The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7471 p362
29 September 2007

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Depressing demise of the Iberian lynx

The delights of smoke-free pubs

Beware of awareness weeks!

Depressing demise of the Iberian lynx

For several years now, wildlife advocates have been urging members of the public to purchase wine and champagne bottled with real cork rather than synthetic stoppers in order to help prevent the Iberian lynx from becoming extinct.

The lynx is indigenous only to forests in Spain and Portugal, from which cork is obtained. So use of synthetic stoppers, which has been increasing in recent years, provides a disincentive for the animal’s natural habitat to be preserved.

Clever propaganda by the manufacturers of screw tops and plastic corks has led many people to think that cork stoppers are bad for the environment when, in fact, exactly the opposite is true.

The cork forests of north-eastern Portugal are fine examples of truly sustainable woodland, having provided employment for local people for hundreds of years. The cork bark is stripped away from the trees using a closely controlled rotational system, which ensures that no part of the forest is harvested to a level from which it cannot recover.

In 2002, the Iberian lynx became the first wild cat to be placed on the “Red list of threatened species” maintained by the World Conservation Union (WCU). According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are only about 150 members of the species — and fewer than 30 females capable of reproduction — currently alive.

If the lynx does become extinct, it will be the first cat to die out since the sabre-toothed tiger disappeared 10,000 years ago.

Over the past few years, screw tops and plastic stoppers have recovered from their position of being sneered at as closures for cheap, inferior wines, to becoming something approaching the norm, particularly for wines from the southern hemisphere, and the use of natural cork is now in decline.

On the other hand, organic wines have natural cork closures, but, I am sorry to say that, of late, I have noticed the use of plastic closures on a number of French organic wines, despite the presence of the “agricole biologique” mark, signifying the French equivalent of our organic production standard.

This is another depressing example of a species of animal being placed in serious danger of extinction, not because of major human redevelopment involving housing or food production, or some other unavoidable necessity, but merely because the wine industry is unwilling to tolerate the loss of profits resulting from spoilage of a small percentage of its produce due to a natural product that has been in use for hundreds of years.

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The delights of smoke-free pubs

As part of my introduction to the non-academic side of university life, I was supplied by the students’ union with a guidebook. A sizeable section contained a guide to 100 pubs in the central Birmingham area, given marks out of five, for a variety of reasons, but the main one was the quality of the beer. And so myself and a few friends set about exploring the licensed premises, and an appreciation of real ale was born.

The only downside to this interest was that some of the premises selling good beer can be less than salubrious, and often one had to battle through a fug of smoke even to reach the bar. All this of course was consigned to history on 1 July 2007, with the introduction of the smoking ban in England, or so one would think.

Some weeks after the ban was introduced, I went into a pub with my eldest son for a quick pint before attending a concert nearby. The pub in question was a notoriously smoky establishment before the ban; it always seemed that everyone in the place smoked save for myself, so I was particularly looking forward to sampling a smoke-free pint on this occasion.

However, while there was no one smoking inside the pub, the place had a peculiarly unpleasant odour of stale tobacco, lingering food and unwashed bodies. I had read reports that, following the introduction of the smoking ban in Scotland, the smell of smoke had been replaced by a mix of “body odour and flatulence” and, judging from my experience in this pub, I could see what they meant.

At other pubs that I frequent, albeit on an irregular basis, the landlords have had the foresight to redecorate the interior and clean the upholstery to remove any lingering smells completely. Some (usually landladies) use the now obsolete ashtrays as receptacles for pot pourri, and the experience described above is, for myself at least, thankfully a minority one.

Despite the odd teething problems with the new legislation, as a non-smoker the experience of walking along to the local on a Sunday afternoon for a swift half with my wife is now like a breath of fresh air, so to speak, and we no longer need to take showers on our return before Sunday lunch.

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Beware of awareness weeks!

Recently I received from my local primary care trust notification of an event due to take place this month, named “Know your numbers week”, aimed at raising public awareness of blood pressure. This prompted me to reflect upon the various promotional days or weeks nominated by charities and organisations to raise the profile of their particular vested interest.

Some of the awareness campaigns undoubtedly have an important role to play and, as pharmacists, our profession is well used to promoting the usual array of events, from the cancer awareness weeks to national no-smoking day, and a host of others with which I am sure we are all familiar.

There are also a range of awareness events that are slightly more quirky, and the following are but a few that caught my eye:

• 30 September–8 October — Red Squirrel Week, intended to raise money for conservation of this species and record sightings of the same.

• 21 November — World Hello Day, in which anyone can participate simply by greeting 10 people. This, apparently, demonstrates the importance of communication in preserving peace. (In my experience, one would need to be careful when choosing the 10 people, otherwise peace may be the last thing on the recipient’s mind!)

• 20–26 January 2008 — Farmhouse Breakfast Week, to promote the importance of having a hearty breakfast to start the day.

• 14–25 May 2008 — Be Nice To Nettles Week, highlighting the important role nettles play in the natural world.

And my favourite: the Russian region of Ulyanovsk has declared 12 September 2008 as the “Day of Conception”, and has given workers time off “to procreate”. At least they will not be worrying, unlike the British, as to whether or not it will rain on the Bank Holiday.

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