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Thread: Tulane Wood Dust Study...No Health Risks..

  1. #1
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    Tulane Wood Dust Study...No Health Risks..

    www.iswonline.com
    www.iswonline.com/cwb/200608/issues_tulanestudy.cfm

    Tulane Wood Dust Study Finds No Adverse Respiratory Health Risks
    By Wade Vonasek
    The American Forest and Paper Association recently announced the completion of a six-year study into the potential respiratory health effects of wood dust exposure to workers in the wood and wood products industries. The $1.9-million study was commissioned by the Inter-Industry Wood Dust Coordinating Committee (IIWDCC), a consortium of 19 wood products trade associations, and carried out by the Tulane University Medical Center.

    According to the AF&PA, the study concludes that breathing wood dust does not pose an adverse health risk to respiratory functions, as no significant adverse effects from wood dust were reported at participating facilities.

    “The results were surprising in that we did not really see any effects with respect to exposure to wood dust,” says Dr. John Festa, PhD, senior scientist for the AF&PA. “The study was designed to look at exposure response, but at the levels encountered in the study, the Tulane researchers did not see effects over a fairly broad range of exposures.”

    The study followed more than 1,100 employees from 10 plants across the country, representing a cross-section of the wood products industry, including furniture plants, cabinet and cabinet part manufacturing plants, a milled product facility, a plywood facility and an integrated sawmill-planer plywood facility. The plants provided a set of diverse operations with a range of dust levels for examining dose-response relations. Plants and employees participated voluntarily in dust monitoring and lung function testing, as well as answering health questionnaires.

    While the study was specifically looking at potential effects of exposure to wood dust, researchers noted pulmonary effects unrelated to wood dust at two of the 10 facilities. The study’s authors suggest that the results may be due to a masked smoking effect at one of the plants, because of participants under-reporting their smoking habits. In another plant, researchers have proposed an additional study of non-wood dust factors, and the facility’s owners have begun an independent study.


    Festa said that given the results of the study, he does not expect significant change in industry dust collection procedures, and states that no follow-up study or report is planned at this point. He commends the IIWDCC for funding the endeavor.

    “I think it is to the industry’s credit to have sponsored this study,” Festa says. “It was a real commitment to wanting to ensure the continued safety of worker health.”

    Festa will be speaking at the IWF 2006 Technical Conference session Got Wood Dust!!! How do you handle it?, taking place on Friday, Aug. 25, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. Festa notes that in addition to the results of the Tulane study, he also will discuss the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists’ (ACGIH) threshold limit values for wood dust.

    “My presentation is not just going to be about the Tulane study, it’s going to be an overview of wood dust with some historical perspective, talking about some of the health issues from the past and some of the regulatory standards. I’ll also summarize the findings of the Tulane study,” Festa adds.



    Sponsors of the Respiratory Health
    Study of Woodworkers


    • AmericanForest & Paper Assn.
    • American Home Furnishings Alliance
    • APA - The Engineered Wood Assn.
    • Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers
    • Architectural Woodwork Institute
    • Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers
    • Composite Panel Assn.
    • Hardwood Manufacturers Assn.
    • Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Assn.
    • Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Assn.
    • National Hardwood Lumber Assn.
    • National Wooden Pallet & Container Assn.
    • NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Assn.
    • Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Assn.
    • Southern Forest Products Assn.
    • Western Wood Products Assn.
    • Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America
    • Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Assn.
    • Woodworking Machinery Industry Assn.

  2. #2
    This study was discussed at length back in Feb. when it first came out.
    Here is a link to the thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=Tulane+study
    My comments to the study stand. I don't feel that the study is pertinate to the small shop or hobiest woodworker since the factories studied use large Dust collectors that exhaust to the out side and have make up air comming into the factories. Small shops and weekenders don't have the luxury.

    Particles smaller then 10 microns are harmful. This has been proven. If you don't take precausions to clean the air you breath from these particles then you will feel the long term effect. Please don't let these studies that are funded by manufacturers who have a vested interest sway you from protecting your lungs.

  3. #3
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    Hi Don

    Hi Don,
    Thanks for the info. I just posted it because I thought it was interesting....from the sponsors of the study to the University to the
    results. I always use a great cyclone dust collector, an aircleaner, and
    a mask....Being a Md & DMD, I have seen too many sick people with breathing issues..
    Phil

  4. #4
    I agree with Don. Most home workshops have far more dust exposure than a commerial operation. Lots more hand sanding and small power tool sanding. Any particle in the lungs cannot be a good thing. And if one has an allergy to woods or some species of wood, that is another matter.

    Most of us do not have the dust collection system that we would like to have. We do the best we can taking into count, budget and space. But some type of dust collection and air filtration should be a priority in every home shop.
    Hello, My name is John and I am a toolaholic

  5. #5
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    For me, it comes down to common sense. Any time you introduce "foreign" material into your lungs, no matter what the nature, it is potentially affective to your health. Wood dust counts...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
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    I'd like to see the Tulane study on Katrina mold.
    Maurice

  7. #7
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    Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical but .............I can't believe that wood dust doesn't have an effect on one's lungs. Whenever I look at a study of any kind I ask myself two questions.....1) who paid for the study...2) what was the researcher's opinion BEFORE the study..........
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  8. #8
    My study revealed that after one afternoon of breathing the dust from the wood I was cutting I coughed my lungs out for two days.
    Silence is golden but duct tape is silver.

  9. #9
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    I really don't need a study. Spend 4 hrs in my shop with the a/c on and come to your own conclusions. My clear vue system will be here tomorrow or early next week. Several friends and family members are dead from lung issues resulting from cancer. That article in my opinion is one of the most irresponsible collection of disinformation I have read in a very long time. I thank you Phil for posting that article and do understand your intent. My statement is not aimed at you but the article itself. Happy turning,
    Jim


    If you don't have an excellent air filtering system.....you are one!

