[Histonet] Re: Pregnancy

[Caroline Miller]

(Sorry hit send too soon, see below)

Caroline Miller
Gladstone Institutes
www.gladstoneinstitutes.org

Tel: 415 7342566
Cell: 415 2187297




On Mar 6, 2013, at 7:50 AM, Caroline Miller <cmiller <@t> gladstone.ucsf.edu> wrote:

> I was recently pregnant (I have a happy and healthy 8month old). I work in a research lab and did come in contact with xylene at 12 weeks when our processor went crazy and we had a whole batch of processing go wrong on us.
> 
> I was pretty scared that the xylene had affected the baby so I got a xylene exposure badge from the h+s dept and we did a test. Even with the stainer open and the mounting  hood at its top
> limit we didn't even come close to the legal limit of xylene exposure. 
> 
> I suppose my point is that new fume hoods do their job really well. I would certainly stay away from changing the
> Machine and limit exposure, but I don't think there is any real danger with care and attention by the pregnant lady and her colleagues



> 
> Caroline Miller
> Gladstone Institutes
> www.gladstoneinstitutes.org
> 
> Tel: 415 7342566
> Cell: 415 2187297
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mar 6, 2013, at 7:33 AM, Bob Richmond <rsrichmond <@t> gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Helayne Parker is concerned about a woman 5 weeks pregnant working in
>> an ordinary histopathology lab.
>> 
>> I think the major issue is xylene (along with toluene and benzene). If
>> the lab uses xylene in tissue processing and staining, I don't think
>> she should be around it. If the lab is otherwise xylene-free, the
>> mounting medium probably contains an aromatic hydrocarbon, and I don't
>> think she should be coverslipping even under a proper hood, since
>> xylene is readily absorbed through the skin.
>> 
>> I think formaldehyde depends on ventilation. If the lab's as badly
>> ventilated as most labs I work in, then I wouldn't want her to be
>> around it.
>> 
>> She should definitely run the problem past her OB-GYN, but I wouldn't
>> want to put her doctor in the position of having to decide for her,
>> simply because the problem is so far out of the doctor's field of
>> expertise. Remember that very few pathologists (let alone clinicians)
>> know as much about the materials science of histology as I do!
>> 
>> Bob Richmond
>> Samurai Pathologist
>> Maryville, TN
>> 
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