Health hazards in archives collections

Some people get a reaction to the paper they are handling,
especially if it contains rosin (a natural component of the tree's
wood).  In September 1992, I published a summary of an article in
Health & Safety Ind. Commer. in the Alkaline Paper Advocate, p. 32.
Its title was "Paper Work is a Risk for Hand Eczema."  The summary
reads, in part, "The abstract of this article in Paper & Board
Abstracts says that people who are allergic to colophony may get
eczema if they handle paper a lot.  It defines colophony both as
rosin from living pine trees and as tall oil rosin, a byproduct of
paper (i.e., pulp) manufacture.  It does not say whether this is the
same sort of rosin used with alum to size acid paper.   The full
text of the summary is in CoOL at
<URL:http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/>

Ellen McCrady, Editor
Abbey Publications
7105 Geneva Dr.
Austin, TX 78723
512-929-3992
Fax:  512-929-3995

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:39
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 28, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-39-005
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