The younger members of the Blog's family are unimpressed by the photo of my sandy toes framing a view of palm trees and turquoise seas, which I thoughtfully but unsuccessfully tried to text them to celebrate the end of their university exams. Nor do they think much of my plan for a Blog photo-diary of toes framing well-known chemical scenes - the Shell-Mex building in
I'm thinking that this project would make a good fund-raising calendar for a chemically-themed charity. Maybe I will suggest it to my friend Terry at the Solvents Industry Association (SIA, now in conjunction with the CBA) for when they are next raising funds for the solvents abuse charity Re-Solv. It is a pairing of industry-and-charity which some might think teeters precariously on the edge of good taste.
I'm sure it wasn't only on my table at one distant SIA dinner that some drunken jokester suggested that the industry should be encouraging more solvents abuse rather than less. Not such a laugh.
Dear Barbara,
My name is Peter Davis and I am the General Secretary of the Solvents Industry Association. I was interested to read your BLOG regarding the relationship between SIA and ReSolv. We are members of ReSolv and are happy to provide help and support.
As a Trade Association for the Solvents Industry our main aims are to promote good Product Stewardship through the dissemination of best practice; to provide information, advice and guidance for our members and through the consultation process with regulatory authorities to ensure decisions are based on sound scientific principles.
We do run two dinners each year and we raise funds for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.
I can ensure you that as an industry we would not condone the comment quoted in your BLOG. I would be quite happy for you to contact me to discuss this matter further if you so wish.
Peter Davis.
SIA General Secretary
Peter, thank you very much for your comment. I'm thrilled that you took the time to respond, and it's good to hear about your admirable work for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital and Re-Solv.
Nice to see people donating :), solvent abuse seems to have become prevalent!