Nitromethane- carcegenic??

Nitrosylated hydrocarbons such as nitromethane do have a tendency to be carcinogenic, but so are the aflatoxins that are present in small amounts in peanut butter. This isn't going to stop me from eating peanut butter, or from using nitro fuel, either. However, why dump nitro on the ground when you can save money by rerouting it back into your fuel jug?

Morris

I have now:

Marty

I can see the headlines now: "Model fuel prices plummet on news of Nitromethane Ban by the State of Californial"...allowing a fuel glut for the rest of us!

Doesn't everything cause cancer? At least according to the bed wetting tree hugging libs :-)

Ly

Shove enough of anything into your system and you'll develop something fatal. You can't go around worrying about every little potential hazard. If you do, you'll become rather paranoid (hey that might explain.....).

And if you do manage to protect yourself from everything, you'll probably live a long life. Damn boring one but probably long.

From Chuck Jones:

Right you are. Particularly dihydrogen monoxide. That stuff can be lethal if inhaled, even in small quantities. See-

Bill(oc)

You know,

For perfect safety, NEVER get out of bed, Oh wait, that can lead to a weak heart and heart failure so never mind that. HHHHmmmmm, just about any other activity carries a risk. You may fall down and kill or injure yourself just getting out of bed so that's no good. Breathing can cause cancer due to the amount of pollutants in the air so I guess we can't breath now either.

See how silly all this is? According to the EPA report, if mice and rats breathed the stuff, (no mention was made as to how much they had to breath in) some contracted cancer. Skin absorption was ruled out. In the concentrations that we use, and considering the longevity of a majority of the modeling pioneers, I would guess that the hazard is minimal. Unless of course you are snorting the stuff. If so, you have other problems. IMO, the reason your club doesn't want the stuff spilled on the ground is that the oils can damage asphalt over time ( I've seen this) or they leave unsightly stains on concrete, or the alcohol and oils leave dead spots on the grass. Besides, with the cost of fuel, I trap mine anyway. It saves a couple of ounces per flying day and I can use that for another tank of fuel.

On the flip side, the chemicals used in Li-Poly batteries are by far more toxic than glow fuel. The Navy has some pretty strict rules on handling the things. We won't even get into the chemistry of NiCds!!

Everything we use or do carries a risk. I believe that the fuel we use is worth it. Smoking and obesity claim by far more lives than glow fuel ever will.

Just my .02

Jim W

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following you........... :)

Makes good sense to me. Anything pertrolem you spill on the groung will come back to you in your water!

Mike

All I did was post a link to help people read about the recent classification of nitromethane as a likely carcinogen.

I did not advocate giving up the hobby or behaving like chicken little.

I will treat my nitro fuels with more respect than I have in the past.

I would guess so, too.

I used to do that, too, though I never spilled much.

And in some circumstances, those things can burn like crazy. They need some respect, too.

Sitting here 70 pounds overweight and puffing on a pipe. I think about those risks, too. :o(

Marty

That's the problem! They don't!

Ther must be a million materials that are linked, to those who use them daily, to cancers.

There is almost no evidence in ANY of these products - from asbestos, to benzene, that the odd splash now and again substantially increases cancer risks.

Frankly, you are more at danger from the junk that goes in all packaged foods.

Give up McDonalds and beer, and enjoy your slimers.

spilled on

This the link to the Red Max MSDS for their nitromethane-containing fuels.

It seems that the propylene oxide in the fuel is more dangerous than the nitro. The nitro link given in another post is more specifically for pure nitromethane rather than mixtures containing nitromethane. I find it interesting that the first "general" exposures listed are from motor vehicle exhaust and cigarette smoking.

It's a good idea to recover the glow fuel rather than letting it spill on the ground for asphalt and grass maintenance, and for cost savings (as others have mentioned). Also, since glow fuel contains petroleum components that contaminate the soil and groundwater, it's against the law in most (or all) states to dump the stuff.

Ok, boys, if CAN be nasty stuff. However, if proper precautions are used, exposure risks from glow fuel are minimized.

1. If it gets on your skin, wash it off promptly.
2. If it gets in your eyes, flush with LOTS of water immediately and get medical help.
3. Avoid open containers of glow fuel in a closed area, i.e. your shop.
4. Do NOT siphon your fuel by mouth, unless you want numb lips and tongue the rest of the day. Besides, it tastes nasty. In other words, don't drink the stuff, you sterno bums. :)

So, the obvious answer is for everyone to scrap their nitro planes and buy electrics...NOT!

Dr.1

That was some well done spoof. Should have been dated on April 1. Lots of ways to describe common chemical compounds, just to confuse us "sometimes chemists". I especially liked "oxygen dihydride" near the end.

Olin

snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com (Olin K. McDaniel) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.east.earthlink.net:

You know, it's more technically accurate to call it "hydrogen hydroxide" but I've never seen it referred to that way.