the Subcommittee for requesting that I offer this testimony. My name is Michael McCann and I am Executive Director of the Center for Occupational Hazards, a national clearing-house for research and education on hazards in the arts. I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia Comprehensive Practice of on art hazards, I Board of Industrial Hygiene. In the 13 years I have been working have written two books on the subject Artist Beware and Health Hazards Manual for Artists, have given over 200 lectures on art hazards to artists' public schools, etc., and am a topic. (See resume, appendix 1) organizations, art schools, frequent consultant on this receives 50 letters and Art Hazards Information Center which telephone calls daily on art hazards from artists, schools, government agencies, physicians and Poison Control Centers. COh also publishes a newsletter on art hazards, and offers lectures, consultations and courses on the subject. (See COH brochure, Appendix 2) I have three major points to make in my testimony: 1) Artists, hobbyists, teachers and even children are becoming ill as a result of overexposure to art materials. supplies for elementary school and to require chronic hazard labeling on all art materials. ་་་ 1. People are becoming ill from overexposure to art materials. What types of illnesses are occurring? COH's Art Hazards Information Center receives many inquiries from artists, teachers, parents, Poison Control Centers, etc. reporting symptoms which they think are related to their art materials. In many cases these have been verified by physicians and some have even been reported in the medical literature. This both immediate or acute poisoning and long-term or chronic poisoning. includes Examples of the types of diseases that have been found among artists include: * lead poisoning among potters, painters, stained glass workers, copper enamelists * silicosis among potters, stone sculptors, Jewelers, * miscarriages and birth defects in silk screen printmakers, photographers * heart attacks in furniture refinishers, printmakers, * liver damage in silk screen commercial artists printmakers, plastics sculptors, " mesothelioma (cancer of lining of chest cavity) in a ceramicist * asthma in potters, photographers, batik artists * leukemia and destruction of bone marrow in painters, lithographers, metal sculptors * kidney damage in oil painters, jewelers Appendix 3 gives references for some of these illnesses, and Appendix 4 gives some case histories. A few epidemiological studies have also found that artists have higher rates of certain types of Cancer Institute study in 1981 found illnesses. A National that male artists have significantly higher rates of bladder cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, colon cancer and brain cancer than the rest of the male population; for women artists there were excesses of rectal cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer. (See Appendix 5). The excess of bladder cancer among painters was confirmed by a case - occupational diseases as industrial workers is that they are often being exposed to the same chemicals only they are often being exposed at home instead of in factories. Examples of hazardous chemicals commonly found in art and craft materials include lead, cadmium, asbestos, uranium, mercury, arsenic, silica, formaldehyde, toluene, benzene, hexane, sodium cyanide, and many more. The chart on the next page shows that hazardous art materials are found in a wide variety of art media. (See also Appendix 6) Who is at risk? Inquiries received at COH's Art Hazards clearly show that professional the only people at risk. Information Center artists and craftspeople are not We are finding illnesses from art materials also among art teachers and students, hobbyists and even children. Examples include: * chemical pneumonia in a high school teacher unknowingly using cadmium-containing silver solders * leukemia in an art student working with benzene at a well known art school several years after attending that school CERAMICS COMMERCIAL ART DYEING FIBER ARTS JEWELRY METAL SCULPTURE PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTMAKING PLASTICS SCULPTURE STAINED GLASS STONE SCULPTURE WELDING/BRAZING WOODWORKING and furniture refinishing asbestos, silica, glaze components (lead, barium, lithium), colorants (copper manganese, nickel, chromates, cadmium, antimony, uranium), kiln gases (sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, fluorine, chlorine, nitrogen oxides), heat. hexane, dyes, aerosol spray fixatives, aromatic hydrocarbons, bleaches, pigments (cadmium, manganese, chromates, etc.), air brushing paints and dyes. benzidine-type dyes, fiber-reactive dyes, azoic dyes, acids (sulfuric. oxalic, acetic), alkalies (sodium carbonate, ammonia), dichromates, copper sulfate, sodium hydrosulfite, wax fumes. anthrax, cotton, flax dust, molds, physical strain. bone and shell dust, cadmium fumes, fluoride fluxes, silica, asbestos, hydrogen cyanide, mercury. metal fumes (lead, zinc. copper, chromium. nickel, etc.), silica, asbestos. heat, infrared radiation, nitric and sulfuric acids, nitrogen oxides, noise. pigments (lead. cadmium, manganese, chromium, antimony, etc.), mercury preservatives. turpentine, mineral spirits, ethyl alcohol, lacquer thinners. alkalies, acetic acid, hydroquinone, ino phenol sulfate, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide. dichromates. mercuric chloride, sodium cyanide, iodine, selenium. uranium nitrate, sodium sulfide. pigments (lead, chromates, manganese, cadmium, etc.), solvents (turpentine, mineral styrene, methyl methacrylate, diisocyanates, formaldehyde, organic peroxides, aliphatic silica, asbestos, noise, vibration. metal fumes (cadmium, lead, zinc. copper, nickel, chromium, mercury, manganese, beryllium), fluoride fluxes, ozone, nitrogen dioxide. ultraviolet radiation. heat, chlorinated hydrocarbons. phosgene. solvents (benzene. methyl alcohol. methylene chloride. toluene, turpentine. mineral spirits), wood dust, noise, vibration, formaldehyde. epoxy resins. 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