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Torkel
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1396
Location: West Virginia, USA
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 Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:16 pm Post subject: Did you know that Painters die young (er)? |
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When I first read this I thought of Rev.Adam, because he is a painter.
http://www.choicechanges.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&p=76#76
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Did you know that Painters die young (er)?
By way of introduction to an article I found this morning,
I'm going to let slip a little personal history. Embarassed For most of my young adult life I was a painter for a living.. Not an artistic painter ( though I do that too, for fun). A Painter of walls, ceilings and trim. Not exclusively that either, I was also a resident property manager, with my partner, the man I had apprenticed with). Over the course of time, he and I grew apart. I left him, in 2001, because of irreconcilable differences about alcohol. (We remain good friends). After I left him, I joined the painter's union to round out my skills, and to have the "support" of a union body through negociation clout. I began the apprenticeship a little over the most basic bracket, because of credit for my years of experience, however all my application techniques were 'old fashioned brush and roll', nothing so high tech as spraying. I learned stuff in the apprenticeship that I never dreamed.
For years I had used nasty chemicals without real knowledge of the impact on my physical well being, usually without saftey equipment (like a respirator or gloves). I learned that putting your hands in thinner for a simple wash up, which I had done many times, was the equivalent of eight hours of exposure breathing the volatiles. I learned the specific damage those VOC's (volatile organic compounds) cause to brain, nerve and liver cells I learned that, contrary to what I had been taught about latex paint (my partner had taught me what he had been sold, that latex was practically safe enough to drink!), Paint molecules go through the skin barrier and also get injested when one handles food with paint on hands.. The latex paint molecules are in some ways WORSE then the so-called oil based paints, because they sit in the bottom of cells and are hard for the body to expell. So they accumulate, over time till the person develops a "sensitivity" to latex..
I also learned to spray. I started getting sick on a frequent basis... I developed what had been diagnosised as pneumonia, and had cold and flu symptoms more than I had ever had in my life. I attributed my apparent lack of immunity to stress from breaking up with my partner, not getting enough sleep, and being a single parent.
After several jobs within the union network, I secured a job (through recommendation from the head of the apprenticeship), working for a Port authority as a utility painter... I loved it! My boss and my co-workers were (are) tremendous people! Just a few months into settling in, I started getting sick on a more and more frequent basis... Cold and flu symptoms, watery eyes, rashes.. And I couldn't miss work because I couldn't afford it... One day, my boss told me to go and see a doctor... That was the last day I worked as a painter. I was told I had pneumonia again.. I went home and got worse! I coughed so hard I broke ribs and had two black eyes.. Finally my doctor sent me to an allergist... I had developed an allergy to nine of the fourteen species of MOLDs they test for.. One of those molds is the type that grows on latex, and my allergic reaction to it was serious. I could got attacks of an anaphylactic nature.
The house I rented was a moldy place... There had been an intermittant roof leak for two years, my landlord hadn't gotten around to fixing. On the advice of my doctor and my allergist I moved out... Temporarily, we had to move in with my sister's family because I was broke... There, my ribs healed and my breathing got better. Just when I thought I was well enough to return to work, I painted my sister's bathroom (with my doctor's recommendation) to see if I could handle the ladders and buckets. I had an immediate allergic reaction...
When my body had tipped over to "sensitive", it became sensitive not only to mold but to latex paint. That ended my career as a painter. I don't know which came first , the paint sensitivity or the mold, or if the two are somehow related, (like maybe some of the anti mold chemicals added to paint are similar to mycotoxins chemically? In my research I haven't been able to find that out.. Many chemical formulas are protected by patent laws and proprietary relationships in the manufacturing industry). And cleaning, which I used to do in apartment preparation, is out for aliving too...
There is more to the story, but it is unrelated to the article I am introducing about the chemicals industry and the impact on our environment when government favors industry over "public" health...
I want to add, that one of the other things I learned while in the apprenticeship was that of All the trade unions, painters have the LARGEST general retirement fund. The reason for this, is not because painters earn more money, (we earn the least), but because PAINTERs DIE SOONER. We are the canaries in modern western society for many chemicals the general public are only infrequantly exposed to... Does the industry use this information to make safer products? No, not unless it becomes more expensive than the life of a painter. Painter's lives are a dime a dozen.
>>>>
Dr. Bruce Barrett: Using precautionary rule for health makes sense
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=46467&ntpid=1
By Dr. Bruce Barrett
July 11, 2005
Life on earth evolved from and interacts with an incomprehensibly vast and complex array of chemical entities. Until modern times, however, no single species affected the biosphere substantially. With industrialization and population growth, humanity now threatens the existence of hundreds of species, and perhaps the long-term health of the planet as a whole.
In the United States alone, some 80,000 chemicals are in routine use. More than 3,000 of these are produced at the rate of more than a million pounds per year, with more than a billion pounds of known or suspected neurotoxins added to the environment annually.
