Copier Toner

• By Jack0
• Reply 7863
• September 21, 2007 at 10:25 am
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I've been diagnosed with Sarc for 6 months now.
For the past 5 years I've been an IT Manager for a small company.
Our office supplies copier and printer toner for the 15 buildings that we support.
We store, ship and recycle the empty bottles and cartridges. It's too late for me but other than
safe handling I don't know what to do for the young people that work fo me.

• By doone
• Reply 7864
• October 17, 2007 at 7:53 pm
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Have serviced copiiers for 27 years , diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis in 2001,
seemed to clear up after a few months of prednisone, however it came back with a vengeance In January.
At present am working part time at same job, and receiving disability payments.
There is no documented proof at present that toner or emissions are a cause of sarcoidosis,
However am waiting in hope that something turns up proving a link.

• By Francesco
• Reply 50415
• December 6, 2008 at 4:48 am
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Hi,
The Sarcoidosis and bladder cancer unfortunately are linked with toners and copying machines.
I’m Rollo Francesco, I was a Italian laser printers and photocopiers engineer, and I’m suffering with a urothelial cancer. The urothelial cancer are also a bladder cancer.
I have contacts with colleagues engineers with sarcoidosis .
The sarcoidosis is likely linked to micro dusts of metals contained in toners. The bladder cancer instead, is linked with carbon black contained in toners.
I have got a recognition of industrial disease. In Italy, for the first time in world, it has been proved that carbon black dust powers the bladder cancer to human.
In England, Solicitors of industrial diseases linked the carbon black to bladder cancer:

(First website) http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/Workplace-Illnesses-and-Diseases/bladder-can cer-compensation-claim.htm
... workers using adhesives in the tyre making industries and people in the printing industry who work with a substance called 'carbon black' that is used to make inks and other dyes or pigments …

(Second website)
http://www.johnpickering.co.uk/bladder.html
Printing industry (especially if working with a substance called ‘carbon black’ that is used to make inks)
On sarcoidosis there is a study that linked the Sarc. with photocopiers:
Rybicki BA, Amend KL, Maliarik MJ, Iannuzzi MC
Photocopier exposure and risk of sarcoidosis in African-American sibs.
Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 2004 Mar; 21 (1):49-55. PMID: 15127975
There are also others diseases linked, Antiphospholipid Syndrome, MCS, Lupus Erythematosus ...


Best Regards,
Francesco Rollo ( francorollo60@alice.it )

• By RuthfromOz
• Reply 50553
• December 7, 2008 at 6:15 am
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Copy machine toner as a cause of sarcoid sounds like an interesting hypothesis, except for two things:
1) photocopying machines weren't around in 1899 when Boeck first studied and named the disease, and
2) sarcoidosis also occurs in horses, and there aren't too many of them that use, service or repair copiers.

It's highly likely that toner may make sarcoid worse, but I don't think it's a likely candidate as a cause.

• By Francesco
• Reply 50576
• December 7, 2008 at 8:47 am
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Hi,
The causes of sarcoidosis are today unknown.
Doctor Rybicki in his study says:

..In a family study of sarcoidosis in African-Americans, we detected a positive association between sarcoidosis and ever working in a sales or clerical occupation. This finding, and case reports of granulomatous lung disease in patients with photocopier toner dust exposure, led us to hypothesize that sarcoidosis risk may increase as a result of photocopier exposure. METHODS: Retrospective data on photocopier use and maintenance were collected from African-American sarcoidosis cases and their first degree relatives. The study sample consisted of 181 African-American sibships where one or more members had a history of sarcoidosis (n = 540). RESULTS: Sarcoidosis was statistically significantly associated with ever using a photocopier (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.23-2.46), and ever changing photocopier toner or carrying out photocopier maintenance (OR = 2.88, 95% CI 1.83-4.54). In a conditional logistic regression model that adjusted for age and sex, the OR associated with a sarcoidosis history and being in the highest tertile of photocopier exposure ranged from 1.83 to 2.19 depending on the exposure measure used. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that photocopier toner dust may be a previously unrecognized antigen in the pathophysiology of some patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis...