ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 59, 13%144 (1992)

Occupational and Environmental Hazards in Art MICHAEL F. MCCANN

Center for Safety in the Arts, 5 Beekman Street, New York, New York 10038 Received May 15, 1992 Artists and craftspeople, art teachers, hobbyists, and children often use art materials containing toxic chemicals without suitable precautions and often without the knowledge that their art materials are hazardous. The Center for Safety in the Arts, a national clearinghouse for research and education on hazards in the visual and performing arts, answers telephoned and written inquiries on art hazards, distributes publications, publishes a newsletter, and offers educational programs and consultative services to arts organizations. © 1992AcademicPress, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

Occupational medicine has traditionally dealt with health and safety hazards in major industries. Research has focused on occupational diseases affecting hundreds, if not thousands, of workers, often concentrated in a few workplaces. Classic examples are Alice Hamilton's work on lead poisoning in the early part of the century and Irving Selikoff's research on asbestos-related diseases in the 1960's. In recent years, however, the awareness of occupational hazards has expanded beyond industry to include small shops, offices, schools, and other nonindustrial workplaces, as occupational health problems have been uncovered in these previously overlooked areas. The visual arts is one area in which research over the last 15 years has found extensive occupational and environmental exposures to toxic chemicals (McCann, 1992). For example, a proportionate mortality study of 1746 white, professional artists, conducted by the National Cancer Institute, found that deaths from arteriosclerotic heart disease, leukemias, and cancers of the bladder, kidney, and colorectum were significantly elevated for male painters and, to a lesser degree, for other artists (Miller et al., 1985, 1986). Reports of occupational diseases among visual artists in the scientific and medical literature include lead poisoning in stained glass artists (Feldman and Sedman, 1975) and ceramic hobbyists (Curry et al., 1987), neuropathy from silk screen printing solvents (Prockup, 1978), methylene chloride-induced heart attacks in a furniture refinisher (Stewart and Hake, 1976), mesothelioma in jewelers (Driscoll et al., 1988), chronic respiratory problems in photographers (Kipen and Lerman, 1986), and glassblowers (Braun and Tsiatis, 1979), and chromium sensitization in a fiber artist (MMWR, 1982). Unfortunately, most cases are never reported. These studies and case histories primarily discuss illnesses and injuries experienced by professional artists and hobbyists. However, children and even the elderly can be at risk (Curry et al., 1987; Nerby, 1983). With about 50% of artists working in home studios--and half of them working in living areas--other family members, especially children, could also be at risk (McCann et al., 1986). 139 0013-9351/92 $5.00 Copyright© 1992by AcademicPress, Inc. All rights of reproductionin any form reserved.

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Many of these illnesses are due to the use of a wide range of industrial chemicals in home, studio, school, or college environments without adequate precautions or, often, even the knowledge that these chemicals were hazardous. Table 1 lists the hazards of various art techniques. Many of the materials causing occupational diseases in artists are traditional, for example, clays, stones, pigments, etc. Ramazzinni, in his "Diseases of Workers" in 1713, says about painters: For their liability to disease there is a more immediate cause, I mean the materials of the colors they handle and smell constantly, such as red lead, cinnabar, white lead, varnish, nut-oil and linseed oil which they use for mixing colors; and the numerous pigments made of various mineral substances. (Ramazzini, 1713)

And about stonecarvers, he said: Diemerbroeck gives an interesting account of several stone-cutters who died of asthma; when he dissected their cadavers he found, he says, piles of sand in the lungs, so much of it that in cutting with his knife through the pulmonary vesicles he felt as though he were cutting a body of sand. (Ramazzini, 1713)

Over the last century, a whole range of new art materials has appeared, including solvents, plastics resins, and dyes. The first awareness of the hazards of these materials came from plastics pioneer Robert Mallary, who reported on the many occupational illnesses found in the early artists working with these new materials (Mallary, 1963).

