Submit your Creosote claim details for a free, no obligation case review
Get Started:
Creosote is a mixture of chemical substances that have been found to create a number of health hazards. The possibility of creosote danger exists in both long- and short-term exposure to creosote products.
Mainly used as a wood preservative, creosote can be found throughout the environment. It is released into water and soil, producing a danger to humans, animals and wildlife. Creosote can build up in plants and animals and become a danger in human food and water sources.
Once creosote enters the water supply, it can take many years to break down. Eating food or drinking water with high levels of creosote may cause burning in the mouth and throat, stomach pains, severe skin irritation, convulsions, and kidney and liver problems.
Creosote is also found in many herbal remedies containing leaves from a creosote bush. Danger exists in the consumption of an excessive amount of these remedies, which can result in liver damage.
Creosote danger does not only come from eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Exposure can also occur through proximity to creosote-treated wood products, creating a danger for wood workers and people living in homes constructed with treated wood.
Breathing vapors of creosote tars, which can build up in chimneys, is also dangerous to respiratory health, while skin exposure to creosote-treated products can cause skin blistering or peeling.
One of the most serious dangers of creosote exposure is its link to cancer. Long-term, direct skin exposure to all different forms of creosote, which include wood creosote, coal tar, coal tar pitch and coal tar pitch volatiles, has been linked to cancer of the skin and scrotum. Chimney sweeps are in particular danger of developing these types of cancer from long-term skin exposure to soot and coal tar creosotes.
In animal studies, it has been found that creosote also poses a danger during pregnancy. Exposure to creosote products could be harmful to babies.
During the winter months, many people will start trying to heat up their homes. Wood burning stoves has become a more popular way of providing heat, but there are ways of preventing creosote buildup by burning a hot fire for 15 to 30 minutes. In addit...
Copyright © 2001 - 2009 Online Lawyer Source | Legal Marketing Site Designed by eJustice