Iroko iritation

[motownmartin]

OK it was a typo, thats one thing my pc repairer didnt fix. My keyboard is oversensitive and also undersensitive as well. :roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :roll: :wink:

 

[CHJ]

So that Georges' excellent run down on the subject does not get lost I have taken the liberty of keeping it alive to some extent by putting it on my web site for future reference.

Can be found under a couple of links to:

"The Why and How of Toxic Reactions to Wood"

 

[chipchaser]

This is a rather late but I hope useful reply.

Information on wood allergies and hazards can be found at the following sites:

http://www.workershealth.com.au/facts023table.html

from The Workers Health Centre, Australia's oldest workers health and safety service.

http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Wood_Hazards

from Wiki.bmezine. I didn't recognise the name but I quote:

"BME stands for Body Modification Ezine. BME contains the personal experiences of thousands of people all over the planet, in photo and text form. It serves to document the activities of the body modification community in as complete a fashion as possible."

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=41436

from Sawmill creek wood workers forum

There is a complete unacknowledged copy of the info on the wiki.bmezine here but also some other interesting comments.

Hope this might be useful

Christmas Greetings

Graham

 

[lurker]

There is some more advice here

http://www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/index.htm

And here:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/woodindx.htm

And specifically the PDF about toxic woods WIS 30

 

[Digit]

Everybody knows somebody who suffers from Hayfever for example and knows the misery it can cause, but make no mistake about it, some allergies will kill!
I'm allergic to chocolate of all things, or perhaps summat they put in it, and the first time it damn near finished me.
Take it seriously chaps and enjoy your woodwork.

Roy.

 

[motownmartin]

Everybody knows somebody who suffers from Hayfever for example and knows the misery it can cause, but make no mistake about it, some allergies will kill!
I'm allergic to chocolate of all things, or perhaps summat they put in it, and the first time it damn near finished me.
Take it seriously chaps and enjoy your woodwork.

Roy.

All my life I have been allergic to Peanuts, the first time was when i was a Baby 49 Years ago so I don't remember anything about it, for 49 years I have been very careful about what I eat and managed to avoid another reaction, that was until about 4 weeks ago on Saturday night, I ate some Indian food without knowing what it was and I couldn't taste or smell any Peanuts as it was spiced to high hell, to late, I'd had a spoonful and started to feel an itching in my mouth, my face was swollen my eyes were bloodshot and I ended up in hospital taking steroids.

I know this has nothing to do with wood but it would be the same for any allergy, they told me at the hospital that if it happens again it could be fatal as your immune system fights back twice as hard with my tongue and throat swelling and closing my airway, I have some epipens to relieve this but it's no guarantee.

So, as Roy says, take it seriously or it could be the last time you see any wood :shock:

 

[Chris Knight]

George,
That is interesting info. I have heard of people being desensitized to particular allergens - an acquaintance was very allergic to milk and other dairy produce but was able to get treatment from a specialist that stopped this - not sure what this entailed though.

I wonder therefore if a desensitizing regime is possible for iroko?

 

[dickm]

Sounds like your friend was very lucky to get desensitised, as there is acknowledged to be a grave shortage of real allergy specialists in the UK. But lots of questionably reputable ones!
Years ago, I was involved in a BBC drama documentary for an Open University programme on the discovery of the link between nasal cancer and wood dust. The two medics who discovered it were both retired by then, and have since died, but it was quite amusing that I had to interview them separately, as they could not stand one another.
But the evidence that was available then was that almost <any> hardwood dust could be implicated in nasal carcinoma. I suspect that for allergies, the same is true, in that someone, somewhere could be found who will react to any given wood, especially in dust form that can get easily into the system.

 

[Digit]

acknowledged to be a grave shortage of real allergy specialists in the UK.

Too true! As I have found out, the waiting time in Wales is about 3 years!

Roy.

 

[TheTiddles]

Ok, it seems like a lot of you have this problem so I am going to take it upon myself to leap the the rescue, here's what you should do...

Take all your nicest hardwoods, suck as iroko, rosewood, mahogany, cocobolo, best cover walnut, quilted maple and sycamore to be safe, wrap carefully and send to me for safekeeping! Problem solved!

As I'm such a compasionate soul and it is the season of good-will I won't even charge you for this service, all you'll pay is postage and packing.

If you aren't going to fall for that one, it might be an idea for us all to take a lot more care with long-term health issues. Personally I never use a dust mask, sometimes use extraction and occasionally blow my nose to eject what I've ingested, I'm coming to the imrpession that this isn't going to protect me too well, time for one of those Trend respirator helmets me thinks...

Aidan

 

[milkman]

CLEANING:
I think the original poster said he was going to get a friend to clean the workspace for him.
If you can, use wet cleaning. With reference to dust, vacuum filters are woefully inadequate for dust of this type, you wll find the stuff just gets stirred up and you wil be worse after cleaning than before. You will get better results by alternating wet and suction cleaning. Mop down, vac, mop down, vac. A wet vac would be pefect.
I also find that cleaning agents can sufficiently alter or damage the allergen that it doesn't trip your immune response any more.
My sensitivity is with cat dander, admittedly its probably more susceptible to chemical damge than stuff with lignin & celulose in it but this might work.

 

[Digit]

I also find that cleaning agents can sufficiently alter or damage the allergen

Will that work with my chocolate allergy? :lol:

Roy.