Dust and health hazards

Helena Jaeschke <helena.jaeschke [at] exeter__gov__uk> writes

>A number of small museums are concerned that their staff (many of
>whom are retired people, either elderly or infirm) may be exposed to
>hazardous substances in the dust of museum storage areas and have
>asked if there is any feasible way of testing the dust for the
>presence of poisons, heavy metal compounds, pnicogens, pathogens
>etc. ...

You may find some information about hazards of heavy metals in
libraries (or museum) dust at
<URL:http://www.library-dust.com/dust>. We can measure the heavy
metals and others in dust please contact hass<-a t->library-dust< . >com.

I did research about two years ago regarding the health hazards of
dust in libraries and made a web site
<URL:http://www.library-dust.com> to share our knowledge and
experience with other researchers and eventual victims.  You are the
first conservator to express interest in this problem. I realized
that conservators are interested more to objects than humans. That
is normal; the public health responsible should take care of such
problems. But you can report existing problems. We started serious
research with a few researchers in Europe and US. I invite you and
whomever else will be interested to join us to make advance this
important safety occupational issue.

Hassan Bolourchi
Chemical Engineer, Ph.D
Library Dust Consulting
Birmingham MI 48009, USA


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:10
                Distributed: Wednesday, August 17, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-10-011
                                  ***