[NHCOLL-L:4985] Hairy cell leukemia and chemicals

[Fabio Penati]

Dear colleagues,

three days ago I was diagnosed with an hairy cell leukemia (HCL), a very rare form of this disease.
>From medical literature (a few papers published from 1985 onwards), it seems that HCL can be related with exposition to benzene.
I have never been exposed to benzene, but from January 7th, 1986 (when I started to work as curator of Zoological collections) to May 31st, 2007 I have used 1,4-diclorobenze inside entomological boxes and also into the cabinets of mammals, birds, etc. Moreover, from June 1st 2007 I started to work as Curator of Entomology at MSNG, where not only 1,4-diclorobenze is used, but also nitrobenze and beech creosote.

Now, I write this email to ask if there is somebody among you that knows colleagues that have used these chemicals and have been affected by HCL, recently or in the past (even though I think that this leukemia was not recognised before 1980s).

I am aware that the use of these chemicals in the preservation of zoological and botanical collections is certainly not a "best practice" and has been abandoned since many years ago in most of the museums around the world, but unfortunately somewhere it "survives".

Thank you very much for your collaboration.

Cheers,
Fabio


Dr. Fabio Penati
Curator
*********************************************************
Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "Giacomo Doria"
Via Brigata Liguria, 9
I-16121 Genova, Italia
tel. (+39) 010 564567, 010 582171
fax (+39) 010 566319
e-mail: fpenati at comune.genova.it
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