PROLONGED exposure to paint solvents makes industrial painters neurotic.
Ruoling Chen and his colleagues at the University of Aberdeen Medical School
found that 260 British and 109 Chinese dockyard painters who had been heavily
exposed to industrial paints and solvents showed significantly higher levels of
the personality disorder than 794 control subjects. Their condition worsened
with increasing exposure (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol
58, p 14). The finding suggests commonly used solvents such as xylene and
toluene may be damaging the nervous system.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lack of awareness in the industry of the [long-term] hazards of
solvent exposure,鈥� says team member Finlay Dick.
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