I like the recent posts we've seen lately on the subject. I personally feel
that using 15cc of a watered down solution, outdoors, every few years,
won't hurt me compared to say, the air I breath when I am in a big city.
There are people however who have to work with the stuff every day all year
around. I don't envy such people. For informational purposes only, I'll
post here part of a posting I saw on another list recently. Since I don't
have permission and the subject is a little sensitive (and odorous:-)), I
have stripped the i.d. from the original text:
====================
"I work in a medical school, Formaldehyde is a carcinogen(sp.) of the
highest order. It, as you all know is a fixative and preservative for
cadavers. Long term exposure, especially to the fumes, does nasty things to
people over time. Some of our anatomy faculty, look like walking corpses
themselves (NO HUMOR INTENDED).
We warn our Medical Students who only work with embalmed cadavers for about
six months not to wear contact lenses while working, it will eat the lenses
and has been known to fuse with the eyeballs, resulting in burns that
require immediate medical attention. After a couple of weeks around the
bodies, the students tend to have a noticeable skin discoloration, as well
as a slight chemical smell(again, I'm not kidding). A few weeks after they
are finished with working with the bodies they return to normal,
unfortunately for the anatomists who work with the stuff year round, we
can't say the same things."
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I personally doubt that it is a carcinogen "of the highest order" for
casual users. If it were, I don't think they would let anyone work with it
unprotected all year around. They'd have to replace the staff every year!
The cadavers would be last year's staff;-) The contact lenses problem he
refers to is believable as some of them, i.e., the "permanent" type that
can breath (?), are made of gelatin.
I don't mean to be flippant about this but I think that the issue has been
overblown. Then again, I'll remind everyone that I have no medical
expertise.
Luis Nadeau