Dear Susan,
while I know of no recorded in utero effects of maternal exposure, it is
prudent in the Laboratory environment to reduce as many personal risk
factors as possible; certainly MSDS and other sources make no mention of
foetal effects, while the same is not true for compounds such as various
selenium bases which are used as selective agents in faecal microbiology
etc.
I believe your concern is valid enough to restrict the workpractice of your
colleague, esp. away from the cut-up bench, and I think you should also
consider restricting embedding (if you use a DMSO containing wax) ,
processor maintainence and coverslipping if you use Xylene; I'm sure there
is more than enough other work to be done esp. updating your manuals etc.
PS don't let someone convince you that other disciplines of pathology are
"safe" and the lady concerned will be better off in another section for a
while; having been a Lab Manager for many years, I can assure you that
Histo-persons are usually more safety conscience of the material and
reagents they use than others who have no idea of what is in their reagents
being tied in to reagent rental buy backs etc.
Regards Mike Rentsch (Downunder)
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Meloan <SMELOAN@mail.mcg.edu>
To: HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu <HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu>;
3briones@thesocket.com <3briones@thesocket.com>; sahinton@utmb.edu
<sahinton@utmb.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 9 December 1998 3:52
Subject: RE: Formaldehyde and Pregnant Path. Tech -Reply


We had this situation.  The tech had problems with a previous pregnancy, and
questioned the effect of formalin exposure.  We did not assign her to the
grossing where she would come in contact with formalin.

However, just prior to that we had several residents who grossed tissue
almost until the hour of delivery.  There were apparently no problems
associated with that.  However our director of Anatomic Pathology felt it
better to respond to the problem.

Susan