To paraphrase Will Rodgers, the problem with the comments on epoxy safety quoted below are not so much what the Mark did not know, but what he knew for sure that just was not so. >-----Original Message----- >Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 22:51:36 -0400 >From: "Sailboat Restorations, Inc." ><sailboatrestorations_at_worldnet.att.net> >Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Hull Repairs > >A couple of further notes regarding certain responses and >questions on this >thread. > >Someone said something about being careful of contact with >epoxy -- ie, >lungs, hands etc. It is well established that the fumes >from epoxy are >pretty much harmless. It is well established that epoxy resin does not evaporate quickly, this is not to say that the vapors are harmless. Epoxy resins and hardeners contain chemicals that can cause contact dermatitis and allergic sensitization by both skin contact and inhalation. >Polyester is a different story. Polyester resin systems have more solvent thinners and styrene as components, both of which evaporate faster than the components of epoxy resin. The unhealthy effects of over exposure to polyester resin systems may differ in some ways from those of epoxy resin systems, however both systems can have unhealthy effects. >Skin contact with >epoxy is mostly harmless, I and the manufacturers disagree. >and the vast majority of people >never have any >adverse reaction. I doubt if this is known. In studies of exposure to other sensitizers up to 80 percent of the exposed workers showed signs of sensitization. Chemicals that cause contact dermatitis are close to universal in adverse effect. > There is such a thing as developing a >sensitivity to it, >usually only encountered among professionals who use it >every day. Sensitization is frequently encountered among boat building amateurs. >I'm told >that if you develop the sensitivity, you may as well forget >it. It's >miserable to use the stuff. Yes, and possibly life threatening. > I've been using epoxy for . . >. um. . . well, >many years (over 25 anyway), and never had the slightest >problem. I use it >all the time in confined spaces. It's harmless. While Mark has been lucky, so far, not all users are so fortunate. What this all comes down to is risk control. Claims that epoxy is harmless are both untrue and misleading. The following are the URLs for three epoxy system manufacturers. Safe handling information and material safety data sheets are available from them. http://www.systemthree.com/ http://www.masepoxies.com/ http://www.westsystem.com/ Dana Dickson Industrial Hygienist and Paddler *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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