TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES.

Who’d of thought eating a pizza, flossing your teeth and going for a run could be so harmful to your health. You may feel that eating pizza isn't exactly healthy, but it’s not the eating of the pizza that’s the problem. It’s the chemical sprayed on the pizza box to prevent the base from sticking, to make it easier for you to remove. The same non-stick chemical is used in dental floss and on your sports shirt to provide stain and water repellent properties. All to make our lives a little bit easier. DuPont’s marketing slogan; ‘Better things for better living … Through chemistry.’

But how many of us would be willing to embrace this modern world of convenience if the truth about the chemicals being used were provided to us?

The chemical industry, complicit brands, law makers and regulators have all conspired to expose us all too hazardous chemicals. Why? There’s just so much money to be made from convenience and cover-up. It’s a billion dollar industry with million dollar fines, if you get caught.

Consumers need to wake up and smell the roses. Start to question the functional convenience of our products, ascertain the chemicals used and their classifications to determine whether it’s worth the risk.

It’s taken 40 years for this non stick cancer causing chemical to be phased out. A chemical that is toxic to humans and which takes decades, if not hundreds of years to break down and with each exposure accumulates in our blood. Some how unsticking a pizza and wearing a slightly damp sport shirt doesn't seem such an inconvenience.
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THE BEST BALL

Does this lovely graphic from Mygolfspy prove what Golf Refugees have known all along that black golf balls are the best?
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A HEALTHY SPORT SHIRT

Proposed research project to design a healthy sport shirt.

A healthy sport shirt designed for the people who make it, the people who wear it and for the environment we all live in.

Healthy sport shirt must be biodegradable.

Drastic reduction in the number of hazardous chemicals used compared with today’s sport shirts. Which contain over 30 toxic chemicals from carcinogens and hormone disruptors.

Combinations of chemicals used in the final product to be tested and the results published.

Healthy sport shirt labels to contain information on pay / conditions and a list of chemical ingredients including their classifications.

Are you in?
#healthysportshirt
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ECO FRIENDLY GOLF COURSES

The Rise of Eco-Friendly Golf Courses by GolfOnline.
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MICROFIBRES

No Product is impactless, but science should be the guide in choices to create the most benign and safe production practices to reduce emissions of synthetic (polyester/nylon) microfibres to a sustainable trajectory.

Clothing manufacturers currently have no incentive to address environmental concerns because clothing fibres, based on current pollution laws, as hazardous materials are scaled on the same level of food scraps.

The future of our environment does not bode well because the current professionals in the clothing industry have no scientific training or basic qualifications to address these concerns. Their emphasis is on marketing, which is fine for the business model of the industry, but is dangerous given the malignant affects their lack of oversight is having on the environment. Based on a study conducted in 2011, 60-85% of human-made non-biodegradable material found on shorelines consists of microfibres from synthetic clothing. The clothing industry’s refusal to deal with the problem is a major impediment in research and tangible solutions

These fibres are increasing in frequency in our environments, infiltrating the food chains of aquatic life, even making it into the seafood that people eat.

Mark Anthony Browne
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PFC'S AGAIN

Once produced fluorochemicals (PFC’s) stay on the planet for a very, very long time. Widespread contamination of water, food, and soils; distributed globally by air and water circulation. Current understanding of human health effects developed for only PFOS & PFOA. Human health effects linked to exposure: kidney, prostate, ovarian, and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, delayed puberty, decreased fertility (women) and early menopause, reduced testosterone levels, reduced immune response in children and elevated cholesterol.

Changing to other forms such as shorter chained C6 and C4 may appear as a quick fix for the marketplace but there is no data to show they are safer.

Do we really need them for performance enhancement for example as water / stain repellent in apparel? Have they been worth the risk to human and environment health for brands to use them? Were consumers duped? Ask your favourite brands if they are still using PFC's what alternatives they plan to use.
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DO NOT WASH

Please do not wash your 'plastic' polyester sportswear. Here's why?

A study at VU University Amsterdam in 2012 estimated that laundry wastewater is sending around two billion synthetic microfibres (polyester / nylon) per second into Europe’s waters.
Of course, wool and cotton clothing sheds fibres, too, but these materials are biodegradable. .Plastics synthetic fibres from polyester apparel contain potentially harmful additives and can absorb toxins, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that they encounter floating in waterways—and then get ingested by small organisms, crustaceans, and fish. These particles can accumulate in the animals’ guts and tissues, potentially weakening immunity or disrupting their endocrine systems. 

New research shows that microfibres are even more abundant in our lakes and rivers than microbeads from shampoo and body wash, which have been banned in seven US states. 

Leading sportswear and outdoor brands are largely ignoring this significant environmental problem with their clothing products. However, progress is taking place in Europe, where a new research consortium called Mermaids, funded by the European Commission and promoted by the Netherlands’ Plastic Soup Foundation, is dedicated to reducing microfibre shedding by 70 percent. They are working to develop a process that can trace a polyester or nylon thread back to its point of origin by identifying the fingerprint left behind by manufacturing dyes and chemicals. The plastics in medical implants go through a battery of certifications before they’re used in human bodies. Why shouldn't consumer plastics undergo equally rigorous trials to determine their impact on aquatic ecosystems?
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WORLD'S FASTEST RACKET SPORT

Badminton - The World's fastest racket sport. You cannot be serious.
shirt by Golf Refugees pic. Alistair Casey - International player / coach.
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GOLF AND BADMINTON

Sport England participation data; once a week age 16+

Golf

Oct 13-Oct 14              730,300
Apr 14-Mar 15             727,700

Badminton

Oct 13-Oct 14              490,200
Apr 14-Mar 15             449,900

These latest figures from Sport England represent a decrease of 2,600 for Golf and 40,300 for badminton.
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INBEE PARK 7 UP

Congratulations to Inbee Park for winning the 2015 British Women's Open with a fantastic final round of 65. Even with an individualistic back-swing, it just goes to show you don't need to have text-book-swing to win seven majors.

Great to see top ten finishes for Melissa Reid and Amy Boulden from England and Wales.

Would be interesting to learn the attendance figures over the four days. To help grow the game, especially women's golf. Do the LGU need a rethink on playing links courses which are difficult to get too and away from major urban populations?
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