Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 02:05:34 -0400
From: Nickbk@aol.com
Subject: Working with Brakes
Breaker Braker...
With all this talk of beating on brake drums to remove them, I feel I must
comment on a major health problem associated with brake work.
ASBESTOS
Not a Subject I Deal With Lightly
Nick in Nor Cal
***********
With all due respect to Nick in Nor Cal, the question of the
toxicity of air-borne asbestos fibers is one that professionals will (and
do) debate at great length. Many, many experts who have been in the field
for their entire career would disagree completely with Nick's concerns, and
can provide reams of clinical data to support their opinion. While massive
exposures to asbestos fibers are indeed harmful (as in asbestos miners or
ship yard workers), ESPECIALLY WHEN COMBINED WITH TOBACCO SMOKING, lesser
exposures may well be benign. As an example of the dose dependency of
environmental toxicicty of fibers, brown lung is a serious disease caused
by the inhalation of huge amounts of cotton fibers by cotton mill workers
yet we take that same fiber, make cloth out of it, and wrap said cloth
around our bodies with no health risk whatsoever.
Having said that, IMHO it is wise to avoid the inhalation all dusts
(and mold spores, incidently) of any kind. None of that crap does your
lungs, throat, or nasal passageways any good at all. I wear a dust mask
whenever I am around any dusty, musty work. If you get dirty mucous when
blowing your nose, you should've worn a mask--regardless of the type of
dust. I'm an ear plug fanatic too, but that's another story.
Not a Subject to be Dealt with Lightly, But one With Considerable Controversy
Bob
Robert R. Wise, PhD
Director, UWO Electron Microscope Facility
Department of Biology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI 54901
(414) 424-3404 tel
(414) 424-1101 fax
wise@vaxa.cis.uwosh.edu
|