On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:23:28 -0700, Mark & Juanita
wrote:

On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 19:15:27 -0700, "David Hakala"
wrote:

Well, I'll go with the experts on this:


WOODD-DUST-EXPOSURE
NASAL-CANCER

WOOD DUST AND SINO-NASAL CANCER: POOLED REANALYSIS OF TWELVE CASE-CONTROL
STUDIES
Data from 12 case control studies conducted in seven countries were pooled
and reanalyzed in an effort to examine the relationship between wood dust
and sino/nasal cancer. There was a high risk of adenocarcinoma among male
employees in wood related occupations, with the greatest risk found for
those in jobs with the highest wood dust exposure and increased duration of
exposure. The risk of adenocarcinoma was also greater among women employed
in wood related jobs. An excess of squamous cell carcinoma appeared in women
in dust exposed jobs, which increased with the duration of exposure, but
only men employed for 30 or more years showed an increased risk of squamous
cell carcinoma. The authors conclude that the study provides strong support
to the link between wood dust exposure with various occupations and the risk
of sino/nasal adenocarcinoma, but the evidence with regard to squamous cell
carcinomas is ambiguous.

American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 28(2):151-166, 1995. (36
references)

http://infoventures.com/osh/abs/wood0002.html


Not very helpful. "high", "... also greater", "an excess of .."
"increased risk" are all very fuzzy assertions. What is the definition of
higher risk? Twice as likely? 4 times? These are important questions
since epidemiological studies generally consider anything less than 2 times
as great to be down in the noise and inconclusive -- especially when
dealing with cause and effect kind of numbers over the lifetimes of
individuals. Often there are many confounding factors.

Note, I'm not recommending that people ignore the hazards of wood dust --
just the annoyance should be enough to make one wear a dusk mask. However,
the "moon-suited" woodworker is probably going overboard.




+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety

Army General Richard Cody

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I'm sure all those questions are answered in the study itself. It
wouldn't get into a peer-reviewed journal without a lot of hard
numbers and methodology.

--RC
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B