METHODS

A Model for Education The problem was how to reach visual and performing artists with information on hazards in the arts and safe work practices. In the arts, there is rarely a large concentration of artists or performers at one site. Visual artists, in particular, tend to work alone, in small group studios, or in college art departments. Art teachers in schools also tend to be isolated or in small art departments with a few teachers. The model chosen was that of an independent, nonprofit resource center. The Center for Occupational Hazards (now the Center for Safety in the Arts) was founded in 1977 as a national clearinghouse for research and education on hazards in the arts. Although the original focus was on hazards in the visual arts, now the Center for Safety in the Arts (CSA) covers all areas of the arts, including performing arts and museums. Two initial target groups were identified: individual artists and art teachers. The aim in reaching individual artists was to give them the information needed to evaluate their own situation and to adopt safe working habits. The only way to reach these artists was through artists' organizations, arts publications, and the mass media. Art teachers are responsible not only for their own health, but also for safeguarding the health of their students. By reaching art teachers, it was also hoped that they could educate the next generation of artists. Art teachers were able to be contacted through professional art teachers' organizations, teachers unions, and the schools and colleges.

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ART HAZARDS TABLE1 HAZARDSOFARTTECHNIQUES Technique Airbrush

Batik Ceramics

Commercial art

Computer art

Drawing Electroplating Enameling Forging Glassblowing

Holography Intaglio

Jewelry Lithography

Material/process Pigments Solvents Wax Dyeing Clay dust Glazes Slip casting Kiln firing Rubber cement Permanent markers Spray adhesives Airbrushing Typography Photostats, proofs Ergonomics Video display Spray fixatives Gold, silver Other metals Enamels Kiln firing Hammering Hot forge Batch process Furnaces Coloring Etching Sandblasting Lasers Developing Acid etching Solvents Aquatint Photoetching Silver soldering Pickling baths Solvents Acids

Lost wax casting

Talc Photolithography Investment Wax burnout Crucible furnace Metal pouring Sandblasting

Hazard Lead, cadmium, manganese, cobalt, mercury, etc. Mineral spirits, turpentine Fire, wax fumes Dyes Silica Silica, lead, cadmium, and other toxic metals Talc, asbestiform materials Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, fluorides, infrared radiation, etc. n-Hexane, fire Xylene, propyl alcohol n-Hexane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, fire See Airbrush See Photography Alkali, propyl alcohol Carpel tunnel syndrome, poorly designed work stations Glare, ELF radiation n-Hexane, other solvents Cyanide salts, hydrogen cyanide Acids Lead, cadmium, arsenic, cobalt, etc. Infrared radiation Noise Carbon monoxide Lead, silica, arsenic, etc. Heat, infrared radiation Metal fumes Hydrofluoric acid, fluoride salts Silica Nonionizing radiation, electrical Bromine, pyrogallol, See also Photography Hydrochloric and nitric acids, nitrogen dioxide, chlorine gas Alcohol, mineral spirits, kerosene Rosin dust, dust explosion Glycol ethers, xylene Cadmium fumes, fluoride fluxes Acids, sulfur oxides Mineral spirits, isophorone, cyclohexanone, kerosene, methylene chloride, etc. Nitric, phosphoric, hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, etc. Asbestiform materials Dichromates Cristobalite Wax fumes, carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide, metal fumes Metal fumes, infrared radiation, molten metal Silica

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MICHAEL F. MCCANN TABLE 1--Continued Technique

Material/process

Painting

Pigments

Pastels Photography

Oil, alkyd Acrylic Pigment dusts Developing bath Stop bath Fixing bath Intensifier Toning

Relief printing Screen printing

Sculpture, Sculpture, Sculpture, Sculpture,

clay laser neon plastics

Color processes Platinum printing Solvents Pigments Solvents Photoemulsions Lasers Neon tubes Epoxy resin Polyester resin Polyurethane resins Acrylic resins Plastic fabrication

Sculpture, stone

Stained glass Weaving Welding

Woodworking

Marble Soapstone Granite, sandstone Pneumatic tools Lead came Soldering Loom Dyeing Oxyacetylene Arc Metal fumes Machining Glues Paint strippers Paints and finishes Preservatives

Note. From "Artist Beware" (McCann, 1992).

