On Fri, 4 Apr 2003 08:36:59 +0100, "Paul D.Smith"
wrote:

Any idea what the compound was or what the exposure rate was? I remember
years ago when I was still a chemist being told that benzene was considered
dangerous but toluene (benzene plus CH3 replacing one H) was not. My
teacher claimed that the only definite benzene deaths were people who worked
in the benzene production industry i.e. having high, prolonged exposures.

Of course it's always possible that the problem is groundwater contamination
and the like but given the amount of creosote used per annum, if it was that
bad, surely we'd all be keeling over by now?

Paul DS.


In the war, troops were given bromide tablets to restrict their
libido. Also, 'elastoplast'-type plasters used to have benzene/bromide
mix as part of the wadding infusion as bromide has the effect of
killing the mucus membranes...

I used to be a Paint Chemist at International Paint in 1970's and was
exposed on a daily basis to all sorts of now, so-called 'hazardous
chemicals' over 4 years.The worst was Pyratine (Pyronol)

To date, no nasties...

MG