I sent the following posting to Phillippe on 28 February. But then I wondered if
anyone else would have constructive comments to add.
I know that many have been 'round this buoy' before but some of the
correspondence has been touched with self interest and even, sometimes, with
emotionalism. :-O
FROM: TERRY KING, 101522,2625
TO: Philippe Monnoyer, INTERNET:philippe.monnoyer@fundp.ac.be
DATE: 28/02/96 23:51
Re: Copy of: Re: Poisons and Cancer
Phillippe
I had long enough a career in central government to know when to be careful.
But there are wider questions here.
I am trying to get those who are not used to dealing with chemicals to treat
them with respect.
One has to rely to on the safety information distributed with the product; it
would be irresponsible to do otherwise.
It is as true of the dichromates as it is of silver nitrate, that if you deal
with them in a common sense manner, they are not likely to harm you.
But students must be told not bathe in a solution of dichromate because of the
cumulative nature of its toxicity and because it is a suspected carcinogen.
When I first started in gum printing, I checked with the library of the
precursor of the Health and Safety Executive where there was nothing in the
literature beyond a reference to the corrosive properties of dichromates in
relation to the mucous membranes and the formation of dichromate sores which led
to raw wounds not healing, which, it was said could be cured with special
ointments. What was more, we were told that such difficulties were only likely
to arise with those working in the manufacture of the chemicals as no one else
would be likely to receive sufficient exposure
As we know times have changed. You say that ammonium dichromate in State 6 is
a carcinogen. If I were going to include that thought in a manual, I would say
'Be careful, dichromates are suspected carcinogens'. Analogously, on the basis
of the manufacturers safety instructions, I would say 'Do not get silver nitrate
on your skin because it can turn it black and cause damage to your health'.
But then the serious questions arise:
1. What is state 6 ?
2. When is the occasional worker with the material likely to meet it ? And how
can meeting it be avoided ?
3. To what extent would that worker have to be exposed to that state of ammonium
dichromate for it to have a deleterious effect ?
4.How would one translate the information at 3 into how long it would take for a
printer taking reasonable precautions, wearing gloves or washing solution off
the hands immediately if there were an accidental splash, and not breathing
in the dust, to incur any damage, if they were to make four gum dichromate
prints a week.
5. Would it be twenty days, twenty years or a couple of millenia ?
6. Are we talking in the same terms as phossy jaw and asbestosis.
I do not know, and I doubt if anybody else knows the answers to all these
questions. Medical and scientific opinions and practice are often self-
contradictory.
The public moral is TAKE CARE.
My own approach is similar to yours; I try to avoid eating them.
Yours
In the misery of flu,
Taking paracetamol which is far more dangerous if the stated dose is exceeded,
and nobody knows the stated dose for dichromates !
Terry King