There is some truth to skin reaction to breathing reaction.

When you go in to find out allergies (cat, dog, trees, molds etc), they put
a "solution" on your arm. If it reacts (rash) then they know you are
allergic to it.

I am going to turn some Teak now - hopefully that will be ok for me. Never
done it before. Looking at wood toxicity
(http://www.riparia.org/toxic_woods.htm), it looks like it has minimal
reaction.

As for the dust - I always wear a mask any more when doing lathe work. Non
allergic dust can be a problem if you get too much of it ... especially
since I don't have a dust collector system.

Darren

"Maxprop" wrote in message
hlink.net...

"Chuck" wrote in message

Topical irritation isn't indicative of a systemic reaction to an
allergen, which is what anaphylaxis is. I have a pretty severe skin
reaction to morado (the aforementioned "bolivian rosewood") but it
causes no other allergic reactions whatsoever, and I am an asthmatic.
AAMOF, the only thing I've ever turned that gave me any breathing
difficulties was some bone-dry birch, which actually just made my
throat sore.

It's been a while since professional school, but I seem to recall that
skin
sensitivity testing is predictive of the potential for systemic
hypersensitivity. Your experience, while encouraging, may not be
conclusive. I'd use caution around those substances to which you react.

Max