| Health & Safety
Issues ~ Working with Gourds |
| Before the invention of modern machinery,
gourd crafting was considered environmentally safe. Now, it has
become a health problem. Airborne gourd pollutants can and will create
an environment that is conducive to many types of respiratory and chronic
ailments. It is very important to protect your health. Anyone who
works in an environment contaminated with gourd irritants is asking for
medical problems. |
| This becomes a problem if you continually
breathe the fine gourd dust and cellulose. These materials contain
chemical compounds that bind, harden and preserve the dried gourd. Secondary
chemicals are created from decay, molds, spores, and microorganisms within
and on the gourd during the natural curing process. |
| Gourd smoke, gourd fumes, and other gourd
irritants, which are produced by the pyro-engraving techniques can be
harmful to the lungs. This can end up as a problematic respiratory
disease. |
| When working with gourds, the following
common sense measures and easy-to-find products will help keep you healthy
and happily crafting. |
| Gloves: Avoid direct skin
contact with moldy gourds which have not yet been cleaned. Some
people cannot even handle "cleaned" gourds without gloves.
Vinyl gloves, like those used by the health industry, can be purchased
by the box at your local pharmacies and large chain stores. When
scrubbing gourds, dishwashing gloves are recommended. |
| Mask or Respirator:
Airborne dust particles and mold spores from gourds should be avoided
just as any other type of airborne particulate should be. A mask
or respirator designed to prevent inhalation of these minute particles
should be worn when cleaning the outside surface, sanding, cutting, and
cleaning inside surfaces of a gourd. |
| Work with gourds outside whenever possible.
If you must work inside, make sure you have good ventilation and a dust control
system is strongly recommended. |
| Dust particles and mold spores will cling
to clothing and hair. After working with gourds in the cleaning,
sanding, cutting, carving, etc. stages, change into clean clothes
and wash the ones you were wearing. |
| If you are new to gourds, you will soon
learn your sensitivities to them, if any, and the measures you’ll need
to take when working with them. The first signs of a problem will
most likely be a metallic taste in the mouth, fits of coughing,
or sneezing with runny eyes and nose as in an allergy attack. The
measures and protective items mentioned above are the first steps
to maintaining good health while working with gourds. They should
be followed even if you don’t notice any sensitivity at all. Gourds,
like many other pollutants with which we come in contact in the environment
throughout our lives, don’t always send up an immediate signal that they
are causing a problem. Gourds are a wonderful natural resource with
which to work and provide many creative opportunities and practical uses.
So let’s all gourd in good health! |
|
Used with permission: Safety and Health Information
by Joy Jackson and Jerry Lewis
|