In addition to the toxic chemicals found in treated wood and wood coatings, potentially harmful exposure can come from fungi, bacteria and bark. An increased risk of nasal cancer from wood dust exposure has been found in several independent studies. The National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently recommended that wood dust be listed in the department's 10th annual report on carcinogens, a document that lists substances found to cause cancer. Workers with the highest exposure to wood dust were found to be press operators in the wood products industry, lathe operators in the furniture industry and sanders in the wood cabinet industry, according to a report to the National Toxicology Program. Exposure to wood dust occurs when wood is sawed, but the danger doesn't end there.
Wood dust is used as an ingredient in many products.
Millions of pounds of wood dust are created each year. The material is used to make charcoal, as an absorbent in nitroglycerin, as a filler in plastics and in linoleum and paperboard. Environmental exposure to wood dust also occurs in the handling of compost that contains wood dust. Exposure to wood dust comes from a variety of sources, including house construction. A variety of human and animal studies also reveal connections between chemicals found in wood and mutations in DNA, the building blocks of life.