Re: Samurai-sents

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From:"P. Emry" <emry@u.washington.edu>
To:Gayle Callis <uvsgc@msu.oscs.montana.edu>
Reply-To:
Content-Type:TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Any of you oldsters remember leaded gas....yaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

On Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Gayle Callis wrote:

> At the risk of beating an old subject to death
> 
> Bob Richmond's  message made excellent points, and kids aren't the only one
> "sniffing the glues".  We do it everyday in our households, rotten orange
> grove smelling sprays, fingernail polish (for us glamour types), glues and
> methacrylates to put those falsie fingernails on, paints, and most
> frightening of all is paint stores, selling xylol!  If there has been one
> thing learned out of all the safety precautions in histo lab, it is take
> your lessons HOME! You actually may be safer in your labs with hoods, etc
> than you are staining the deck or painting the loo, visiting the
> manicurist.     
> 
> All laboratory personnel MUST read Material Safety Data Sheets on solvents,
> even the single aliphatic hydrocarbons, Propar and Clearite 3.  Odor free
> does not mean safe, there are precautions, and they should be followed. 
> 
> Case in point - HOW many of you make your employee READ the MSDS???
> They have the right to know, and should be handed those MSDS upon hiring
> for reading and be made to understand and handle the stuff properly. It is
> YOUR responsibility to DO THIS or if you are alone, be informed and not
> infirm!   
> 
> Have a good weekend, hmmmmm, thinking about a manicure, but just thinking!
> 
> 
> 
> >'Tain't funny! Aromatic solvents, particularly toluene, are widely used by 
> >kids who inhale solvent fumes to get high ("huffing").
> >
> >Like skateboarding, this hazardous behavior rarely persists beyond the age
> of 
> >14. But in my travels I've encountered one older histologist, pretty crazy I 
> >thought, who took the waste xylene home, and I think she huffed it (she's 
> >dead now). 
> >
> >Aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene) are strongly suspected of 
> >causing myelocytic leukemia (information about the incidence of these 
> >diseases in histologists is badly needed). If you can smell them in a 
> >histology lab, the ventilation is inadequate.
> >
> >Several people on this list have recently noted sensitization to the
> limonene 
> >class of xylene substitutes (HistoClear, AmeriClear, Hemodeedee and what
> have 
> >you). I didn't know how common the problem is, but I'm not surprised.
> >
> >I suppose that the odorless aliphatic solvents (ProPar, Clear-Rite 3, and 
> >several others) get around all of these problems.
> >
> >Aliphatics are expensive, but they can be about 85% recovered by 
> >distillation, if you can keep pathologists and managers from having 
> >hissy-fits about your running a still in the lab (frequent problem in small 
> >labs). It's important to know that every brand has a different distillation 
> >routine, and you must not mix them in the still. Management has to
> understand 
> >in advance that they cannot switch brands on you just because the salesman 
> >for Cheapo-Kleer suddenly offers a ten cent a gallon price break.
> >
> >Bob Richmond
> >Samurai Pathologist
> >Knoxville TN 
> >
> >
> >
> Gayle Callis
> Veterinary Molecular Biology
> Montana State University
> Bozeman MT 59717-3610
> 406 994-4705
> 406 994-4303
> 
> 

Trisha  




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