Adhesives and Glues
Exposure to adhesives and glues is common in occupation, leisure time and household activities. Several types of glues and adhesives are in use, depending on the materials to be joined. Whereas a century ago only paper, wood, leather and textiles could be
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Adhesives and Glues M. Gebhardt and P. Eisner
Introduction Exposure to adhesives and glues is common in occupation, leis ure time and household activities. Several types of glues and adhesives are in use, depending on the materials to be joined. Whereas a century ago only paper, wood, leather and textiles could be glued, today almost any type of materials can be fixed to each other. In the majority of glues, the action is simply due to removal of solvents, cooling or crystallization. In theses cases, it is not the action of the macromolecular molecules but rather the preservatives, detergents and other additives added to the adhesive preparation that may cause dermatological problems, although this is rare. There is, however, a constantly growing second group of glues in which the adhesive is a polymerization product formed by a complex chemie al re action between the macromolecules. This second group may cause many more irritant and allergic reactions on the skin (Malten 1984). In this instance, two component systems are common that react only after being mixed. Other ways to start the reaction include heating, UV irradiation, oxygen and air exposure, pressure-induced rupture of catalyst reservoirs, etc. We want to focus mainly on this second group of adhesive chemicals and their occupational use.
Formaldehyde Resins Phenol-formaldehyde resins resemble a group of chemieals that contain the formaldehyde structure but are not necessarily associated with formaldehyde allergy. Resols and novolacs are distinguished within that group. While the chemie al curing of novolacs requires the presence of formaldehyde to react with the phenol terminate group, re sols do not. Resols are intermediates, which, in turn, need heat to cure (Malten 1984). Para-substituted phenol resins do not crosslink but adhere readily under press ure. Among
L. Kanerva et al. (ed.), Handbook of Occupational Dermatology © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000
them, para-tertiary butylphenol formaldehyde resin (PTBP-FR) is a well-known allergen with particular use as neoprene-based leather glue. Therefore it has occupational relevance for shoemakers. An Italian survey revealed PTBP-FR-containing neoprene adhesives to be the major allergens in a shoe factory (Manusco et al. 1996). Apart from PTBP-FR, mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), two-component-polyurethane- and epoxy resin-based glues were also found in the same study as relevant glue allergens with special applications each in shoe manufacture. PTBPFR-based glues have also been reported for their use in car manufacture (Schubert and Agatha 1979). Non-occupational relevance is given in foot dermatitis elicited by shoes, in wrist dermatitis by watch straps and in other leather artieies (Freeman 1997). Nine of 839 Finnish patients patch tested with a glue series reacted to PTBP-FR, which turned out to be the most common relevant glue allergen (Tarvainen 1995). Despite the similar chemical nature, there is no evidence for cross-reactivity between phenol-formaldehyde res in and PTBP-FR (Geldof et al. 1
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