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RE: Re: Metals in Printing Ink
For the record, a friend of mine needed a barium enema when pregnant and
her son was born mildly retarded. No one knows for sure what caused it,
but there were no other known genetic or environmental factors.
Leif Magnuson
Pollution Prevention Coordinator
U.S. EPA Region IX, WST-7
75 Hawthorne St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 972-3286 Tel
(415) 947-3530 Fax
magnuson.leif@epa.gov
www.epa.gov/region09/p2
Warren Weaver
<wjw5@psu.edu> To: "Valin, Debby" <Debby.Valin@dep.state.fl.us>
Sent by: cc: P2tech@great-lakes.net
owner-p2tech@grea Subject: RE: Re: Metals in Printing Ink
t-lakes.net
08/13/2002 07:11
PM
Please respond to
Warren Weaver
Debby,
What you say is correct, Debby.
We should consider some additional relevant information, however. First,
during my 11 years in the printing industry, never did an environmental
agency raise a red flag about barium, either in the information that I
supplied to them or in any discussions held between EPA and the printing
industry trade associations' environmental committees, several of which
I was actively involved with.
Note also that the organo-metallic compounds that make good pigments are
highly stable as they would need to be to make the inks colorfast.
Colorfastness is the property of printing inks that enables the images
on the products with which they are printed (magazines, inserts, etc.)
to maintain their intended properties. These properties are maintained
for an extended amount of time-through the printing process, through
shipment to the newstand, through the ride home with the purchaser,
through the dash in the rain into the house, through the weeks on the
coffee table in the sunlight, through the years in the local library
and, yes, even through the decades in the landfill.
Colorfastness avoids faces that turn green or images that fade to
invisibility. Barium, copper and iron are the bases of those
organo-metallic pigments-in the same way that magnesium is the basis for
chlorophyll (a green "pigment", albeit not a very colorfast one) and the
way iron is the basis of hemoglobin (the red "pigment" that is the
carrier of oxygen in your red blood cells). Consequently, the barium
that is the basis of barium lithol red (magenta) pigment, and the copper
and iron that are the basis of two blue (iron blue and cyan)
organo-metallic pigments used in printing inks are not readily available
to the environment.
You might also be interested in knowing that the vitamins that I take
every day contains...you guessed it-barium, iron and copper. It even
contains chromium which many consider worse for the environment...and
for humans...than the others. Micro-nutrient experts have been showing
that these and many other minerals are essential to human health and
longevity. The only two metals that are known to be harmful-i.e. zero is
the only appropriate human consumption level-are mercury and lead.
One final comment, Debby. The medical diagnostic community uses barium
to make soft tissue in a subject's digestive system show up on x-rays.
If an individual who is experiencing stomach pain is faced with a barium
cocktail as a means of diagnosing his or her ailment, should he or she
refuse just because barium is a RCRA metal?
Warren
Barium is also a RCRA metal, in addttion to lead and chromium.
Also, note that a chemical present at 1%, as some metals are in
these inks, is still concentrated at 10,000 ppm! Thhe haz waste
toxicity charcteristic metal concentrations are far less than
10,000 ppm! Chemicals that represent less than 1% by weight in a
product formulation do not have to be listed on an MSDS and maybe
up to 10,000 ppm in concentration! Be careful relying on percent
by weight info and relating to haz waste concentrations...
-----Original Message-----
From: Listman [mailto:listman@wmrc.uiuc.edu]
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 8:34 AM
To: P2tech@great-lakes.net
Subject: Fwd: Re: Metals in Printing Ink
X-Sender: gmiller@wmrc.uiuc.edu
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 08:52:47 -0500
To: Listman <listman@wmrc.uiuc.edu>
From: Gary Miller <gmiller@wmrc.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Metals in Printing Ink
Rusty,
One good way to search for info. on this subject is to
use the search feature on the PNEAC web site. I typed
in metal and found the following information:
A good contact on this question is:
George Fuchs
Director, Environmental Affairs
National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers
777 Terrace Ave.
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
Tel.: 201/288-9454
Fax: 201/288-9453
On June 1, 1998 Doreen Monteleone of FTA answered
essentially the same question from Donna Pederson of
MinnTAP as follows:
If the inserts were printed flexographically, it is
unlikely. Most ink
companies have stopped adding lead, mercury, cadmium
or hexavalent chromium
to flexo inks. I'm aware that Minnesota regulates the
use of these and
have recently consulted a few ink companies.
Hope this helps.
Gary
At 07:52 AM 8/8/2002 -0500, you wrote:
Forwarded on behalf of Rusty Harris-Bishop.
Please reply to p2tech@great-lakes.net.
I have a question regarding the color inserts in
newspapers (I believe it's a flexographic
process). Does anyone know if they still use
metal inks in printing these? Does anyone know
when they were phased out if they were? I have
looked on the print-tech archives, and didnt'
see it answered, and posted a question, but it
didn't seem to get a response.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Rusty Harris-Bishop
NC DPPEA
rusty.harris-bishop@ncmail.net
www.p2pays.org
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Gary D. Miller, Ph. D.
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Department of Natural Resources
One East Hazelwood Drive
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--
Warren Weaver
PENNTAP
Penn State University
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York, PA 17405
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