Original poster: David Speck <Dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Jeremiah,Tar is a complex mixture of tens of thousands of nameless compounds left over from the distillation of petroleum. It contains long chain complex hydrocarbon molecules, and many sorts of polycyclic aromatic compounds ("Tetramethyl chickenwire", as we used to call it in the mass spec lab). Certain polycyclic aromatics compounds (PCAs for short), with anthracene or fluorene (not fluorine) being particularly egregious archetypes, have just the right shape to slip in between two base pairs of a DNA strand, and prevent further transcription of said strand. If an inhibitory portion of a DNA strand is thus damaged, it can cause its host cell to undergo cancerous transformation. Some of the earliest demonstrations of environmentally caused cancers were performed by painting solutions of coal tar (pretty much the same stuff) on the skins of lab animals. In the grand scheme of things, tar is probably not the most dangerous material that you will encounter in life unless you work with it every day, -- even ordinary gasoline fumes have many similar dangerous components, and you are likely to be exposed to them a lot more often. Still, I'd wear gloves, work outdoors, and avoid inhaling excess fumes when depotting NSTs.
Dave Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: tesla popp <teslas_lab@xxxxxxxxx> Then with that in mind, what IS in tar that makes it biologically harmfull to the human body? I see I was wrong about it being PCB's, another chemical that becomes active/released when the tar is heated? If anything in tar was so deadly, I surely would be feeling the effects by now :P If you know why they say tar is dangerous, speak up... Coiler Forever: Jeremiah Popp