health effects of [was] applying powdered teflon

[R Barber]

When your body tries to expel it from the lungs, you can get pneumonia. 
   I don't know about longer term diseases?
I always use a nose and mouth filter breathing mask when sanding and 
spraying, but don't bother when brushing on Teflon™.  I always wish I 
had a dust mask on when opening up one of those great filthy dusty 
pianos people like to keep sitting just beside the dining room table.

http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/dupont_c8/c8cartoon2.jpg

> As I understood it, the health concerns around our use micro-fine 
> Teflon were not related to burning it, but rather inhaling it.  The 
> danger with any extremely fine particles, measured in microns, is that 
> they are easily inhaled deeply into the alveoli.  These are the tiny 
> spheres in the lungs where gas exchange takes place.   It is difficult 
> for the body to expel anything that gets stuck down there.  The long 
> term effects of that are ????
> 
> Teflon itself may be inert at the temperatures we are talking about, 
> but I still wouldn't want to inhale it or anything else of a similar 
> particle size.  Perhaps taking precautions when working with some of 
> the materials we commonly use is more appropriate than a cavalier 
> attitude?
> 
> Jurgen Goering
> Piano Forte Supply
> (250) 754-2440
> info at pianofortesupply.com
> http://www.pianofortesupply.com
> 
> 
> On Feb 22, 2007, at 15:14, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:
> 
>> Teflon is toxic if you heat it up (700 degrees or so) and has been 
>> presented as a danger in Teflon coated pans.  Fortunately, my wife 
>> doesn’t heat anything in a pan to half that temperature so we feel 
>> safe and have the obvious longevity to prove it.  It’s like a lot of 
>> the other “terrible things that can happen” if you take something to 
>> an extreme lots of bad things happen.