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So what exactly are thinners? No, it isn’t some kind of hokum weight loss supplement or diet plan. Anybody who works with paints will know that thinners generally mean paint thinner, which are solvents used to thin oil-based paints or are used to clean up after the use of such oil-based paints. While primarily used in this way, thinners do generally have other commercial uses over a number of different industries. There are number of different products used as paint thinners, they include mineral spirits, acetone, mineral turpentine, true turpentine, naphtha, white spirit, methyl ethyl ketone, dimethylformamide, 2-butoxyethanol or any other glycol based ethers. The solvents generally used within the production of these thinners are ethylbenzene, xylene, n-butyl acetate, and buton-1-ol. The fumes that come from the thinners are known to be dangerous and a health hazard if you inhale a certain amount within a period of time, and can be very harmful if breathed by children or pregnant women. Due to this health issue and the amount of time people can spend around these fumes for either leisure or work, there are established threshold limit values for these thinning compounds. There are a number of legal responsibilities pertaining to the individual and the employer in regards to inhalation of these fumes. A 40 hour working week is considered the maximum amount of time someone can be around these fumes without causing permanent long-term health effects. Unfortunately due to a lack of regulation and enforcement of regulation, developing nations that have industries that deal with these fumes do not adhere to the recommendations for expose to the thinner fumes. As a result of these there is a growing number of workers young and old suffering from the effects on their health working around these fumes. There are several efforts to encourage adhering to the regulations in regards to fume exposure, but some business leaders both in the developing nations and developed countries are finding a number of loopholes to avoid doing this. Now that you understand what thinners are, be sure not to spend too long around the fumes or your health may suffer as a result.
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