Which wood finishes contained TCE / trichloroethylene?

[mowog]

I read an article earlier today about the possible / probable link between TCE and Parkinson's, and also discovered that it has apparently been used in certain wood finishes in the past (and maybe the present, too, in countries where it isn't banned).

My Uncle died a few years back after a couple of decades of suffering from Parkinson's. He was a carpenter his whole life. When he became too unsteady to trust himself with power tools he switched to hand tools: he converted the loft of his bungalow and built a staircase for it all by hand, in his 70s.

Anyway, that article got me wondering if he might have regularly come into contact with TCE as part of his job, especially back in the 60s, 70s and 80s when nitrile gloves and masks weren't the norm. Just wondering if anyone on the forum knows which woodwork-related things contained TCE back in the day...?

 

[chunkymonkey]

WHAT is TCE?

 

[mowog]

Trichloroethylene

 

[Richard_C]

A few years back you could buy a litre of TCE off the shelf in ordinary French hypermarkets, alongside the HCl, ammonia and other fearsome stuff.

I think it got used in professional dry cleaning as well, and maybe in those stain dabbing products to use at home but can't be sure of that.

I guess it's banned now.... Hope it is.

Hypothetical question, if you had half a litre in your shed, how would you dispose of it?

 

[RobinBHM]

There is certainly a link

https://forum.parkinsons.org.uk/t/trichloroethylene-exposure/10175/11
But I think it was used mostly for degreasing.

It may have been in some wood finishes.

 

[TheTiddles]

These days probably not in anything. It used to be in several things including “Dab it off” which was great for removing stains.

I can’t think it was used that much in finishes in large quantities, but other cleaning chemicals certainly.

 

[mowog]

Ah, that's interesting. Maybe the article I read was incorrect. I was really just intrigued to know if my Uncle could have been regularly coming into contact with TCE through his work. Who knows - maybe my Auntie just used lots of stain remover!

 

[TheTiddles]

It was used in a great many things, like decaffeinated coffee, vegetable oils as well as cleaners, it’s a great solvent for many things. However correlation is not causation, but in general where we start to see links we act to remove things on an ALARP basis, which is what gets the fogies all up in arms about health and safety culture gone mad