Health hazzard.

[bladespark]

Google fails me.

This is probably a stupid question. But... what exactly does inhaling a non-toxic particle do to you? I cannot manage to find anything useful on this subject. It seems to be something that is just assumed to be common knowledge.

But I've no idea. And... given that I inhale a certain amount of acrylic dust on a weekly basis, I probably should know this. Is it going to give me lung cancer? Right now I'm not seeing any ill effects, and I've been doing this for a couple of years. And I HATE wearing breath masks. Ugh. But I have this little paranoid voice that tells me maybe I should. So I tried to find out, but I can't find anything on the subject at all.

Comments

[nsdragon.livejournal.com]

Not sure about acrylic dust in specific (though the exact kind of substance might help in determining the hazard), but generally, if it's inert, it accumulates. Given enough quantities, it reduces the overall surface available for gas exchange. In other words, it makes you breathe with more difficulty as the material builds up in your lungs.

Other kinds of dust can also cause alveolar injuries and scarring. Like silica dust, which causes silicosis. And even if you're not feeling anything now, it might have more serious effects later on. For example, asbestos, which is a known pollutant and carcinogenic, causes some diseases with latency periods anywhere from 10 to 45 years.

Better safe than sorry, in my opinion, until you know exactly what are you working with.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Therein lies the problem. I would like to know exactly what I'm working with, but I can't find anything about it!

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Can you be more exact about the sorts of particulate matter involved and/or their sources?

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Inert particles can still be abrasive and lead to irritation and inflammation of the airways which leads to white blood cell infiltration and possible widespread tissue damage.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Also bear in mind 'non-toxic' is not strictly 'non-carcinogenic when inhaled' - it's usually referring to toxicity when injested, not inhaled unless otherwise specified.

Straight plastics... shouldn't be a problem. There again, neither should tar. Oh, look! Turns out it is. >.>

If you can't wear a breathing mask, I'd at least try and reccomend a better ventelated area. It's amazing what a fan and an open window can do, if possible.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

Slightly less alarmist disclaimer: Said irriation is usually noticable before that point, though. But, uh, if you ever start to feel slightly asthmatic, coughy, or sore-chested [Especially, oddly, just below and behind the shoulder blades] you might wanna check with a doctor.

(As a sufferer of biannual and weeks-long lung infections, trust me, I know the early signs of inflammation... ¬¬)

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Also, while that does sound dire, it really depends a lot more on the aerodynamics of the actual particle. Your air intake passes over a bunch of mucosal membranes and through your throat which will filter out much of the particulate matter before it gets into the alveolae. And if this is the case here, then just working with a little ventilation (to minimize the amount of dust) would be just fine.

(I never thought I'd actually use any of the knowledge I got from my summer formulating aerosolized medicine, either.)

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

I'm not trying to be alarmist, the post did seem to have a "how bad could it be?" feel so that's the gist of the response.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. Yours is worst case, then - and mine is the symptoms to watch out for, so you don't get worst case? :)

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

Every chemical or potential hazardous substance should have an MSDS (material safety data sheet). It outlines precautions, hazards, symptoms, and all the other good stuff.

Go to the company you bought it from and request an MSDS - they are required by law to give you one and it is usually included with the product.

Cancer itself is caused by mutations in your cells (something like 10 specific sequential mutations, hence why it's still relatively rare) caused by damage (ie skin cancer is cuased by sun damage).

So if the stuff is non-toxic, it probably will not cause cancer on its own, but it can still stick up the place and lower lung capacity over time.

But unless you're a professional athlete, it's unlikely you even use all of your lung capacity (a regular breath is somewhere around 10%, but don't quote me on that).

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

I don't know about what it does to you, other than when i used to work as a dental technician... the lady that shaved down the sharp edges on those really colorful retainers always complained about day-glow boogers that remindced her of fruity pebbles.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

MSDSs are always about 1000 times more dire sounding than they actually are. Take it with a massive grain of salt (or don't because according to the MSDS, salt will kill you.)

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

Well, if something happens and it's not covered under the MSDS, then the company that makes the product is in big, big trouble. So they try to cover every single possibility (and, yes, they usually go overboard as a way to cover their asses).

I admit that I tend to ignore them myself - especially for substances I'm familiar with (such as gasoline) but if there's any potential problem with a substance, you can bet the MSDS will explain it.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

It's not potentially hazardous. It's fur. I'm inhaling dust from shaving fur, which leaves a little heap of fine particles behind. I vacuume it up when I'm done, but just in the process of shaving I know I'm breathing it.

I doubt fake fur has an MSDS though.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Fake fur. Usually 100% acrylic. When I shave the fur down, it tends to make a little heap of dust, which I vacuume up, but I know that there's bound to be a fair bit of dust that gets into the air.

[pet-tiger.livejournal.com]

Depends on the MSDS, really. Some things really are as dangerous as the MSDS says, some things make you wonder why they bothered with one at all. (Say Hydrofluoric acid compared to Citric acid.)

It actually kind of amuses me when we have to make up WHMIS labels for things like our 40% Citric acid solution. ^^;

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

In that case, what I said doesn't really apply.

Fake fur dust is not much different than any other dust around the house, which is to say, it might make you sneeze or cause a dust allergy over time, but it won't kill you.

Of course, take reasonable precautions like vaccumming and showering afterwards, but your nose is pretty good at filtering those things out. It's better than smoking, at any rate. Or working in a coal mine.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

Yeah. No matter what it's for, you can say 'wear nose, hand, and eye protection' and be correct :D

Similarly, we would have to write up tree roots and rocks as fall hazards, because they could be a potential danger if you tripped ...

[primarchbentley.livejournal.com]

If you're dealing with acrylic fiber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic_fiber), there's a decent chance it's made of at least 85% acrylonitrilemonomer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile), which is classified as an IARC Group 2B carcinogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IARC_Group_2B_carcinogens).

But particulate in the lungs, normally? Usually it gets trapped in mucus, which is then escorted up and out through spit, or down the digestive tract to get the chemical treatment in the stomach (Wikipedia linkage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_epithelium)). Something that often happens for smokers, a combination of increases in foreign materials and destruction of respiratory cilia makes this 'self cleaning' process less effective, hence the good ol' "smoker's hack."

Granted, sometimes it seems like life itself is carcinogenic if you worry about everything that might give you cancer... At least I haven't seen anything about developing allergic reactions to acrylic, unlike epoxy and cyanoacrylate.