obvious warning to young resin heads

[Man O' War]

I just went through a bout with leukemia. One of the few connections they've made between the disease and a chemical is with benzene. Styrene is a benzene derivative. Styrene of course is the active, erotic sensory element in polyester resin--that smell. The problem is there's evidently some chromosome damage that can be done which won't show up till you're in your 50's.

Between the ages of 14 and 18 I made five kneeboards (one a spoon), all inside, no ventilation, no mask. Back in the day I don't think we even had masks. I ended up with 50-100 hours of solid exposure to those great fumes--I don't really know. And who knows at that tender age what damage may have been done.

But the message is obvious for any stoked teens out there using polyester resin--cover up.

[skansand]

100 percent epoxy myself.....not that it doesnt carry its own risks..

post mark....been thinking about these chemicals lately ...definetly need to take more precautions next time im glassing/shaping...

[Bill F]

I have been repairing Yachts for 33 yrs..I have used THOUSANDS of gallons of epoxy ,polyester resins and two part Isocyanate coatings. Somedays I have sprayed 10 -20 gallons.SPrayed DC10's for a while. One night we wiped primer off the entire jet with MEK rags!!!I have 3 perfect kids and I'm in perfect health at 54 yrs old......Genetics and luck.Very happy to hear your doing better Man O' War!!

[quadfin]

Glad to see you up and posting MOW. Was involved as guinea pig in benzene level in human testing back in the early 80's because of my exposure levels cleaning hydrocarbon tanks. The benzene stores in your fat and stays with you it was found. Not very comforting with my line of work. From OSHA:

Benzene Health Effects: Leukemia (HE1); cumulative bone marrow damage (HE12); CNS depression (HE7, 8); respiratory arrest (HE11); cardiovascular collapse; aplastic anemia (HE12); Irritation (HE16); LDLo (oral, human) 130 mg/kg

What is not clear is the effects of benzene in combination with other VOC's. That MEK catalyst you used is no picnic either...we called it "Methly Ethyl Death" in the tank cleaning business.

Wear your respirators boys.

[Man O' War]

Bill, what kind of precautions did you take in all that?

btw, I'm super happy for you and your kids, and i'm sure you've dodged that bullet for good! but statistically speaking someone your age is not out of the woods: the leukemia curve jumps between 55-60 (my age) and rises geometrically from there. The genetic dam or whatever it is that holds back the full-blown disease has enough holes poked in it by our age that in some of us it just breaks.

[Fossil Man]

Bill you said you used to paint DC-10s ?...Did you used to work in the paint dept. at Mc Donnell Douglas Long Beach ?

[jdc]

The genetic dam or whatever it is that holds back the full-blown disease has enough holes poked in it by our age that in some of us it just breaks.

Well thank goodness for the possibilities of 'mind over matter' as means of prevention and or cure!

[RMcKnee]

Great to know you're up and at 'em again Man O' War. Good on you for a timely and important post too. More than a few industry veterans have quietly been down the same road. Sadly not all have returned.

Health & safety in surf equipment manufacturing is often the elephant in the room that everyone's trying to ignore. Like Bill, I work in the boatbuilding industry and have had plenty of exposure to all sorts of toxic goo. What really made me think hard about what I was doing was spending a few years as a H&S guy. This involved reading and interpreting the labels on tins and the MSD sheets for the stuff we work with. All of it was very sobering stuff. We ended up changing a lot of things about the way work was done in order to implement some very simple safe work practices that almost eliminated risk entirely. People didn't like it at first, but we found that most resistance came from the older hands who would typically object that "We've never bothered with that stuff before." Younger guys were a lot more open to change.

The bottom line is that anything that's derived or refined from any kind of fossil fuel is bad for humans. Treat such substances with respect and avoid exposure. Wear gloves, wear a respirator, ventilate. Avoid getting the stuff inside your body through any of your openings, don't take it home to the family. And remember that if it doesn't get you today that doesn't mean it won't later on.

Mind over matter may cure some cancers if you're lucky, but it sure don't work as a safety strategy before the event. One weird thing is that there is no way to tell how much or how little exposure to things like benzene, styrene and suchlike chemicals will precipitate health problems later on. I reckon there's a truckload of litigation waiting down the line in relation to this.

[Man O' War]

Well thank goodness for the possibilities of 'mind over matter' as means of prevention and or cure!

jdc, i'd try that out on little things first like tides and swell heights, where failure is not lethal

[jdc]

[quadfin]

Great to know you're up and at 'em again Man O' War. Good on you for a timely and important post too. More than a few industry veterans have quietly been down the same road. Sadly not all have returned.

Health & safety in surf equipment manufacturing is often the elephant in the room that everyone's trying to ignore. Like Bill, I work in the boatbuilding industry and have had plenty of exposure to all sorts of toxic goo. What really made me think hard about what I was doing was spending a few years as a H&S guy. This involved reading and interpreting the labels on tins and the MSD sheets for the stuff we work with. All of it was very sobering stuff. We ended up changing a lot of things about the way work was done in order to implement some very simple safe work practices that almost eliminated risk entirely. People didn't like it at first, but we found that most resistance came from the older hands who would typically object that "We've never bothered with that stuff before." Younger guys were a lot more open to change.

The bottom line is that anything that's derived or refined from any kind of fossil fuel is bad for humans. Treat such substances with respect and avoid exposure. Wear gloves, wear a respirator, ventilate. Avoid getting the stuff inside your body through any of your openings, don't take it home to the family. And remember that if it doesn't get you today that doesn't mean it won't later on.

Mind over matter may cure some cancers if you're lucky, but it sure don't work as a safety strategy before the event. One weird thing is that there is no way to tell how much or how little exposure to things like benzene, styrene and suchlike chemicals will precipitate health problems later on. I reckon there's a truckload of litigation waiting down the line in relation to this.

Good post.

[Bud]

Great post............There's a very appropriate bit of grafitti on a wall at the glassing factory I use..... "We're dying to build you a board"

[Fossil Man]

In my early days as a kneelo I used to stop at Ron Haydu's factory in Costa Mesa CA. back when Romanosky was shaping out of there. As I recall, Haydu almost never was wearing much if any protective gear. I was very sad to hear Ron Haydu passed away in 2006 on the Big Island and wondered if anyone new of the circumstances of his passing , if it was industry related.

[Man O' War]

Great post............There's a very appropriate bit of grafitti on a wall at the glassing factory I use..... "We're dying to build you a board"

Bud, that's like the rule of thumb I heard from another builder: If you can smell it, it's killing you.

[KenM]

[quote="jdc"][/quote] MOW, looks like you have him speechless.