Re: [ARSCLIST] TAPE resources online

["peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Laboratory studies (by the manufacturers) indicate that there are no "toxic"
residues from the polymer breakdown of polyester-base magnetic tape.

Take this information as you will, as there are no significant "independent"
laboratory results to verify the information.  At the same time, there are
no "independent" laboratory results published that have actually identified
any toxic residue either.

One area that I have found somewhat doubtful is the presence, with certain
brands/eras of badly hydrolyzed tapes, of an out-gassing that is best
described as "astringent/pungent".  If you open a number of these tapes in
sequence, your eyes will start tearing, your nose will be irritated and, in
extreme cases, you can develop a severe headache.  To the best of my
knowledge, no one has tested this out-gassing residue but, if it makes my
eyes water and gives me a headache, I doubt it can be really good for me.  

Peter Brothers
SPECS BROS., LLC
973-777-5055
peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tape restoration and disaster recovery since 1983
s
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard L. Hess
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 10:12 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] TAPE resources online

At 01:30 AM 2007-08-17, Steven C. Barr(x) wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > that the long polymer chains break down with moisture (and the
> > inherent instability of the polyester polyurethanes that were used)
>...
>Next important question...! How do these polymolecular polyester
>polyurethanes affect the chemical reactions inherent in the chemical
>process of "life"...human and/or otherwise...?!

No reports that I have seen identify these as harmful to life, but 
the usual precautions apply -- i.e. wash your hands before meals, 
avoid breathing fumes (I wear a respirator when I'm dealing with 
moldy tapes, but the breakdown products don't seem to fly all over 
the place), etc.

As I understand it, the broken chains are still mostly captive in the 
matrix and it takes the energy of pulling the tape past something to 
get them to come off. I don't think it's like asbestos, for example.

I'm not a doctor nor medical researcher, so if anyone has any better 
information, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.