National Poison Prevention Week March 17 - 23, 2013.

Observe National Poison Prevention Week March 17 - 23, 2013. 

In the What Causes MDS post  of a few days ago, I raised the specter of the possible role plastics might have in ruining our health - or as the ancient Greeks would say, disrupting the balance of our humors.

After the jump we will look at a few of the ingredients of plastic, hear a brief soliloquy from Tom Lehrer,
and ask a provocative question.

So put on your lab coats, and lets go...





Soundtrack

Benzene

Early applications

From Wikipedia, italicized emphasis mine.

In the 19th and early-20th centuries, benzene was used as an after-shave lotion because of its pleasant smell.

 Prior to the 1920s, benzene was frequently used as an industrial solvent, especially for degreasing metal. As its toxicity became obvious, benzene was supplanted by other solvents, especially toluene (methyl benzene), which has similar physical properties but is not as carcinogenic.

In 1903, Ludwig Roselius popularized the use of benzene to decaffeinate coffee. This discovery led to the production of Sanka (Sanka = sans caféine = without caffeine).  This process was later discontinued.

ed. comment  : still available  here at Wal Mart !

Benzene was historically used as a significant component in many consumer products such as Liquid Wrench, several paint strippers, rubber cements, spot removers and other hydrocarbon-containing products. Some ceased manufacture of their benzene-containing formulations in about 1950, while others continued to use benzene as a component or significant contaminant until the late 1970s when leukemia deaths were found associated with Goodyear's Pliofilm production operations in Ohio. Until the late 1970s, many hardware stores, paint stores, and other retail outlets sold benzene in small cans, such as quart size, for general-purpose use.

 Many students were exposed to benzene in school and university courses while performing laboratory experiments with little or no ventilation in many cases. This very dangerous practice has been almost totally eliminated.

Ingredients used in making Plastic

Excuse the wikipedia links, but my confidence level in the information on this topic is very high.
(I have less trust in the wiki medical info.)

So, you got your
PAHs    (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)
and your
PCBs     (polychlorinated biphenyls)

Put-em together and whaddaya got?

Plastic. 

Most of the ingredients are lliquid or semisolid substances that get catalyzed, causing  polymerization, and thus become plastics. 

OK, so that is the Reader's Digest version, but the point is that most all of the stuff that goes into today's plastics are Petro-Chemicals.    

"Oil that is, Black Gold, Texas Tea"

The very stuff Flatt and Scruggs immortalized in 
The Ballad of Jed Clampett.   

 .  

And that is what current thinking was back then, in my youth, when Mr Robinson told Ben, "Plastics".

Well of course plastics, it was made out of  oil, and who owned the oil wells?

I feel a rant coming on, so I will save that topic for a  later post, but here is your home work:

Compare and Contrast the  Robber - Barons from the turn of the century before last, with the Robber-Barons at the turn of this last century.   

Send me your essays, and I will post them on a dedicated page of this blog site. capnchris@gmail.com, with robber -barons in the subject. 

The Question

Can you think of one day in your life when you did not come in contact with one or more of these substances?

Liquid Wrench
Rust-Ban 392
Sunoco Household Oil
3-In-One Electric Motor Oil
3-In-One Household Oil
Gardner Blacktop Driveway Sealer
Gardner EZ STIR Filler Sealer
Parks Furniture Refinisher
Parks Adhesive Remover
Parks Mineral Spirits Paint Thinner
Parks Lacquer Thinner
Parks Brush Cleaner
Parks PRO liquid Paint Stripper
Parks liquid Strip
Parks Lacquer Thinner 6/13/97
Parks Adhesive Remover 9/4/98
Parks liquid Deglosser 9/4/98
Gumoutregane Premium Gas Treatment
Gumoutxtra 1 Tank Carb Cleaner
Gumouttune Up Spray
Gumoutcarb/Fuel Injector Cleaner (Aerosol)
Gumoutcarb/Fuel Injector Cleaner (liquid)
Gumoutdiesel Fuel System Cleaner
Gumoutcold Weather Diesel Treatment
Gumoutliquid Intake Cleaner
Classic Aerosol Wax
Champion Carb. Cleaner
Champion Flush Off Degreaser
Champion Brake Cleaner
Champion Cold Galvanize
Champion Galv Off
Champion CS+
Champion N/F 4 Way Penetrating Oil
Champion Stainless Steel Cleaner
Champion X It Out Vandal Mark Remover
Champion Super Lubricant
Champion Spray Paint
Champion Flying Insect Killer
Champion Fire Ant Killer
Champion Multi Insect/lice Killer
Champion Indoor Insect Fogger
Champion Ant & Roach
Champion Metered Insecticide
Bonide Grass, Weed & Vegetation Killer
Ortho Weed-B-Gone
Staffel's Screwwork Compound-U.S.
Formula M 62 Insecticide
Dr. Rogers Screw Worm Smear Formula No. 62
Martin's Formula No. 62 Screw Work Smear for Horses and Mules
Thoroseal Redi Mix Paint
Naptha
VM & P Naptha
Benzene in Toluene Products
Ethylbenzene
Toluene
Toluene + Xylene
Xylene
Benzene in Organic Solvents
Butadiene
Butene
Cumene
Cyclohexanol
Cyclohexanol C
Dichloropentadiene
Isoprene
Monochlorobenzene
Piperylene
Hexane
Hexane C
Benzene in Solvents and Other Products
Asphalts
Calibrating Fluid
Charcoal lighter Fluid
Contact cements
C9 Aromatics
Dicyclopentadiene
Elastomeric Adhesives
Ethylbenzene
Hexane
Hydraulic Fluds
Kerosene
Ink Markers
Lacquer Thinner
Lantern Fuel & Gas Stove
Leather Black and Stain
liquid Polish
liquid Wrench
Mineral Spirits
140* Flash Aliphatic
140* Flash Aliphatic: Solvent
Paste Polish
Rubber Cement
Rubber Solvent
Shell DAN
Shell Rubber solvent
Shell Sol Bj-77BG
Shell Sol BJ-19EG
Spray Lubricant
Slop Oil
Solvasol
Solvasol 2
Stoddard Solvent
Trimethybenzene
Unland screen developer
Varnish Makers
Vinyl Thinner
VM & P napthol
Coke Ovens

