White Cypress Pine Safety

Hello all, bit of a dud question but my wife is a hypochondriac so trying to ease her mind.

I'm putting up a picket fence for my mother in law, white cypress pickets was all bunnings had so that's she's getting.

So like usual she went trolling for everything she could find on it and while all wood dust is now considered likely to cause cancer here, she kept bringing up how white cypress pine has nasal cancer specifically as a symptom while most of the other woods do not. I told her the risks are in relation to long term exposure from people regularly exposed to it such as building with it each day for their job while i'm only having this one time exposure putting up a fence but that didn't help her any.

So i'm just trying to see if since my only exposure will be making this fence, if it is safe to use white cypress pine, cutting it onsite with a CMS (have no vac so will be a bit of dust about) and using a half face respirator with P2 filters or if I need to take it back and try to find something elsewhere to make the fence from to keep her from having a nervous breakdown :C

As the saying goes, 'Happy wife happy life' and if that means changing products, then so be it.

Even though it may sound extreme to you, just be grateful that your wife is looking out for your best health!

I'd be interested to see the links to White Cypress pine cancer because from what I know it has the same toxicity as general softwoods.

In the highly regard Annual Report on Cancer the entry for wood dust makes no specific reference to White Cypress pine, the only timber that has a specific reference is Western Red Cedar which has half the time weighted exposure level of general softwood. MDF is also in the same category as WRC.

The reality is that no one really knows the toxicity of any timber because no one has done any systematic research on this issue.
The guidelines are determined from indirect epidemiological studies of wood workers in the Northern Hemisphere .
BUT these fails to take into account that
ALL DUST causes health problems - not just cancer but is a serious contributor to cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks and strokes.
It does not take into account of individual sensitivities to wood dust
No account of the generally accepted view that Aussie timbers are more toxic than Northern Hemisphere timbers.

Because of this is it recommend that as much dust as possible be avoided.

Hey why no milk the situation and ask the missus for an upgrade to you DC system, a nice Clearvue Max and $500 worth of ducting should fix it! :D

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Originally Posted by cava

As the saying goes, 'Happy wife happy life' and if that means changing products, then so be it.

Even though it may sound extreme to you, just be grateful that your wife is looking out for your best health!

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Originally Posted by BobL

I'd be interested to see the links to White Cypress pine cancer because from what I know it has the same toxicity as general softwoods.

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I had a little look myself and couldn't really see any, numerous tables listing woods and under health risk or symptom etc it says cancer, nasal cancer, NPC etc but none of them had any references to anything actually stating that it does.

I did come across this one again only has a table but has all the woods commonly used in classes in Queensland Schools with Oleander and WRC the only ones the guidelines say MUST NOT be used in classes in school so I thought maybe showing her that "hey look hun schools can't use these 2 because they are so bad but they can use what i'm building the fence with so it can't be that bad" might have done the trick but alas nothing changed.

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Originally Posted by BobL

Hey why no milk the situation and ask the missus for an upgrade to you DC system, a nice Clearvue Max and $500 worth of ducting should fix it! :D

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I could see that backfiring and going "what do you need a DC system for... they're all THAT BAD that you NEED one of those!!! if that is the case theb not so much as a wooden broom stick is going to be seen near this house now!" next day up pulls a truck with people to build a hermetically sealed safe room ^_^

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Originally Posted by Thomas.j

I could see that backfiring and going "what do you need a DC system for... they're all THAT BAD that you NEED one of those!!! if that is the case theb not so much as a wooden broom stick is going to be seen near this house now!" next day up pulls a truck with people to build a hermetically sealed safe room ^_^

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Do you have a melamine kitchen - there's more danger in that than a basic wooden kitchen especially if it catches fire.
What about carpets - they are dust trap central
Most folks have no idea that ALL dust is dangerous and it is the 5th leading cause of death in the world?

My SWMBO lets me spend whatever it takes on safety related stuff.

God don't say stuff like that incase she comes across this page in a google or someone says something I want to show her :(

Perhaps I can convince her cutting it by hand would be fine because of the reduction in dust..... or would it be wrong or bad if I just told her I took it back and got some "safe untreated radiata" pine instead and it just looks the same because they both look very similar :;

I've spent a lot of time around cypress mills and millers, nasal cancer does not appear to be any more prevalent than in the general community. Wish I could say the same thing about cedar. You will be more likely to end up with a melanoma from sun exposure from such a project. May be safer to only work at night:;

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Originally Posted by Thomas.j

would it be wrong or bad if I just told her I took it back and got some "safe untreated radiata" pine instead and it just looks the same because they both look very similar :;

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I think this is a very good optin

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Originally Posted by ian

I think this is a very good optin

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Probably not the best option for a wife who is computer savvy and possibly on an information quest.

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Originally Posted by Thomas.j

So like usual she went trolling for everything she could find on it

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Originally Posted by cava

Probably not the best option for a wife who is computer savvy and possibly on an information quest.

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I think she has compiled her compendium on cypress so hopefully she's never looking for anything on it again but I guess you never know....

Just tell your wife she will have to explain to her mother why she's now not getting a fence. I guarantee she'll be okay with the cypress :wink:
Just pick a windy day, wear the respirator and set up the CMS with your back to the wind. Avoiding dust exposure is important, but so is keeping MIL happy.

How about you just get a half face mask with P2 filter.. that should solve the problem... they are not expensive.. and you can later use it for other projects