldn't spit in public, I'd go to the toilet. But for ordinary people like us there isn't anywhere convenient to spit. We don't even have bathrooms
Beijing resident, Mr Wang

The squad's leader, officer Zhang, said: "Spitting isn't acceptable in an international city like Beijing. We're standing in Wangfujing street, China's equivalent of the Champs Elysees in Paris. These bad habits will give people the wrong impression."

And well-heeled shoppers seemed to agree.

One expensively dressed woman said the government should have started the campaign years ago.

"It's mainly peasants and migrant labourers who spit," she said, "and we need to educate them.


But not everyone feels the same way. The noise of spitting is ubiquitous in Beijing's backstreets.

Mr Wang, a laid-off factory worker and die-hard spitter, said the new fines were unreasonable, not to mention discriminatory.

"If I had a nice job in a luxury hotel, I wouldn't spit in public, I'd go to the toilet. But for ordinary people like us there isn't anywhere convenient to spit. We don't even have bathrooms," he said.

But that is not going to cut it with the anti-spitting team. They will be out again tomorrow, keeping Beijing's streets saliva free.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/2949650.stm

Published: 2003/05/30 11:02:22 GMT

? BBC MMVII

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Stop being so disgusting, and start using a handkerchief

What I take from this article is that there are clearly cultural factors to disease tranmission & that they need to be changed.

What are they?

Spitting, unprotected couging & sneezing, handshaking, removing footwear before entering homes, frequent handwashing, consumption of raw meat, etc.

Perhaps, if people were more conscious of the importance of these practices, changing habits would go faster.

.