plants in hospitals

[J Preiss--Seq Anal]

        I had heard this same thing about 30 years ago and was certain that a 
modicum of reality had prevailed to eliminate the patent silliness. I am not 
sure, but I would bet that this assertion arose shortly after the  
demonstration of the light-dependence of CO2 fixation with the concomitant 
constitutive nature of respiration. The state of medicinal practice was less 
than pathetic, and physicians, in an effort to seem "scientific",  sought 
"causes" of their failures. The thinking would be along the lines i) O2 is 
necessary for healing, ii) plants only yield O2 production with CO2 
consumption during the day, iii) plants have O2 consumption with CO2 
production during the night iv) thus plants compromise the ability of the 
physician to perform. Any questions about quantitation of the CO2 production 
probably were dismissed with "Don't let facts disturb this truth". The myth 
persisted simply because no one in the medical clique (or is that cabal) 
thought to question it - there would be no billable time resulting from the 
effort.  However, there is one place in a hospital that the proscription is 
germane: in critical care areas since an inadvertent transfer of soil-borne 
organisms to a "sick puppy" would have devastating results.
        Brian
        preissj at clvax1.cl.msu.edu