  10. #10
    The problem with the article is that it doesn't expand enough. There is a critical paragraph which says "...he does not expect significant change in industry dust collection procedures...".

    That means, as far as I can see, that this study shows that the current regulatory requirement for dust extraction is adequate if you take the rest of the study at face value. That is a whole wide world of difference from saying that wood dust is not harmful or that there are "no health risks".

    You get one set of lungs unless you are unlucky enough to have to borrow a set off somebody who doesn't need them anymore. Commonsense says that as your lungs have evolved to deal with gases then putting solids (or liquids) into them in any form is at least questionable wisdom. The fewer solids you put into them the better. I ain't gonna sell my extractor anytime soon.

  11. #11
    This study was a defensive move to stave off OSHA, because they wanted to lower the amount of wood dust allowable per cm by a multiplier of 5. I read some of the literature that was available. This is the conclusion I have drawn from it. If the new OSHA regs had gone into effect the effort and cost to clean the air would have been enormous. The study never says wood dust is not bad. It just states at the facilities they sampled, the employees were not at any significant risk with the current standards in place.

    I'm quite sure if a health organization had commisioned a study the same facilities would have probably fared worse. That doesn't mean you can completely discount the study, just weigh it out.

    My question is: If wood dust is so Harmful why has there not been for yrs. millions of woodworkers that worked in the cabinet and furniture industry diagnosed with nasal and lung diseases? After all dust collection is a realitively new standard. What about the 100 yrs only a broom and dust pan were used?

    My opinion is use reasonable care to work in a dust free enviroment, and if your work place needs, Hospital grade clean air, do something else!!
    Furniture...the Art of a FurnitureMaker.

  12. #12
    Earl, you also have to remember tools used 100 years ago are very different than used today (neaders aside). For example, a plane generates very little sub-10 micron dust; whereas a random orbital sander will fill the air with fine dust.

    The concept of a home shop in a closed up basement of garage is relatively new. In years past, I would venture to say home 'shops' where more often then not in barns or other out-buildings.

    True, people have been working wood since the beginning of time, but HOW they work wood and WHERE they work wood are very different today. I feel dust collection at the source offers an appropriate level of self-preservation.

  13. #13
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    I wonder if Mr Bill Pentz has a comment on this *study*?

    If I recall correctly, his website and yrs of research are because of this very subject....with much different results I assure you.

    Scott

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Earl Kelly
    This study was a defensive move to stave off OSHA, because they wanted to lower the amount of wood dust allowable per cm by a multiplier of 5. I read some of the literature that was available. This is the conclusion I have drawn from it. If the new OSHA regs had gone into effect the effort and cost to clean the air would have been enormous. The study never says wood dust is not bad. It just states at the facilities they sampled, the employees were not at any significant risk with the current standards in place.

    I'm quite sure if a health organization had commisioned a study the same facilities would have probably fared worse. That doesn't mean you can completely discount the study, just weigh it out.

    My question is: If wood dust is so Harmful why has there not been for yrs. millions of woodworkers that worked in the cabinet and furniture industry diagnosed with nasal and lung diseases? After all dust collection is a realitively new standard. What about the 100 yrs only a broom and dust pan were used?

    My opinion is use reasonable care to work in a dust free enviroment, and if your work place needs, Hospital grade clean air, do something else!!
    My answer would be that only recently (say, 10 or 20yrs) have carcinogens such as cyanide been used in the production of MDF, plywood and particle board products where before only wood products were used? If the use of materials such as MDF has gone up due to cost issues I'd say that dust from those types of products is much more dangerous than typical wood dust, barring allergies and such, of course.

    Strickly speculation on my part.
    Silence is golden but duct tape is silver.

  15. #15
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    Any firefighter who has paid atention to his/her training will inform you of the potential explosion hazard of ANY airborne dust. Milk dust, concrete dust, wood dust, grain dust, ANY dust is explosive. This may not sound plausible to some of you and this can be duscussed in a later thread but I assure you that all firefighters (myself included when I was active) is instructed in this aspect (spontaneous combustion) of fire science.

    In any plant that creates a lot of dust, one of the most important airborne particulate concerns will be to reduce the risk of the explosive hazard of dust in the upper air areas of the plant where the dust and air and heat may mix to the right proportion and explode in a fireball. A secondary benefit of dust control is that the workers have a reduced exposure as well. Workers can wear breathing apparatus to control what enters their body while working in the plant but the plant MUST control the airborne dust to prevent ignition.

    There is, of course, dust that is still in the air and this is what the plant workers breathe in during their shifts. The dust is controlled to the point of it no longer being volatile but it's still in the air in amounts that may be hazardous to the health of the workers.

    My opinion is that it is cheaper for the plants to fund these studies instead of paying for the extra cost of some sort of better breathing apparatus and the health care costs of any adverse exposure to the workers that the plants may have to admit to.

    We all know this; if we breath in anything, dust, milk, soda, strips of bacon, ANYTHING except air what happens? Our body tries to cough and/or sneeze it out, sometimes violently bringing ourselves to tears right? (Who hasn't shot a liquid out their nose because we forgot NOT to breath while we were drinking? Hmmmm? ) That's our body telling us that it's not good for us and please don't do it again.

    For the uniformed home hobbyist/woodworker this report, IMO, is quite an injustice at the least and very dangerous at the most.

    Excuse me now please, I'm going to go change the filters in my respirator.
    Mark Rios

    Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.

    "All roads lead to a terrestrial planet finder telescope"

    We arrive at this moment...by the unswerving punctuality...of chance.

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