About This Archive  | DCHAS-L 2017 Index   | DCHAS-L Yearly Index
person wearing a disposable face shield and surgical style mask

Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.

Previous by Date:
Subject: Re: Fwd: [DCHAS-L] Formic acid
Date: Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 4:15:36 PM
Author: Lawrence M Gibbs <lgibbs**At_Symbol_Here**STANFORD.EDU> 		Next by Date:
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Posts from SafetyRisk.net for 04/07/2017
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 15:11:09 -0700
Author: Ralph Stuart

From: Harry J. Elston <helston**At_Symbol_Here**MIDWESTCHEMSAFETY.COM>
Subject: Re: Fwd: [DCHAS-L] Formic acid
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 15:24:31 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: CAJ2hcff42-hZqXXuPMqbKWHv6=GZONcveXMJDfuHF4eTkW6gMg**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


Toxicity and occupational exposure limits (in this case the PEL) may or may not be related. Toxicity's xicity's endpoint is death (LD50); an OEL endpoint is preventing occupational illness over the course of a working lifetime.

Harry

Sent from my mobile device.

On Apr 6, 2017 14:42, "Ferm, Barret" <000003e16e810599-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:

Is it just me, or is the following entry in the Wikipedia entry on formic acid misleading, or even deceptive?

"Safety

Formic acid has low toxicity [emphsis added] (hence its use as a food additive), with an LD50 of 1.8 g/kg (oral, mice). The concentrated acid is corrosive to the skin.[6]"

Farther below in the same section, however, it says the OSHA PEL is 30 ppm. Elsewhere it gives the NFPA hazard codes: H=3, F=2, R=1.

How can they say it is "low toxicity"?

~Barry Ferm

Chemical Hygiene Officer
Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator

--- This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
--- This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post


The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.