Speaking of chemical hazards at work.....My first "real" Job out of college was with a contractor/builder firm where we designed and build institutional facilites and resort parks all over the country. It was a very "macho" firm in the middle of the dairyland where my request for dust masks and gas respirators were pretty much laughed off by most of the other employees and some of the older bosses. Yeah, they were a real tough bunch of guys who did not see anything wrong with inhaling painting furmes (lots of epoxy painting...bye bye liver if you don't watch out) and being around powerful parts cleaning solvents that they used to clean up everything in the shop everyday. We also did a lot of plastic welding and the gasses coming from the melting plastic welding rods were especially nasty. The mastic we used for building our construction models was also really bad, especially when it reacted with the blue and isocyanurate rigid foam insualtion boards we were using to mass out our models.
I think about that place of work once in a while and wonder who might be dead already from taking all that suff in. God knows how many other fresh faced college kids went through the same thing as I did since I left. I still think too that although I did try to always wear the particle masks and respirators when I'm near or handled the chimicals and materials that prooduced particulates and gasses, I could be in much better shape today if I never worked in there, but I guess that's pretty typical of first jobs with peanuts for pay.
So everyone watch out when working with any chemicals as the damage (I suspect genetic damage is not a long stretch) they can do might not just fade away but be permanent and stay with you for the rest of your life and suddenly show up as disease or sickness many years after you encounter them.
JMOs
Choimbi