Monday, 3 June 2013

The Mothball Attack!

I went to the market on Friday to stock up on chicken and fish. After placing the raw food in the car, I smelt something funny the moment I went in the car. It smelt like MOTHBALLS! But then again, why would my chicken and fish smell of mothballs? The chickens were slaughtered on the spot. The fish were fresh from the port and I certainly did not smell any moth balls while I was selecting my fish.

Upon reaching home, I immediately smelt all the food and discovered that the smell was coming from the plastic bags!!!!!!!!!!!!

I poured everything out and discovered that they had no mothballs smell.

And I discovered that the new reel of plastic bag which I asked chicken lady to get for me was soaked in mothballs smell! It was placed outside of the house IMMEDIATELY!

After washing everything with salt and triple-checking to make sure the food REALLY had no smell, my brain was soaked in mothballs fumes.

My sense of smell was gone. My mouth, lips, tongues were burning. My eyes were itchy. And my nostrils were totally numb.

I kept asking Joel the whole day whether the house had a peculiar, stinky smell. Of course the little fella could not smell a thing. 

I am glad it did not progress to something more serious. I was fine in a day. Thank god. 

I called my chicken lady and she felt extremely bad. (Do not condemn her! She did not realize that I was this super-sensitive. She is a very kind lady who has been blessing me with free chickens here and there! The moment she hears that I am unwell, she'll give me a free chicken! Even when I am well, she blesses me! Bless her!) She changed a scent-free reel of plastic bag and apologized profusely. 

I went salicylate-free immediately and have been trying to be as scent-free as possible. This exposure has caused me to be a bit more sensitive again. 


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12 comments:

  1. CynthiaAvaDevta3 June 2013 at 23:53

    I am glad you are okay! That sounds very scary. I loathe the smell of mothballs. They smell super chemical and super stinky. I am so curious about the chickens. How long do you have to wait for her to kill them, bleed, de-feather, etc? That all happens while you are waiting there?! That could never be a possibilitly where I live but I wish it were. I don't think I have ever eaten meat that fresh. They must be sooooo yummy.

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    1. Evelyn Chua5 June 2013 at 21:34

      It's used quite widely here. A lot of toilets use them. And the places stink to the heavens.

      I usually call the chicken lady about 20 minutes before I get there. She'll have half done by then. I don't have to wait for long as I've called her and I always go after the crowd has left. I've seen her done from A to Z of killing the chickens. And when I get home, the chickens are still HOT! And I find that to be a very nice feeling as they are so fresh. Tastes very nice!

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  2. The Multiple Chemical Survivor4 June 2013 at 11:02

    So were the plastic bags stored some place where mothballs were kept? What is mothballs anyway? Do you know what chemical they use? (After I finish this post I'll be looking it up online!)

    Icky. You poor thing. We have to be so careful with the smallest of details in our lives. So glad you discovered what it was quickly and got rid of it.

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    1. Evelyn Chua5 June 2013 at 21:34

      Yeah, minor details to every little thing is so exhausting....

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  3. The Multiple Chemical Survivor4 June 2013 at 11:04

    Oh my moth balls are really nasty. Neurotoxins. To think people used to use them a lot. I remember them when I was a kid, but I didn't know people still had them around. Eeeeww..

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    1. Evelyn Chua5 June 2013 at 21:35

      It's quite widely used here. Especially in toilets....

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  4. Anaphylaxing5 June 2013 at 16:24

    Evelyn! The same thing happened to me today for the second time!

    First a cloth bag and ended up with throat swelling. Second today a different bag but I asked them to cautiously sniff it first and same thing!!

    Mothballs are full of phthalates which are one of my biggest culprits..found in plastics especially soft ones, scented products, and various other fumes. They've been banned by the European Union.

    My family stayed in a house that used them and I couldn't be around them for months!

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    1. Evelyn Chua5 June 2013 at 21:36

      Yeah, it really stinks. And it is a VERY SICKENING smell! Hope you're better now.

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    2. The Multiple Chemical Survivor5 June 2013 at 21:38

      What were the cloth bags used for or where did they come from? I want to avoid them!

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    3. Evelyn Chua5 June 2013 at 22:02

      Mine were plastic bags which they placed in a container which contained moth balls. I too would want to know what cloth bags which Ana had a reaction to.

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    4. Anaphylaxing6 June 2013 at 19:59

      They were from the sobey's/thrifty's chain here. Not sure if from there. I thought initially just the insulated bags, but it was also the common cloth bag they have available for purchase. Presuming they were stored or shipped with mothballs. I haven't noticed it at other grocery stores yet, but it is a major hazard and such a waste of a reactions. Wish north america had more strict guidelines for known toxins.

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  5. Anonymous6 June 2013 at 02:16

    :((

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