Health Wanted: Death!

The Episode

In this episode of Health Wanted, host Laurel Bristow takes on the often-taboo topic of death and the difficult discussion of what to do with our own bodies when we go. And she interviews filmmakers Barry Koch and Jason Zamer about their documentary “A Butterfly Has Been Released,” exploring how a lifetime spent near death can create a more peaceful view of dying.

Listen to the episode now

The Listener Questions

Europe has recently banned some gel nail polishes. Why aren’t we banning them here? What is the risk if we keep using them?

Europe takes a hazard-based approach to safety. They have a framework in place where, if an ingredient in a cosmetic product is classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic (CMR) it’s automatically moved on to the prohibited substances list.

TPO is the short name for trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide, an ingredient in some gel nail polishes that works as a photoinitiator. That means that when the wet gel polish is put under a UV light, this substance causes a chemical reaction that makes the gel harden.

The ban on TPO in the EU happened because researchers fed large quantities of it to rats and found that it interfered with their fertility. There have been no studies that show the same effects happen in people. You are exposed to a significantly lower dose through nail polish, the compound only really exists when the polish is wet, and you can’t even really absorb any of it through the nailbed.

But still, because of the EU’s rules, it was automatically banned when it was moved to the CMR classification.

The U.S. takes a more risk-based approach, meaning we wait until there is evidence of harm before we remove a product. If you’re someone who is concerned about TPO exposure, there are gel options out there that don’t contain the chemical.

But if you get gel manicures, I hope you’re using sunscreen on your hands before you go. A small, but more real concern is what could happen from repeated exposure to UV light, which is known to contribute to skin cancer, or at the very least, skin aging.

Is it bad for you to try to hold in a sneeze? Will it make your eyeballs pop out?

Your eyeballs popping out if you sneeze with your eyes open is a myth. Sneezes do carry a lot of force, but when you stifle a sneeze that force takes the form of pressure in the capillaries in and around the eye.

So, you should not try to hold in a sneeze because you could burst blood vessels, causing bruising or red eyes. You also run the risk of damaging your ear drums or giving yourself an ear infection by holding in a sneeze, because the pressure can force mucus and air into your middle ear through the tubes which are connected to the back of the nose.

We sneeze because there is an irritant in our nose, and it wants to get out. I know it’s annoying to sneeze, particularly if you are in a quiet area or trying not to draw attention to yourself, but you have to let it out!

And it’s better to have a powerful sneeze and get it done in one. People who sneeze repeatedly are doing so because they have a weak sneeze that can’t clear that foreign matter out on the first try.

Catch all the listener questions and Laurel’s answers on the full episode of Health Wanted by:

• Streaming at wabe.org or the WABE app
• Subscribing on Apple or Spotify
• Watching on WABE's YouTube channel