Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:30:40 EST
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
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From: ACTSNYC**At_Symbol_Here**CS.COM
Subject: Re: Safety Clearinghouse [Was: Cryogenics face shield?]

The clearinghouse is a good idea because everything old becomes new again as young people are coming up.  In the 1980s there were lawsuits for hexane neuropathy, even two artists were disabled.  It is an unusual kind of neuropathy and can be identified on nerve biopsy, so suits are easier than most personal injury suits.  Now I see n-hexane showing up again in products--even products manufacturered by one of the companies that was sued.  How quickly they forget.

The best story to get student's attention about hexane is that Bowman, the inventor of the Niki shoe, invented the special sole of the shoe in his home kitchen using his wife's waffle iron.  The rubber was dissolved in a hexane solution and volatilized during forming.  He become fabulously rich, but walked with a leg brace for the rest of his life.

Monona Rossol


From: Rita Kay Calhoun <r.calhoun**At_Symbol_Here**moreheadstate.edu>

Rob,
                A clearinghouse sounds great.  I know that I didn't realize that hexane  could cause neuropathy until someone brought it up in a post a few months ago.  Something else that would be neat is a list of specific incompatibilities that might be encountered, even something as simple as don't clean safety goggles (or Plexiglas) with acetone.  This isn't really a safety issue except that you wouldn't be able to see through the goggles.

Kay<

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