Hazard Lead, cadmium, mercury, cobalt, manganese compounds, etc. Mineral spirits, turpentine Trace amounts ammonia, formaldehyde Lead, cadmium, & mercury compounds Hydroquinone, monomethyl-p-aminophenol sulfate, alkalis Acetic acid Sulfur dioxide Dichromates, hydrochloric acid Selenium compounds, hydrogen sulfide, uranium nitrate, sulfur dioxide, gold salts Formaldehyde, solvents, color developers Platinum salts, lead, acids, oxalates Mineral spirits Lead, cadmium, manganese, etc. Mineral spirits, toluene, xylene Ammonium dichromate See Ceramics Nonionizing radiation, electrical Mercury, electrical Amines, diglycidyl ethers, Styrene, methyl methacrylate, methyl ethyl ketone peroxide lsocyanates, organotin compounds, amines, mineral spirits Methyl methacrylate, benzoyl peroxide Decomposition products (carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen cyanide, etc.) Nuisance dust Silica, talc, asbestiform minerals Silica Vibration, noise Lead Lead, zinc chloride fumes Ergonomic problems Dyes, acids, dichromates Carbon monoxide Ozone, nitrogen dioxide, ultraviolet & infrared radiation, electrical hazards Copper, zinc, lead, nickel, etc. Wood dust, noise, fire Formaldehyde, epoxy Methylene chloride, toluene, methyl alcohol, etc. Mineral spirits, toluene, turpentine, ethyl alcohol, etc. Chromated copper arsenate Pentachlorophenol, creosote

ART HAZARDS

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CSA then developed programs to assist these target audiences. With the assistance of public funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and later the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Center operated the Art Hazards Information Center, which researchers art hazards and answered telephone and written inquiries. The inquiries covered such topics as doing art during pregnancy, ventilation, respirators, referrals to occupational health clinics, disposal of art materials, and interpreting Material Safety Data Sheets. CSA has also published a newsletter, Art Hazards News, since 1978. An educational program was developed, the primary component of which was a lecture program providing speakers for schools, colleges, and professional artists' and art teachers' organizations. The standard format consisted of a 2- to 3-hr slide presentation on the hazards of art materials and suitable precautionary measures. This lecture is also available as a 2-hr training videotape. CSA additionally presents an annual 5-day, 25-hr art hazards course in New York City to provide more in-depth training on art hazards for teachers or personnel with health and safety responsibilities. This course has also been given around the United States and Canada as a 3-day, 18-hr course. A consultation program provides schools, colleges, and museums with on-site industrial hygiene inspections or assistance in planning ventilation for arts processes in new or newly renovated arts facilities. Outreach CSA adopted two main mechanisms to reach the target audience. First, the Art Hazards News was sent free to about 1500 arts publications and nonprofit arts organizations, which were encouraged to reprint articles from Art Hazards News as a means of reaching individual artists. The newsletter was also available to schools, colleges, and individuals by subscription. (Recent funding cutbacks have unfortunately forced us to drop the free subscriptions.) Second, mass mailings describing our programs were sent to targeted groups-art teachers, school districts, and college art departments. These mailings usually included a data sheet of particular interest to the selected group. Our outreach was also helped by the mass media. The concept that many art materials were hazardous was unusual enough and affected so many people that popular magazines, newspapers, radio shows, and television shows provided widespread coverage of the topic and of the Center's programs. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The decentralized nature of the arts community not only makes it difficult to reach artists and art teachers, but also makes it difficult to estimate the impact of programs. However, CSA programs have reached a wide audience in the United States and Canada and have had major impacts on the way art is taught in schools and colleges and on working habits of individual artists. The Art Hazards Information Center answers over 50 letters and telephone calls daily on art hazards. This can greatly increase when an article on art hazards appears in the popular press. Today, CSA distributes over 75 books, articles, data

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sheets, and other materials on hazards in the visual arts. The A r t H a z a r d s N e w s has close to 1600 individual and institutional paid subscribers. Hundreds of arts organizations and publications have reprinted data sheets or articles from A r t Hazards News.

