8 votes

The hobby with hidden health risks - Even the most basic DIY activities can lead to potentially fatal health conditions without proper protective equipment and training

8 comments

  1. [6]
    skybrian
    Link
    The advice to wear a mask seems fine, but it's a bit troubling that this story doesn't do much to try to quantify how bad these risks are. If you don't do that then the implicit standard is binary...

    The advice to wear a mask seems fine, but it's a bit troubling that this story doesn't do much to try to quantify how bad these risks are. If you don't do that then the implicit standard is binary (safe/unsafe) and everything is a tiny bit unsafe.

    Also, we really should do something about Prop 65 warnings.

    14 votes
    1. [5]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Why is that "troubling"? Not every article needs to be written like a scientific paper, and not everyone wants to read something that acts like one, i.e. quantifying the exact levels of risk...
      • Exemplary

      Why is that "troubling"? Not every article needs to be written like a scientific paper, and not everyone wants to read something that acts like one, i.e. quantifying the exact levels of risk involved in every single activity mentioned in it. The article is just meant to serve as a warning for people to be more aware of the potential risks when dealing with inhaling particulate (even wood dust), since a lot of people clearly don't realize how dangerous that could potentially be, and often still forgo respirators even when they are doing jobs and DIY projects that kick up a lot of it.

      E.g. I myself am currently in the middle of a bunch of new DIY home improvement projects (which is why I haven't been around Tildes as much lately), and I even just ordered about $1k worth of new woodworking/carpentry tools a few days ago to get them done easier/quicker. Yet despite spending all that money, I totally failed to buy any PPE to go along with it all, which I now intend to remedy, and which is also why I found this article particularly serendipitous, relevant, and informative.

      And it should also be noted that nearly every link in this article is to studies that do exactly what you're complaining is lacking in the article... attempt to quantify the risks. Links found in the article:

      Occupational exposure to wood dust and risk of lung cancer in two population-based case–control studies in Montreal, Canada

      Particle size, size distribution and morphological evaluation of airborne dust particles of diverse woods by Scanning Electron Microscopy and image processing program

      Cross-shift and longitudinal changes in FEV1 among wood dust exposed workers

      Wood dust exposure and lung cancer risk: a meta-analysis

      Occupational exposure to wood dust and risk of nasal and nasopharyngeal cancer: A case-control study among men in four nordic countries—With an emphasis on nasal adenocarcinoma

      Mesothelioma in Australia: cresting the thirdwave

      Asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales

      Increasing incidence of malignant mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos during home maintenance and renovation

      Severe Silicosis in Engineered Stone Fabrication Workers - California, Colorado, Texas, and Washington, 2017-2019

      IL-10-Producing CD1dhiCD5+ Regulatory B Cells May Play a Critical Role in Modulating Immune Homeostasis in Silicosis Patients

      Occupational exposure to lead: Effects on renal function

      Occupational and Community Exposures to Toxic Metals: Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic

      Lead poisoning cases associated with environmental sources

      Long-term Emission of Volatile Organic Compounds from Waterborne Paints – Methods of Comparison

      Volatile Organic Compounds: Do they present a risk to our health?

      Volatile Organic Compounds and Smog

      p.s. Offtopic/meta, but have you ever considered how comments like yours might actually have a chilling effect? By complaining about the article as if it's promoting some artificial binary (which I don't believe it is), and lacking critical information (which I would argue it's not, because of how well sourced it is), you may have unintentionally convinced a number of people who read your comment first that the article was not worth reading, or that the risks mentioned in it are potentially not valid and not worth seriously considering.

      12 votes
      1. [3]
        skybrian
        Link Parent
        After thinking about it for a while, I think you're right. In particular, this isn't a bad article. As you say, it can be a useful starting point, and there's nothing wrong with sharing it. It's a...
        • Exemplary

        After thinking about it for a while, I think you're right. In particular, this isn't a bad article. As you say, it can be a useful starting point, and there's nothing wrong with sharing it.

