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November 19, 2007

Adverse Effect of Wood and Wood Dust

Many woodworkers are completely unaware of the hazardous nature of some of the woods we work with day in and day out. By hazardous I mean the toxins, irritants and sensitizers found in some woods. I have asthma, so I try to be extra careful around certain kinds of woods. But even with certain cautions in place, I still have asthma attacks occasionally in the shop. Because of this I decided to dig a little deeper into why some woods are worse than others for causing reactions. Don't think it's just asthmatics that have to be concerned. Wood toxins,irritants, and sensitizers can effect all of us.

Most woodworkers have had some kind of reaction to wood if they've been at it a while. For some, it may be something simple like hay fever which we may not get so concerned about, but don't take this too lightly. There is a growing body of evdence linking wood dust to nasal cancer.

Some people's adverse effects to certain kinds of woods may be much more severe. Some reactions can cause pneumonia, fibrosis (scarring of the lungs), nausea, dizziness, irregular heartbeats, and some cardiac
problems.

The problem with many of these reactions is you never know when it might happen. Reactions can occur from the first time you're exposed, or it may happen after being exposed several times. The important thing is to be prepared.

Dust collection is sometimes put down on our list of things to add to the shop. Cost being the primary reason. However, the first line of defense from having an adverse reaction to wood is to reduce the chances of exposure. Using a dust collector at the source where wood dust can enter the air is key.

Wood dust not only can cause a reaction by inhaling it from the air, it can also cause a reaction from sawdust settling on the skin. Certain species of hardwoods, including exotics, contain sensitizers. These sensitizers can cause eye inflamation, hay fever, asthma attacks, skin reactions, coughing, and respiratort diseases.

The list of woods below that can cause reactions is not complete. Any wood species has the potential to cause some type of reaction, especially if mold and mildew is present.

Wood	Reaction ¹⁾	Site ¹⁾	Potency	Source ¹⁾	Incidence ¹⁾
Bald Cypress	S	R	+	D	R
Balsam Fir	S	E, S	+	LB	C
Beech	S, C	E, S, R	++	LB, D	C
Birch	S	R	++	W, D	C
Black Locust	I, N	E, S	+++	LB	C
Blackwood	S	E, S	++	W, D	C
Boxwood	S	E, S	++	W, D	C
Cashew	S	E,S	+	W,D	R
Cocobolo	I,S	E,S,R	+++	W,D	C
Dahoma	I	E,S	++	W,D	C
Ebony	I,S	E,S	++	W,D	C
Elm	I	E,S	+	D	R
Goncalo Alves	S	E,S	++	W,D	R
Greenheart	S	E,S	+++	W,D	C
Hemlock	C	R	?	D	U
Iroko	I,S,P	E,S,R	+++	W,D	C
Mahogany	S,P	S,R	+	D	U
Mansonia	I,S	E,S	+++	W,D	C
Mansonia	N		+	D
Maple (Spalted)	S,P	R	+++	D	C
Mimosa	N		?	LB	U
Myrtle	S	R	++	LB,D	C
Oak	S	E,S	++	LB,D	R
Oak	C		?	D	U
Obeche	I,S	E,S,R	+++	W,D	C
Oleander	DT	N,C	++++	D,W,LB	C
Olivewood	I,S	E,S,R	+++	W,D	C
Opepe	S	R	+	D	R
Padauk	S	E,S,R	+	W,D	R
Pau Ferro	S	E,S	+	W,D	R
Peroba Rosa	I	R,N	++	W,D	U
Purpleheart		N	++	W,D	C
Quebracho	I	R,N	++	LB,D	C
Quebracho	C		?	D	U
Redwood	S,P	E,S,R	++	D	R
Redwood	C		?	D	U
Rosewoods	I,S	E,S,R	++++	W,D	U
Satinwood	I	E,S,R	+++	W,D	C
Sassafras	S	R	+	D	C
Sassafras	DT	N	+	D,W,LB	R
Sassafras	C		?	D	U
Sequoia	I	R	+	D	R
Snakewood	I	R	++	W,D	R
Spruce	S	R	+	W,D	R
Walnut, Black	S	E,S	++	W,D	C
Wenge	S	E,S,R	+	W,D	C
Willow	S	R,N	+	D,W,LB	U
West. Red Cedar	S	R	+++	D,LB	C
Teak	S, P	E,S,R	++	D	C
Yew	I	E,S	++	D	C
Yew	DT	N,C	++++	W,D	C
Zebrawood	S	E,S	++	W,D