C S A personnel have given over 500 lecture programs and 100 consultations in 45 states and 8 Canadian provinces since 1977. Over I00 art teachers, school, and college personnel, and others have taken C S A ' s 5-day or 3-day art hazards courses. Several schools have developed in-house art hazards courses for their students. The consultation program has resulted in many schools and college art departments undertaking extensive changes to ventilation in art studios and has often led to changes in the materials used in courses. C o n c e r n about inadequate labeling of hazardous art materials led to the passage of chronic hazard labeling laws by seven state legislatures (California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia) during the mid-1980's and the passage of the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act by Congress in 1988.

CONCLUSIONS Fifteen years of operating the Art Hazards Information Center and providing extensive on-site educational and consultative programs has had a major impact on how art is created and taught in the United States and Canada. This shows that a determined and concentrated effort tailored to an unaware target population can succeed in helping to reduce occupational health problems in a nonindustrial setting.

REFERENCES Braun, S., and Tsiatis, A. (1979). Pulmonary abnormalities among art glassblowers. J. Occup. Med. 21, 487489. Curry, S., Gerkin, P., Vance, M., and Kimkel, D. (1987). "Ingestion of Lead-Based Ceramic Glazes in Nursing Home Residents," Presented at annual meeting of American Association of Poison Control Centers, Vancouver. Driscoll, R. J., Mulligan, W. J., Schultz, D., and Candelaria, A. (1988). Malignant mesothelioma: A cluster in a native American population. N. Engl. J. Med. 318, 1437-1438. Feldman, R., and Sedman, T. (1975). Hobbyists working with lead. N. Engl. J. Med. 292, 929. Kipen, H. M., and Lerman, Y. (1986). Respiratory abnormalities among photographic developers: A report of 3 cases. Am. J. Ind. Med. 9, 341-347. Mallary, R. (1963) The air of art is poisoned. Art News October, 34-38. McCann, M. (1992). '°Artist Beware," 2nd ed. Lyons and Burford, New York, in press. McCann, M., Hall, N., Klarnet, R., and Peltz, P. A. (1986). "Reproductive Hazards in the Arts and Crafts," Presented at 1986Annual Conference of the Society for Occupational and Environmental Health Conference on Reproductive Hazards in the Environment and Workplace, Bethesda, MD. Miller, A. B., Blair, A., and McCann, M. (1985). Mortality patterns among professional artists: A preliminary report. J. Environ. Path. Toxicol. Oncol. 6, 303-313. Miller, A. B., Silverman, D. T., Hoover, R. N., and Blair, A. (1986). Cancer risk among artistic painters. Am. J. Ind. Med. 9, 281-287. MMWR (1982). Chromium sensitization in an artist's workshop. Morbid. Mort. Week. Rep. 31, 111. Nerby, D. (1983). Turpentine and young children. Art Hazards News 6(10), 3. Prockup, L. (1978). Neuropathy in an artist. Hosp. Pract. November, 89-92. Ramazzini, B. (1713). "Diseases of Workers," 2nd ed. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago. Stewart, R., and Hake, C. (1976). Paint remover hazard. Am. Med. Assoc. 235, 398--402.

Occupational and environmental hazards in art.

Artists and craftspeople, art teachers, hobbyists, and children often use art materials containing toxic chemicals without suitable precautions and of...
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