Asides from burns, is there really anything that concerns you health wise from chemicals from various synths, or dust from handiling compositions?

Although it has beenabout 4 years since I last did anything pyro related, I have a small paranoia about some particular inncedents...

From my friend who worked a lot with modelling, and various things solvent related (Hobby builders are exposed to lots of toxic crap from what I have seen, solvents, glues, puttys, aerosol spray) and he was telling me how bad Acetone was for you for skin contact. I don't know if he was reffering to as long-time exposure, but it still kinda made me think...

There was several occasions where I had bits of acetone spilled on my hands... but the worst happened when an entire bottle tipped over in my lab, coating the workdesk. I was mopping it up with paper towels, and I remember the place wasnt very well ventelated so I got woozy and a headache fast, but the worst part was for about a minute and a half I could not speak I don't know if it was my vocal cords going dead, but all that came out when I tried to talk was a kind of wheeze. It quickly went away, but that shit was scary. Havent been near the stuff since, but it kinda worries me what other long-term effects things like that might have.

I used to take apart lots of fireworks, especially the whisiling kind (Screecharoos, humeroos, screaming deamons, ect) and when the powder is broken up it forms dusty quite easily. A lot of these times were without resparators, and I think I inhaled a bit on a few occasions. I do remember getting headaches alot then.

The last one was somehing that grabbed my attention was when people here were debating weather naphaline was carcinogenic. On 2 occasions I powdered store-bought mothballs with a morter and pestel. Fortunatley, the powder was relly clumpy and didnt go airborne, but I did use it in a tube FAE. But one thing was is that I have seen some shows on special effects where these guys are making "Nap bombs" for fireballs, and ther was footage of a technitian with a barrel of "Industrial naphthaline" which looked like dry clumps of crystals, and he was breaking it down into a powder by grinding the clumps into a wire screen... so i dunno.

But the thing is, is that 2 of my grandparents died of cancer, so i might be due for it anyways

Mostly gases, accidental ignition (hot gases), dust inhalation and chemical burns. Or when a gas combines with a liquid (chlorine gas and saliva)

One to be worried about is MEK. It can seep in through your skin and it's very poisonous. I've heard of people burping after spilling it on themselves and having it taste like MEK.

I think Rabid may have a story about that, but I might have the wrong person.

I try to protect myself as much as I can, wearing a mask for dusts, vents for fumes, but as far as getting shit on me, I don't really sweat it. I've had just about every solvent and major acid spilled on me. Sulfuric, HCl, acetic anhydride, HNO3 both red and white fuming, HI acid and tons more.

I taste most of the stuff I use at one point. Like solvents. Just a taste. Tasted NaOH on accident the other day, had residue on my hand, and didn't know, and wiped my mouth, and GOOD GOD did it burn.

I've turned my hands orange with conc. HOOH, and tons more shit. I mean, I could go on and on forever with a list of shit I've ingested or been exposed to one way or another.

I do my best to protect against the worst of it, but acetone on my hands? No big deal. I just used it to wash glue off earlier today. The fumes, yeah, I avoid that, and have had that happen, not being able to talk but just getting it on you is no biggy.

Oh, and HNO3 will straight lock your lungs the fuck up. I mean, a tiny bit, and you just plain can't breath. The more you inhale, the longer they lock. You just have to pray that it wasn't so much that you asphyxiate and die before you can breath again.

Apparently MEK is a carcinogen, according to my bottle of resin catalyst.

Also, isn't sodium benzoate a carcinogen too? I wouldn't be grinding up whistle mix without a respirator, if so.

I've had all kinds of solvents over my hands, lots of dehydration cracks/scars from them, trisolvent is the worst of them. The one thing I'm worried about is when i spilt dichromate glass cleaner on my hand (which is conc sulfuric and ammonium dichromate) and my hand was all fucked up from the acid, which would easily allow some dichromate to get through I think and that stuff is MAJOR cancer, from what i hear...

Fuck, actually, toluene, carbon tet, all that shit I work with as well...

I think my entire lab is like an enormous cancerous bomb waiting to go off.

Argh, looks like we are all in for something...

Anyone remember a long ass time ago when warweed nitrated his fingertips, and then cut off the dead skin and set it ablaze? Good times.

Yeah, as soon as I started reading the OP, I was thinking about how fucked Warweed is if there are any real lasting effects from things like acids.

And how many of us have tasted NG? And DD fapping with NG? And my fire breathing? I put naphtha, and various other high bp solvents in my mouth, and sometimes swallow small amounts. I've used methyl borate once, and we all know about the risk of blindness with methanol.

And just plain ol' hepatoxicity from borates.

I seriously thought they were joking about that... How in the hell would you nitrate your fingertips? Wouldn’t you have to leave them in the nitration bath for a reasonable period of time, that would hurt like fuck.

From my experiences the worst was inhaling a lung full of no2 that had me coughing for months.

Iv got MEKP on my hands a few times, the smell from that bothered me more than anything.

I wash my hands with acetone all the time and apart from the weird chilling affect from it evaporating iv never noticed any negative effects. My hands are all dry and hard anyway I think the worst risk from that is loosing the protective oils on your skin.

I’m very careful with wearing gloves, dust mask, goggles and lab coat whenever I can but I often look back and think how I should have been safer. Such as two days ago I splashed boiling h2so4 on the back of my hand and had forgotten to wear gloves. Luckily I was prepared with a bucket of water and scrubbed my hand with bicarbonate of soda.

I don’t mess with too many carcinogenic or highly toxic chems yet but a respirator is next on my shopping list as I need one for various other hobbies anyway.

I think most of us BB members are going to live shorter lives than the average person but hell you never know when your going to die anyway. I could be hit by a car next time I leave my house for all I know. The one thing im more worried about is putting others health at risks such as storing chems or explosives in dangerous places or unsuitable mislabelled containers.

As long as your in this hobby your going to be putting yourself at risk the best thing you can do is take precautions to reduce the risk or be prepared for when something does go wrong. Of course not all of us are going to have a lab totally equipped with safety equipment and will be often working alone.