Is metalworking fluid giving you cancer?

By Sarah Falson

Fuchs Lubricants has announced that the fluids it sells to
metalworking operations in Australia do not contain biocides, which
have been found to contain a carcinogen that causes cancer in humans.

“A large number of popular metalworking fluids currently on the
Australian market contain biocides,” said Rob Hughes, commercial sales
manager of Fuchs Lubricants (Australasia).

In June this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
listed formaldehyde – a key ingredient in metalworking fluid biocides
– as a known human cancer causing carcinogen, Hughes said.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services; “There is
now sufficient evidence from studies in humans to show that
individuals with higher measures of exposure to formaldehyde are at
increased risk for certain types of rare cancers, including
nasopharyngeal (the nasopharynx is the upper part of the throat behind
the nose), sinonasal, as well as a specific cancer of the white blood
cells known as myeloid leukemia.”

Hughes says although biocides are prevalent in cutting fluids, there
are some options available on the market that don’t contain this
dangerous element.

read more...
http://www.safetowork.com.au/news/is...ing-you-cancer