Unfortunately, there is very little scientific understanding of potential consequences. Less than 1 percent of the most ubiquitous chemicals have been studied well enough to derive reasonably sounds conclusions regarding human or ecological impact. This is not the result of scientific failure, but instead a direct byproduct of political choices to favor industry over public health, and to avoid or minimize environmental health research.
To illustrate potential dangers, it may be instructive to briefly review the history of the heavy metal lead. While acute lead poisoning was known to the ancients, it was not until the first decades of the 20th century that toxicity from chronic low-level exposures emerged. Numerous observations of illness among people working with lead spurred Australia to ban leaded paint in 1920, followed by an international convention on lead in 1925. In the United States, where paint manufacturers had clout, and where the anti-knock properties of lead in gasoline were discovered in 1921, political-industrial expediency took precedence, and significant restrictions were postponed more than 50 years. In the United States, lead paint was not banned until 1976, and leaded gasoline not phased out until 1996.
During these 50 to 70 years, when lead should have been banned from paint and gasoline, thousands of people suffered acute lead poisoning, and tens of millions of children were exposed to lead levels sufficient to permanently impair their intellectual functioning. This is worth stating twice. There was enough evidence for several countries to ban lead in paint in 1920s. The United States did not do so until 1976. During the interval, tens of millions of children - at least 1 in every 10 kids - were poisoned sufficiently to cause permanent harm.
Wider appreciation and use of the "precautionary principle" could help avert similar disasters. As Tim O'Riordan and James Cameron have aptly noted in "Interpreting the Precautionary Principle" (1994), the precautionary idea originated in 1930s German democratic socialist thought: "The German concept of Vorsorgeprinzip means much more than the rough English translation of foresight planning. It absorbs notions of risk prevention, cost effectiveness ..., ethical responsibilities toward maintaining the integrity of natural systems, and the fallibility of human understanding."
The Rio Declaration resulting from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development described the precautionary principle as follows: "When there are threats of serious and irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."
A statement from the 1998 Wingspread environmental health conference says: "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."
While the precautionary principle reflects common sense, wisdom and perhaps even conservative values, recognition and implementation have been slow and elusive.
Meanwhile, reckless disregard for potential consequences holds the day, with environmental catastrophe brewing in every quarter. From mercury and dioxin to global warming, political exigencies trump public health and common sense. If you've read this far, you are perhaps already among those who want more stringent regulation and better science. If so, please help us spread to word, both in your daily lives and work, and in communications to your elected representatives. For information and action outlets, try www.psrmadison.org or www.wiscenvirohealth.org.
Above all, keep hope and keep at it, remembering Margaret Meade's famous quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Dr. Bruce Barrett is a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Wisconsin Environmental Health Network. He is an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at UW-Madison.
Published: 10:07 AM 7/11/05 |
Peace,
Torkel
_________________
Miller vs U.S. (230 F 2nd 486,489): "The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."
Miranda vs Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 125): "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule-making or legislation which would abrogate them."
HAGANS vs LAVINE (415 US 533 N-3,note 5): "Once JURISDICTION is challenged it must be proven by the Plaintiff." |
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Brother Adam
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 04 Feb 2005
Posts: 1915
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| Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:52 am Post subject: |
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Very good read Torkel! I was once told latex was safe enough to eat once it dried, but funny how they wouldn't prove it! It is a fine line that I walk as a painter, this I know for sure. I have always tried to practice the most stringent safety standards as a painter, including the proper handling of solvents and being environmentally conscious.
It's no secret to painters that the chemicals we use are extremely toxic. This is also not the first case I've heard of someone leaving the industry due to toxicity and sensitivities.
Thankfully, since I own the company, we don't use oil based paints anymore. I use only quality latex paints because they are just as good as thier oil counter-parts now days. If I have to use something solvent based I use alkyd paints which are a lot less taxing on the environment and the people that use them. As for the latex I use, they are all low to zero VOC (volatile organic compounds) which means less odor and dangers.
Rubber gloves are not a bad idea when handling solvents or oil based paints regardless how un-cool you look. Adequate ventilation of work areas and using respirators where necessary is standard practice for me. Never spray without a mask and a spray sock, etc.
Again, a very good reminder of the dangers for those who work in the field I do. It's funny because some people think the worst way a painter can get hurt is falling off a ladder. I have seen a 250lb man hit the floor from asphixiation. Dangers are everywhere, and being dilligent is how I hope to survive for a long time!
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
-James Madison
Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face. |
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Torkel
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1396
Location: West Virginia, USA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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I wish you safety & luck in your work, Adam. 
Peace,
Torkel
_________________
Miller vs U.S. (230 F 2nd 486,489): "The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."
Miranda vs Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 125): "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule-making or legislation which would abrogate them."
HAGANS vs LAVINE (415 US 533 N-3,note 5): "Once JURISDICTION is challenged it must be proven by the Plaintiff." |
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