Word: lice
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Pollack doesn’t even have leave his office to find specimen to study. Dozens of head lice evaluation request forms flow into his office daily. Worried locals download the form from the school’s website and tape on samples of what they think might be head lice for analysis. But less than half actually are—the vast majority of samples are debris, dandruff and insect appendages mistaken for the tiny parasite...
...forms also show that people have tried everything from olive oil to $1,200 treatments to no avail. Pollack believes that the real danger of head lice rests in people’s hysterical responses. Lice are actually innocuous, according to Pollack, and extensive use of insecticide treatments may actually cause greater harm to children...
...Lice evolved with us and depend on us,” Pollack says. “Too bad we can’t claim them as dependants on our IRS tax forms...
Pollack is also currently involved in legal matters and policy issues regarding head lice. According to him, 100 Massachusetts children will be out of school on any given day because of lice. Pollack attributes this to the public’s “inflamed sensibilities” about the issue. And he says that school nurses and volunteers aren’t legally empowered or properly trained to recognize lice and send children home...
Pollack has also encountered conflicts of interest with the National Pediculosis Foundation’s (NPA) “no knit” policy which advocates sending children home from school if lice infestation persists...