        It's a long article and I read it too quickly (skimmed, really, because I felt like I was in a hurry) and it wasn't as practical as I hoped, so I complained a bit. (I actually started to write more and deleted it, because I was in a hurry.)

        Complaining is a bad habit of mine. I think that a better thing to do might be to ask "what would I do if I were actually curious about this?" The first thing would be to do some web searches to find other articles that better address what I'm curious about, and share those. That is, the best response if you don't like how some author handles things is to find better articles to share. In this way we could encourage each other to share more articles rather than sharing fewer.

        Although it's less important, I'll say a little more about what I'd like to see. This article covers a lot of ground. It covers quite a few different substances, including wood dust, asbestos, quartz aggregate, lead, paint, and formaldehyde.

        For any one of these substances, here are some practical questions I'd want to be able to answer:

        • How much do-it-yourselfers really need to worry about this? What do we know about the risks? This is basically a job for a science reporter, to read scientific papers, talk to experts, put risks into context, and say how much still remains to be learned. (This article does some of that, but I still think we're missing context.)
        • How do I recognize when I might get into trouble?
        • What do I do to protect myself?

        But answering these questions for any single substance would be a pretty long article in itself. It's not fair to expect the author of any one article to cover it all.

        11 votes
        1. [2]
          cfabbro
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Thanks for taking the time to consider my reply, reconsider the article, and even make some more well thought out points and suggestions in your own reply as well. I genuinely appreciate it. :)...

          Thanks for taking the time to consider my reply, reconsider the article, and even make some more well thought out points and suggestions in your own reply as well. I genuinely appreciate it. :) And I would even love to see some of those additional questions answered myself as well, so will probably go hunting for that info too.

          But in the mean time, I wound up buying some good quality safety glasses, N95 masks, A5 cut-resistant gloves, and disposable Nitrile gloves as well. Hopefully that will be sufficient PPE for all of the DIY tasks I intend on tackling over the next few months, but I may also pick up a half-face respirator at some point too.


          p.s. Speaking of DIY... here's what I have been working on for the last few days. I power-washed, and re-bedded+graded+laid all the formerly badly sunken, moss-covered, ant & weed infested, and poorly installed back patio stones (the previous owners laid the stones directly onto gravel, with no bedding sand layer). I wish I had taken some more before pics to show how bad it was beforehand, but c'est la vie.

          Inside the storage shed was the worst, and some of the stones were almost vertical due to how much they had sunk in places. But now it's all properly bedded, compacted, and nicely level + graded away from the house, so we can finally start using it for tool and mower storage again without having to worry about water pooling inside it.

          And once I am done with the entire patio, I also have some high quality, poly-sand for joint filling now too, which should help prevent the ants, moss and weeds from taking over again afterwards.

          3 votes
      2. skybrian
        Link Parent
        I think this deserves a longer response but I’m going to wait a bit.

        I think this deserves a longer response but I’m going to wait a bit.

        3 votes
  2. [2]
    knocklessmonster
    Link
    They aren't particularly hidden if you think about it. Anything but clean, fresh air is bad for your lungs, eyes, and mucus membranes. Cancer from wood dust wasn't something that crossed my mind,...

    They aren't particularly hidden if you think about it. Anything but clean, fresh air is bad for your lungs, eyes, and mucus membranes. Cancer from wood dust wasn't something that crossed my mind, but it's more or less the same way asbestos causes it via irritation.

    Heck, I'm an occasional solderer, and I'm bad about my equipment. I'll come away from a project with my right eye feeling dry and sticky because I don't have a fan, but I also don't thing I'm at risk because it's not often I do a project that has me over hot flux. OTOH, if I get a cataract in thirty years I may know why.

    The article was interesting because it shined a light on things I hadn't considered, like counter tops, wood, and untouched asbestos.

    4 votes
    1. bub
      Link Parent
      The implied lifehack is to make human augmentation and prosthetics your DIY hobby so that you can just outrun the cancer by replacing parts.
      • Exemplary

      The implied lifehack is to make human augmentation and prosthetics your DIY hobby so that you can just outrun the cancer by replacing parts.

      9 votes