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Video - Nit terminator
Sorry, you must enable Javascript to display media contentMike Dilger meets the London terminator tackling the capital's head lice.
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Nit busters
Since the 1980s, the number of children with head lice in London has risen by as much as 1000%.
With many bugs becoming resilient to the chemicals traditionally used to treat them, combating head lice is turning into a headache for many parents.
But one London mum has turned the fight against nits into a business opportunity.
Armed with her trusty vacuum, entrepreneur Dee Wright’s nit-busting business has been running successfully for two years now.
Inspired by a press cutting from a New York magazine several years ago, Dee set up her own nit-busting company from her home in London.
With special lighting, magnification and her vacuum and nit comb combination, Dee and her team guarantee to get rid of nits completely. But, at over £100 a go, the treatment is beyond the purse strings of many London parents.
Combing is the best way of getting rid of both the lice and the eggs but the bugs are tough and with children in close contact at school and elsewhere, preventing the bugs from returning can seem like a never ending battle.
BUG BUSTERS
Rugby fan and schoolboy Marcus has had nits 10 times.
His mum Victoria, who is paying Dee’s company to rid him of the bugs, says: "in rugby season, in scrums, it’s very easy for them to crawl across to other people’s heads. It would be great if you could get everyone to have it done at the same time… then we might wipe them out."
Nits can have a wider effect than an itchy infestation.
Teacher Claire Hancock is convinced that head lice can also affect a child’s learning at school.
She says: "Because they have got so many misconceptions, they believe it is a big deal and they can have quite low self esteem if they constantly get them.
"Also, in terms of learning, if they’re constantly scratching and itching, they’re children, they’re not concentrating because they are in discomfort." -
Head lice advice
Bug Buster Help Line: 01908 561928
Contact: bugbusters2k@yahoo.co.uk -
TREATMENT TIPS
TREATMENT TIPS
* Identify nits by using a fine-tooth comb after washing hair. Combing is important to ensure those lice not killed by lice products are removed. Check daily for lice.
* When washing your hair, apply lots of conditioner and comb it thoroughly with a fine-toothed comb -the lice and nits will be caught on the comb. Repeat this treatment for several days.
* Another solution is to use an electrically charged comb to catch and kill the lice.
* One option is to use pesticide shampoo but be aware that head lice are becoming increasingly resistant to chemical treatments. Repeat the treatment.
* A new treatment called dimethicone physically covers and smothers the lice.
* It's crucial to understand their life cycle of the lice and continue treatment for the correct length of time. You may need to repeat treatments after 7-10 days – the time taken for the eggs to hatch.
* Vacuum carpets, pillows, and mattresses in your home. -
Illegal phone smuggling in prisons
Everyday at least one illegal mobile is found in Europe’s largest prison, Wandsworth.
The black market trade in mobile phones smuggled behind bars across the UK is worth £9m according to David Jamieson, Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board HMP, appointed by the Government to observe and report on Wandsworth prison.
Over 7,000 illicit phones have been found in UK prisons over the last year.
David Jamieson advises the government on the big issues affecting HMP Wandsworth. He claims that smuggled mobiles are at their highest figure ever. David estimates that £1m worth of drugs is being trafficked through illegal prison mobile phones every year at Wandsworth. That figures rises to an estimated £100m across jails nationally.
In November 2009, the Queen’s speech outlined new measures to toughen legislation which already outlaws smuggling phones into prisons. However, phones continue to be smuggled in at an increasing rate.
The phones offer convicts a means of continuing to commit crimes whilst locked up.
Andrew Wanogho was assassinated on a street in Lewisham by a direct order from a convicted prisoner using a mobile phone illegally smuggled into prison.
Elsewhere, smuggled mobiles are being used to negotiate drug deals from behind bars.
Colin Moses, National Chairman of the Prison Officers Association, is concerned about the problem: "The trading of drugs in prisons is a business and, when we put people in prison for trading drugs outside, prison should be the place where we can stop them, not for them to make arrangements for drugs to be brought into prisons. That’s why mobile phones are so dangerous in prisons."
And the scale of the problem may be worse than the figures show.
An ex-prisoner from HMP Wandsworth told Inside Out: "for every phone that gets found, there is like two, three more."
It’s not just friends and partners of prisoners who are prepared to risk smuggling in the phones either. Earlier this year, former prison officer Kelly-Anne McDade and Patricia Ollivierre, a prison officer from Wormwood Scrubs were both found guilty of mobile phone smuggling in two separate cases.
But what can be done to reduce the problem?
Many prisons are surrounded by mobile phone masts as the land surrounding them can often be relatively cheap. Technology can provide mobile phone blockers or special security scanners that would pick up smuggled phones but installation has a cost implication and budgets are already stretched.
David Jamieson has recommended to the Government that all prisons implement the technology. He feels the situation is becoming increasingly urgent and Colin Moses agrees: "If we want to stop mobile phones, we have to put more resources into prison. If we really want to stop them, we have to resource it. Currently there doesn’t seem to be a will by government to stop mobile phones." -
Prisons and the massive trade in mobile phones
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Video - Mobile phones in prisons
Sorry, you must enable Javascript to display media contentInside Out exposes the massive trade in mobile phone smuggling in prisons and how it is fuelling crime from the inside.
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Video - Hi tech advertising
Sorry, you must enable Javascript to display media contentHow advertisers are using technology to encourage the public to buy their products.
Credits
- Presenter
- Matthew Wright
- Director
- Andy Richards
