Parnelli:

I did not have to be "Military" to learn that it was better to be 'Safe Than Sorry'.

I too am an advocate of handling these chemicals responsibly and safely. I have been involved with clean-up of major spills myself, primarily PCB's. I was responsible for eliminating all PCBs, system-wide, for the largest Rural Electric Co-Op in the state of Texas, involving sevearal thousands of gallons of PCB-contaminated oil, to say nothing of the tons of PCB-contaminated equipment that was properly disposed of. I have been responsible for asbestos abatement projects, the proper handling and safe storage of numerous organic and inorganic chemicals, including such things as sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, and railroad tank cars of chlorine gas. I dare say that my experience with such chemicals is on a par with yours, and I see no real value in a game of one-up-man-ship with respect to credentials. That does not alter the facts relative to the hazards/safety of handling these two chemicals.

It is the 'over kill' with respect to these chemicals that I find objectional. There is enough hysteria and paranoia in our society without adding fuel to the fire; especially when it is totally unnecessary. As I said before, if the two chemicals that started this exchange were anywhere near as dangerous as you infer, they WOULD NOT be available on the open market. The big sister (or Mother of these two componds, depending on how you look at them) compound, BENZENE, has been banned for years for this reason. Perhaps we should 'go to the garage, open all doors and turn on a couple of big fans' before we use head cement, the CA glues, or Sally Hansen's Nail Polish. I feel that most on here would agree that to treat head cement, CA glues, or Sally Hansen's, as I have suggested based on your position relative to them, to be ridiculous. My fundamental point is that these two solvents are so widely used in so many different things, that it would be next to impossible to treat them as you suggest, each and every time you might be exposed to them. Granted, the application here is under one's control, whereas many of the other types of exposure are not. But this, in and of itself, does not automatically mean that one situation is any more dangerous or hazardous than the other. After all: Exposure is Exposure!

Cheers,
Frank