Reply #51: Questions from an Ordinary Person on n-butyl ethers

[Dear Maggie]

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1079661&mesg_id=1084144

Above is my reply to your question.

It is obvious that you know a lot on this topic and I would appreciate your additional observations

I am not a technical person, however, I took the synonyms for 2-butoxyethanol n-butyl ethers ... and made a web page from information I found on an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

But since web pages don't always come up, I wrote them out on the reply (Didn't want anyone to think I knew all that)

I consider the 2-butoxyethanol like a tornado chemical. From what they say, this chemical does not bio accumulate and it is thought that it leaves the body within 48 hours (Don't know whether that is true or not). However, in lay terms, to me it is like a 'tornado' Even if it is no longer there, there is much damage done to people.

This information I learned from an MSDS
www.valdezlink.com/acute.htm

It is from an MSDS on what this chemical does to people and it is the best I have found. A doctor could check into the source site and get more information that is unavailable to me.

I wonder since there can be tumors throughout the endocrine system and the brain, too - and since maternal effects are mentioned ... whether or not breast cancer could be part of its harm?

I've noticed people can get the melanoma cancers: melanoma eye cancer was a cancer our chiropractor came down with in 1992 and he died earlier this year from a liver cancer that they had a hard time diagnosing. Or soft tissue cancers ... sarcomas? A French journalist who was research this shared with me that she found research on leukemias and lymphomas being part of what this chemical does. I know of a couple from the Exxon Valdez oil spill who've come down with CLL (Chronic Lymphocydic Leukemia)

So I ask, why doesn't the USA know as much as others?
www.valdezlink.com/solvent_studies.htm#who
www.valdezlink.com/generic.htm#fed

By the way, the chemical companies may have successfully lobbied EPA ending a year ago, to emit more of this chemical into the air. Since it is in a lot of products, that could mean more harm to us? I believe, as a seasoned auto painter said to a young man, "The worst exposure of the chemicals in paint is by way of the eyes and the cuticle areas (Are there any of these chemicals used when one gets a manicure/pedicure?)

OSHA was checking into this chemical family Nov, 2002
www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/comments.htm

I noticed an experiment using PEOPLE last year that was scary to me. I wonder what disclosure they gave these men to do such an experiment? They were looking for effects from dermal exposure. I asked the researchers (but they didn't reply) ... how do you know whether it was dermal exposure they were getting or exposure through the eye membranes?

I suspect the butylated inert ingredient in Accutane as being the harmful component. This acne medication seems to have the same warnings as 2-butoxyethanol. www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/accutane_warnings.htm I would suspect reproductive harm in the future, long after taking it as being a possible side effect, too.

I wonder if it was the butyl ether component to gasoline in the late 70's that caused so many health ailments ... that state by state they have been phasing it out?

I was wondering about this chemical propylene glycol butyl ether Cas # 5131-66-8 as I see it in industrial 'Simple Green'