(Sorry hit send too soon, see below) Caroline Miller Gladstone Institutes www.gladstoneinstitutes.org
Tel: 415 7342566 Cell: 415 2187297 On Mar 6, 2013, at 7:50 AM, Caroline Miller <cmil...@gladstone.ucsf.edu> wrote: > I was recently pregnant (I have a happy and healthy 8month old). I work in a > research lab and did come in contact with xylene at 12 weeks when our > processor went crazy and we had a whole batch of processing go wrong on us. > > I was pretty scared that the xylene had affected the baby so I got a xylene > exposure badge from the h+s dept and we did a test. Even with the stainer > open and the mounting hood at its top > limit we didn't even come close to the legal limit of xylene exposure. > > I suppose my point is that new fume hoods do their job really well. I would > certainly stay away from changing the > Machine and limit exposure, but I don't think there is any real danger with > care and attention by the pregnant lady and her colleagues > > Caroline Miller > Gladstone Institutes > www.gladstoneinstitutes.org > > Tel: 415 7342566 > Cell: 415 2187297 > > > > > On Mar 6, 2013, at 7:33 AM, Bob Richmond <rsrichm...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Helayne Parker is concerned about a woman 5 weeks pregnant working in >> an ordinary histopathology lab. >> >> I think the major issue is xylene (along with toluene and benzene). If >> the lab uses xylene in tissue processing and staining, I don't think >> she should be around it. If the lab is otherwise xylene-free, the >> mounting medium probably contains an aromatic hydrocarbon, and I don't >> think she should be coverslipping even under a proper hood, since >> xylene is readily absorbed through the skin. >> >> I think formaldehyde depends on ventilation. If the lab's as badly >> ventilated as most labs I work in, then I wouldn't want her to be >> around it. >> >> She should definitely run the problem past her OB-GYN, but I wouldn't >> want to put her doctor in the position of having to decide for her, >> simply because the problem is so far out of the doctor's field of >> expertise. Remember that very few pathologists (let alone clinicians) >> know as much about the materials science of histology as I do! >> >> Bob Richmond >> Samurai Pathologist >> Maryville, TN >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Histonet mailing list >> Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu >> http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
