Glow in the dark baby

Hey! I had a post all lined up but didn't finish it so here we are...I was feeling a bit of a sellout last week.  I had the good fortune of attending a huge conference where, among other things, a big local pharmaceutical company was promoting its work. Come visit the booth and see our shtick and get free museum passes.

I do love free things. It's a diehard habit of growing up in a family that leaned heavily in the have-not direction. Anyway, I did what I was told and went to the booth and listened to the nice promo girl tell me all about the new alcoholic blend beverage this company was making using its very own pigments. Here, shake the bottle and watch the pixie dust swirl around.

Wait, what?

I hit the brakes hard. Pigments? Yes, pigments. Made by our chemicals division. In a beverage. That you drink.

I proceeded to ask what seemed to be the only obvious follow-up questions. What IS this metallic sparkly stuff, and how do I know it's safe? What else do these pigments go into?

I wasn't surprised by the very corporate answer I got in return. It's all tested, in our labs. The pigments go into a lot of things, like nail polish and car paint and all sorts of stuff.

By now I'm backing away slowly, looking around to see if anyone else has noticed how wack this whole thing is. Like, COMPLETELY WACK. This is a pharmaceutical company, serving the life sciences industry, that has as one of its missions to treat infertility. Seriously,  opposite this display of toxic glittery winestuff was a photo display about the 'beauty of pregnancy' that every woman deserves to experience. How's that for a co-winky-dink?

I got my free museum passes and hightailed it out of there. And I'm still a little in shock. I mean, it's like the left hand is creating the very problem the right hand is out to solve.

Money talks in this world. That's the only clear point in a scenario where a life-sciences company is putting out products containing very probably toxic ingredients.

I know it's the holidays, but please, whatever you drink this season, DON'T DRINK THE GLITTER.

Yours,
Jazzy