Bob Harrison wrote:
> Around two years ago beekeepers from Germany started reporting  beekeepers 
> using OA had contracted a rare from of cancer. All the same type of cancer.
> The last report I had heard was 6 had died. The update was on another list 
> but could be found.
Vapor or drip? It sounds like vapor. I get more OA tending my rhubarb 
patch than with the drip method.

I tried google to find anything on this and could not, but I did fine 
lots of sites that recommended ingesting high amounts of OA to cure 
cancer and almost every other aliment around. Same for formic. I would 
not think of it.

If it is true, that it is a carcinogen and is the vapor method, it would 
fit into a common (in chemistry) problem of a hazard that is not usually 
a hazard when used in its normal state. I do not know of many uses of OA 
as a vapor but many as a liquid. So the industries where it is used in 
liquid form have lots of history on its long term problems. In that 
state it is harmful but not know to be a major health issue.

Beekeepers are finding the long term problems when it is used as a 
vapor. There were several posts on the immediate hazards of OA as a 
vapor and they were dismissed since the manufacturer of the equipment 
said it was safe to use that way. Problem is, we do not know the long 
term hazards.

I recall, when I was in graduate work, of two researchers who died 
working on what was considered a fairly safe chemical, but they were 
working with it in the vapor state. They even used ventilation but still 
were poisoned over a long period. My prof made sure I got the picture, 
since I also was working on several chemicals that were in a vapor state 
and normally solid.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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