Reaction:	Site:	Source:	Incidence:
¹⁾
I - irritant	S - skin	D - dust	R - rare
S - sensitizer	E - eyes	LB - leaves,bark	C - common
C - nasopharyngeal cancer	R - respiratory	W - wood	U - uncommon
P - pheumonitis, alveolitis	C - cardiac
DT - direct toxin
N - nausea, malaise

Reference:
1. Woods Toxic to Man, author unknown
2. Woods, B., Calnan, C.D., "Toxic Woods." Br. Journal of Dermatology 1976
3. ILO Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety 1983
4. Lame, K., McAnn, M., AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants, AMA 1985
5. Poisondex, Micromedix Inc. 1990

Plywood and other man-made materials should be handled with care as well. Some of these still contain
chemicals that are known to cause problems. Chemicals such as urea-formaldehyde, phenol-formaldehyde resin glues,and preservatives like CCA (chromate/copper/arsenate), creosote,zinc, copper napthenate, should be avoided if possible. Many manufactures have come out with alternatives to these chemicals due to bands being enacted in some states.

Am I trying to scare you into hanging up your shop apron? Absolutely NOT! Do I still use woods listed in the
table above? Yes, and I'll continue to do so but with as much caution and protection as possible. There are
some woods that I just have to avoid due to my asthma, but that's ok. My health is much more important to me, as it should be to you. Practice safety and caution when it comes to wood and wood dust: Use proper dust collection at the source before wood becomes airborne, wear a proper fitting dust mask or respirator that has been approved by the National Institute For Health, and finally wear clothing that covers the skin so wood dust can't settle on it. Hey, and one last tip that I heard from your mom, wash your hands after handling wood.

Other References to check out:

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/wooddust/

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/2002/10thrc.cfm

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/2000/rocrslt.cfm

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/badwood.htm (Another list of toxic wood)

-Craig Stevens

Comments (6)

Pol Mahov:

Hello! Good article and very Informative blog, I russian webmaster, my name Pol, and i have many websites.. If you want to sell your blog or exchange links, write in my email.
Thanks...

Posted by Pol Mahov | February 11, 2008 12:18 PM

Posted on February 11, 2008 12:18

Ted:

Reviewing your chart, I did not see pine, one of the more common woods used by woodworkers. How harmful is pine dust in the overall scheme of things?

Posted by Ted | May 9, 2008 4:15 PM

Posted on May 9, 2008 16:15

John Gray:

The chart lists 2 "OAKS". One red, one white, how does that go?

Posted by John Gray | May 10, 2008 12:10 AM

Posted on May 10, 2008 00:10

(WR) Craig Stevens:

Ted,

The dust itself is as harmful as any wood dust to the lungs. However, pine is not a wood that is very common to cause allergic reactions. This doesn't mean that it can't happen, just for most folks, it's unlikely.

There is one thing to keep in mind though and that's the fact that many of the woods listed in the article including pine can contain spalting. Spalting is caused by a fungus that grows in the wood. This happens as a piece of wood starts to decay.

Most woods don't bother me unless it has spalting in it. Then my asthma can really bother me if I don't wear a respirator. Even if you don't have asthma, I would strongly advise anyone to wear a respirator when working with spalted woods.

Hopes this helps.

Kind regards,

Craig Stevens

Posted by (WR) Craig Stevens | May 10, 2008 9:12 AM

Posted on May 10, 2008 09:12

(WR) Craig Stevens:

John,

The chart lists all "Oaks" together but separates them into two different "Reactions". One for being a Sensitizer and one for possibly causing Nasopharyngeal Cancer. That's why one of the oaks has a reaction listed as (S) and the other has a (C). This difference in reactions causes the other columns to be different as well, this is why they couldn't combine the two "oaks".

The same goes for some of the other woods listed on the chart such as sassafras which has three columns because it has three distinct "reactions".

I hope this helps.

Craig Stevens

Posted by (WR) Craig Stevens | May 10, 2008 9:33 AM

Posted on May 10, 2008 09:33

Jim Childress:

My experience was with plywood which developed a visible fungus on a small patch. I used a respirator and eye goggles while sanding this fungus, but I forgot about my ears. I developed an infection in one ear which took two different special ointments from the Doctor to finally cure.
Do Not forget about ear protection from a fungus.
Regards,
Jim

Posted by Jim Childress | May 10, 2008 2:43 PM

Posted on May 10, 2008 14:43

Adverse Effect of Wood and Wood Dust

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