WOODDUST

HumanStudies
Dermatitis.Therearealargenumberofcasereports,epidemiologicalstudies,andotherdataon
thehealtheffectsofwooddustexposureinhumans.Dermatitiscausedbyexposuretowooddusts
iscommon,andcanbecausedeitherbychemicalirritation,sensitization(allergicreaction),or
bothofthesetogether.Asmanyas300speciesoftreeshavebeenimplicatedinwoodcaused
dermatitis.
Thechemicalsassociatedwithallergicreactionsaregenerallyfoundintheinnerpartsofatree,
e.g.,theheartwood,andtheworkersmostpronetothesereactionsarethoseinvolvedinsecondary
woodprocessing(e.g.,carpenters,joiners,andfinishers).
Thesymptomsofsensitizationareredness,scaling,anditching,whichmayprogresstovesicular
dermatitisand,afterrepeatedexposures,tochronicdermatitis.Thepartsofthebodymostoften
affected are the hands, forearms, eyelids, face, neck, and genitals. This form of dermatitis
generallyappearsafterafewdaysorweeksofcontact.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/wooddust.html

Dermatitis
Chemicalsinmanytypesofwoodcancausedermatitis,aconditioninwhich
theskincanbecomered,itchy,ordry,andblistersmaydevelop.Wooddustindirect
contactwiththeskincanalsocausedermatitis.Withrepeatedexposures,aworkercan
becomesensitizedtothedustanddevelopallergicdermatitis.Onceaworkerbecomes
sensitized,exposuretosmallamountsofdustcancauseareactionthatbecomesmore
severewithrepeatedexposures.
Allergicdermatitisismostoftencausedbyexposuretotropicalhardwoods
suchasobeche,mahogany,androsewoods.Casesofallergicdermatitisresultingfrom
exposuretoDouglasfirandwesternredcedarhavebeenreported.Irritantdermatitis

has alsobeenreportedwithexposuretowesternhemlock,sitkaspruce,pine,and
paperbirch.
https://work.alberta.ca/documents/WHSPUB_ch045.pdf
Dermatologic
Cutaneous contact with skin may range in severity from dermatitis to extensive chemical burns
with coagulation necrosis

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/818939overview#a5
Skin
Themaineffectisirritationthatcanbecausedbyskincontactwith:
thewood;
itsdust,
itsbark(orevenlichensgrowingonthebark);
itssap.
Irritation can, in some species of wood, lead to nettle rashes or irritant
dermatitis.Theseeffects,fromdirectcontactorcrosscontaminationtootherpartsof
the body by hand, tend to appear on the forearm, backs of the hands, the face
(particularlyeyelids),neck,scalpandthegenitals.Onaverage,theytake15daysto
develop.Symptomsusuallyonlypersistaslongastheaffectedskinsiteremainsin
contactwiththesourceofirritationsuchasthewooddustorsapetc.Symptoms
subsidewhencontactwiththeirritantisremoved.
Sensitisation dermatitis is more problematic and is usually caused by skin
exposuretofinewooddustofcertainspecies.This isalsoreferredtoasallergic
contact dermatitis and results in similar skin effects to those produced by skin
irritants.However,oncesensitisedthebodysetsupanallergicreactionandtheskin
mayreactseverelyifsubsequentlyexposedtoevenverysmallamountsofthewood
dust.Rashescanappearonskinwellawayfromtheoriginalpointofcontact.
Crosssensitisation may develop where other woods or even nonwood
materialsproduceasimilarresponse.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis30.pdf