Reply #1: There comes a point where a body cannot take certain toxins anymore... [View All]

I'm now deathly allergic to the accellerant used in epoxy paints, 24 hr type glues and fixitives, and fingernail polish, amongst other items. I used to work shipyards and had been exposed to these chemicals all the time; and these were supposed to be "safe" according to federal regulations.
Many of the other items I used regularly, like anti-sieze compound and weatherproofing compounds, are listed as "potentially" hazardous due to some possibility they can cause liver and pancreas damage, even when simply handled with bare skin. Let me tell you, very few of us used gloves when handling these compounds; it wasn't "practical" in the small, hard to access areas where we were usually applying them; and many times, you would end up with smears of these compounds on clothing and bare skin when removing your arm from around the machinery you were applying them to.

Now, after 25 years of exposure, I have trouble breathing and can pass out when exposed to epoxies and certain other aerosols. If I didn't have company health care and access to worker's compensation, I'd be in some serious health cost problems.
One of my co-workers died of liver failure at the age of 41, an otherwise fit, fairly healthy eating and moderate drinker, who used anti-sieze quite regularly.

Do we have possible work related causations here? The State of California thinks so, and I'm wondering if a lot of this newfound interest comes from the fact that Worker's Compensation claims are going up as safety standards, especially environmental health standards, are going down.

If they don't want to have to deal with the used-up, sick memebers of the workforce that have been kicked to the curb once they become too sick to work, the State, which increasingly bears the expense of keeping and rehabilitating the sick and injured worker, have to start doing something about it.

Haele