Do Whiteboard Markers Cause Brain Damage?
(FORTUNE Magazine) – There are some things you just know are bad for you, like eating cheese fries or driving without a seatbelt. But what about those pungent dry-erase markers that are mainstays in offices and schools? Something that smells this bad must be unhealthy, right? "What doesn't cause brain damage these days?" asks Brian Droscha, general manager of Markerboard People, makers of dry-erase products for 20 years. Droscha, however, says the markers, which smell like a cross between paint thinner and diesel fuel, pose no health risks. (The odor comes from the alcohol solvent that propels the ink from the marker.) The chemicals in them might be harmful in very large quantities but not in the amount found in a pen. Dr. Barbara McCall, a Maine physician, agrees. While sniffing toxic fumes can damage the liver, lungs, kidneys, and brain, McCall doubts that the markers could be a problem "unless they are purposely misused over a long time." The fumes may be overpowering, but few gripe, says Joe Lillie, product manager at Sanford, makers of the Expo line. He gets about three smell-related complaints every six months. "I have just as many people that love the odor." Sanford's regulatory chemist Jamie Paulin says the company submits its markers to an independent toxicologist for evaluation. All have been certified nontoxic. Still, many are wary. Ian Edmundson of Into Networks in Cambridge, Mass., often uses the markers around the office. Not that he is happy about it. "It's not like when you were a kid, and the red ones smelled like cherries." David Carpenter, a teacher in Arizona, hates them so much that he makes his students write on the board: "I don't know if they cause brain damage, but they sure make me woozy." --Reed Tucker |
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