Wait, there's More!

Activities/Uses Involving Benzene

• Emissions motor vehicle exhaust
• Burning coal and oil
• Painting and lithography
• Dry cleaning
• Making chemicals used to make:
  • Plastics
  • Resins
  • Nylon and synthetic fibers
• Making some types of:
  • Lubricants
  • Rubbers
  • Dyes
  • Detergents
  • Pharmaceutical drugs
  • Agricultural chemicals (pesticides)

Industries Using Benzene

• Petrochemical manufacturing
• Petroleum refining
• Coke and coal chemical manufacturing
• Rubber tire manufacturing
• Gasoline storage, shipment, and retail operations
• Plastics and rubber manufacturing
• Shoe manufacturing

Occupations/People Who May Be Exposed To Benzene

• Steel workers
• Printers
• Rubber workers
• Shoe makers
• Laboratory technicians
• Gasoline service station employees

Places Where Benzene May Be Found

• Air around waste sites and gas service stations
• Contaminated well water, as a result of benzene leaks from underground storage tanks or hazardous waste sites containing benzene

Whew, and that is not all of them. 

OK Kids, here is a Bonus Soundtrack! for sticking with me this far.
(Plastic Fantastic Lover, Jefferson Airplane. What else?  )
Oh yeah, and  Plastic People by Frank Zappa )

Oh,and guess what? 

The Pills you take are wrapped in plastic !

Well some use gelatin, but some still use plastic, 
specifically Phthalates     noun  Pronunciation: "THAL-ates."

Learn more here at the Tox Town Site

a branch of our NIH !  See our tax dollars really are at work doing good things!

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

excerpt from the Tox Town site:

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to soften and increase the flexibility of plastic and vinyl.  Polyvinyl chloride is made softer and more flexible by the addition of phthalates. Phthalates are used in hundreds of consumer products.

Phthalates are used in cosmetics and personal care products, including perfume, hair spray, soap, shampoo, nail polish, and skin moisturizers. They are used in consumer products such as flexible plastic and vinyl toys, shower curtains, wallpaper, vinyl miniblinds, food packaging, and plastic wrap.

Phthalates are also used in wood finishes, detergents, adhesives, plastic plumbing pipes, lubricants, medical tubing and fluid bags, solvents, insecticides, medical devices, building materials, and vinyl flooring.

Phthalates had been used to make pacifiers, soft rattles, and teethers, but at the request of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, U.S. manufacturers have not used phthalates in those products since 1999.

Pacifiers, teethers!  sheesh! what were they thinking, or were they even thinking? 

 Was is greed or ignorance?

Ever wonder if the French were laughing up their sleeves at us as they marketed  Evian?

(Naive Spelled Backwards)

Remember these plastic instruments, the "Flutophones" a cross between a penny whistle and a recorder?

We were given them in First Grade, and your lips would be tingling and buzzing after about 10 minutes as your saliva worked on the polystyrene.


OK, that is enough food for thought, and you do have homework. ;)

Next up is Styrene, which is not a petroleum product but is a resin that  comes from the Oriental Sweet Gum Tree.  And we will touch on the ingredients that Henry Ford used to build and power a plastic automobile.

Actually, I think the next post is about transfusions, lest I stray too far afield from the  Narrow Marrow Way.

stay tuned,

C