John Baymore on tue 27 oct 98
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Hi all.
I recieved this e-mail below from Monona, who was away presenting at a
conference. She asked me to forward it to the CLAYART list for her. Some
serious food for thought here...... I know it has me thinking more on a
subject I have already spent time considering a lot already. This
information appears to be =22hot off the presses=22....with an Oct 16 date =
on
it.
Here it is:
John,
I read your post on ceramic fiber and agree with much of the technical
information. My conclusions, however are a bit different.
I'd like to add some new information to the debate from the the brand new
U.S.-EU labor Federation that just met in Luxembourg. On October 16, they
agreed to establish cooperative efforts in order to boost safety in the
workplaces on both sides of the pond. The agreement was announced by
the AFL-CIO and the European Trade Union Confederation.
The coalition announced a new dialog on information on four issues. One
was
on asbestos. The European Trade Union Confederation is pushing a complete
EU
ban on all types of the material. The EU currently bans three of four
types
of asbestos fibers. (The US allows asbestos in the workplace so long as
strict monitoring of exposure assures that exposure is below OSHA
standards.)
Conference participants also raised concerns that newer fibers that are
being
used in the place of asbestos may pose a potential health hazard. The
summary report on the session titled =22Rulemaking--Specific Agents =
Asbestos,
Silica and Ergonomics=22 said (and I quote): =22With the long lag times in
developing symptoms, the world could find as large a problem with
artificial
fibers as it did with asbestos 30 years ago.=22
This means that at the very beginning of this international effort,
artificial fibers such as ceramic fiber was one of the first issues.
The refractory ceramic fiber (RCF) manufacturers themselves publish
booklets
telling users to do air monitoring and adhere to a 1 fiber per cc standard.
But potters are not doing personal air monitoring as they install RCF, load
and unload RCF kilns, clean up pottery dust, or fire raku.
This means that according to the RCF manufacturer's own publications, RCF
should not be used under the conditions that exist in our potteries.
The RCF manufacturers are joined in this opinion by the new US/EU
coalition, the U.S. EPA, and literally thousands of agencies and experts
world wide.
What, then, gives us the right to experiment with the lives of our
students,
family members exposed to dust on our clothing, or anyone else we encourage
to use a substance which so many experts now think can cause disability or
death?
Monona
ACTS
181 Thompson St., =23 23
NYC NY 10012-2586 212/777-0062
Louis Katz on wed 28 oct 98
The only commercial success that I have really ever had was my slipcast glaze
that was made in a fiber mold. The stuff was cool. I gave it up as the MSDS's
seemed to be pointing towards a very hazardous substance. It is sticky stuff,
you carry it around on your clothes, It remains on them after the wash, its in
your hair. I know that there are those out there who believe the risk is
minimal, maybe it is, maybe it will only result in a few percent decrease in
your lung capacity, but what will that do to your quality of life?
You can read about my experieces with slipcast glass at
:http://www2.tamucc.edu/lkatz/lkatz/articles/SlipcastGlass.html
Louis
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