vaughn

Hope y'all don't mind an occasional beryllium posting. This is an obscure
report of a Canadian beryllium conference that jumped out on Google news:
http://www.industrialsourcebook.com/cgi-bin/archivef.pl?id=556

It has three significant points that I would like to highlight:

First, the opening statement (nothing new but well-stated): "Although the
use of beryllium and its alloys is spreading, the 30-year-old exposure limit
designed to protect workers does not, in fact, protect anyone."

Second, this tidbit (which I have seen before but seldom repeat because few
would believe me): " The current threshold limit value (TLV) of 2 ug/m3 in
an eight hour shift, says Mroz, is known as the "taxi cab standard." A few
scientists sharing a cab ride felt that since beryllium is 100 times more
toxic than lead, the safety limit should be 100 times less than that allowed
for lead. They added in a bit of a safety factor and decided upon the 2
ug/m3. The U.S. Occu-pational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) and many
Canadian jurisdictions still use that exposure limit, which is not based on
science and is too high to protect workers."

And Third, this statement which I think is the "900# Gorilla" that everyone
in dentistry is trying to ignore: " Beryllium is a very hard but light metal
used in: ... and dental work (where grinding of crowns can release beryllium
dust inside a patient's mouth).

Statistically speaking, there must be the occasional dental patient
killed by beryllium dust released inside the mouth by polishing, grinding
and cutting beryllium-containing dental alloys in the oral cavity. Does
anybody care?

Vaughn

dr steve

The bad part is you have no way of knowing if the metal you are staring at
has beryllium in it.

--
~+--~+--~+--~+--~+--
Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S.
Troy, Michigan, USA
DrSteve@Mancuso.d.d.s.com
{remove first 3 dots for email}
.................................................. ...

This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes only.
Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on
the advice or opinion expressed here. Only a dentist who has examined you
in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will affect
your health.
.......................
Please ignore j..d...
~~~~``````````#####----