levy@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Daniel R. Levy) (06/26/89)
In article <321@cbnewsi.ATT.COM>, fiesta@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (eric.c.beck) writes:
< > photocopier. If you want to know how much toner they throw into the
< > atmosphere, look at the walls and carpet or your photocopier room. Black
< > lung disease an occupational health problem in the reprographics dept?
<
< A copier tech once told me that the toner could be absorbed into
< the body through the skin (!?) afterwhich it would collect in the kidneys
< and cause "permanent" damage (e.g. clog them up). Anybody else ever here
< of this??
I've cross posted to sci.med in hopes of getting a reply. As for my $0.02,
there's a guy in my group who has a son in the photocopier repair business,
and he tells me that airborne toner can be absorbed through the lungs and
work its way OUT through the skin. He says he's not pulling my leg.
(Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.....)
--
Daniel R. Levy UNIX(R) mail: att!ttbcad!levy, att!cbnewsc!levy
AT&T Bell Laboratories
5555 West Touhy Avenue Any opinions expressed in the message above are
Skokie, Illinois 60077 mine, and not necessarily AT&T's.hjsdvm@ziebmef.uucp (Howard J. Scrimgeour) (06/29/89)
In article <1419@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> levy@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >In article <321@cbnewsi.ATT.COM>, fiesta@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (eric.c.beck) writes: >< > photocopier. If you want to know how much toner they throw into the >< > atmosphere, look at the walls and carpet or your photocopier room. Black >< > lung disease an occupational health problem in the reprographics dept? >< >< A copier tech once told me that the toner could be absorbed into >< the body through the skin (!?) afterwhich it would collect in the kidneys >< and cause "permanent" damage (e.g. clog them up). Anybody else ever here >< of this?? > >I've cross posted to sci.med in hopes of getting a reply. As for my $0.02, >there's a guy in my group who has a son in the photocopier repair business, >and he tells me that airborne toner can be absorbed through the lungs and >work its way OUT through the skin. He says he's not pulling my leg. >(Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.....) >-- Hmmm. Well, for what my opinion's worth, I don't buy it. Toner particles are pretty fine, but they won't penetrate intact skin. They're fine enough to penetrate fairly deeply into lungs, where I'd expect them to be either trapped or cleared. Since they're comprised of a thermoplastic, I'd expect them to be pretty well inert. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Howard J. Scrimgeour, D.V.M. | | hjsdvm@ziebmef.uucp CIS:75126,2744 | | uunet!{utgpu!moore,attcan!telly}!ziebmef!hjsdvm | | "We also walk dogs..." | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
jep@oink.UUCP (James E. Prior) (07/07/89)
Some folks have mentioned that the toner stuff is probably pretty inert, and that makes sense to me. Something that baffles me is why coal dust causes black lung. It seems that coal dust is also pretty inert. Is black lung caused by the impurities of coal dust (like sulfur), or some chemical property of the almost completely, but not entirely inert carbon, or just the mechanical presence of the stuff regardless of how chemically inert. Not knowing how coal dust causes black lung, I could see how breathing toner dust could cause black lung. I expect that you'd have to breath a lot of it over a long time. I've never seen a copier repairer's face blackened like that of a miner's. -- Jim Prior jep@oink osu-cis!n8emr!oink!jep N8KSM
rwright@novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) (07/08/89)
In article <41@oink.UUCP> jep@oink.UUCP (James E. Prior) writes: >Something that baffles me is why coal dust causes black lung. It seems >that coal dust is also pretty inert. Not true. It is microscopic silica particles, similar to asbestos, which causes the damage of "black lung". Coal dust contains silica. The carbon is irrelevant except to give the lungs color. >I've never seen a copier repairer's face blackened like that of a miner's. Nor have I seen it in their lungs and I have looked at quite a few of those. Generally, particles must be 5 microns in maximum cross section or less in size to get into the small air sacs of the lung. Failing to do that, any particles which are breathed into the lung are cleaned out rather rapidly by an extremely efficient process. From the way peoples lungs look, I would surmise that the xerographic material is either bigger than 5 micron or some other factor prevents the carbon from getting into the lung. Again if it did it would not itself do anything but make the lungs black. Black lungs do not make black lung disease. Anyone growing up in European or American cities in the 30's through the 50's has black colored lungs because of the coal burning and carbon realease associatated therewith. Cigarette smokers do as well. It is not the color but the mineral fibers which cause the disease. To my knowledge there are no silica particles in xerographic materials and thus no danger of black lung disease. ======================================================================== R. K. Wright MD | uflorida!novavax!medexam!rkw Chief Medical Examiner | uflorida!novavax!rwright Associate Professor Pathology | University of Miami School of Medicine | ========================================================================