Skin contact with carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide, CO2, in all forms may be fatal by inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. In high concentrations, it can paralyze the respiratory center and cause suffocation. Use only in well-ventilated areas. In the form of dry ice, contact with carbon dioxide can also cause frostbite. Wear appropriate gloves and safety goggles. 

Precautions An asphyxiant. Contact of carbon dioxide snow with the skin can cause bums. FDA states GRAS (generally recognized as safe) when used at moderate levels to accomplish the desired results. 

Colorless gas or liquid with an odor like ether. The odor has also been described as sweet and reminiscent of bruised apples. Industrially, it can be found diluted with a variety of gases including carbon dioxide, fluorocarbon 12, and nitrogen. This material is hazardous through inhalation, and ingestion, and produces local skin/eye impacts. Exposure to high vapor concentrations or direct contact with liquid may cause burns to the eyes and skin. 

Adaptation to low levels, 1.5-3.0% carbon dioxide, has occurred with chronic exposure. Carbon dioxide at room temperature will not injure the skin, but frostbite may result from contact with dry ice or from the gas at low temperatures. 

SAFETY PROFILE Contact with skin or living tissue can cause frostbite-like burns. This material is stable when very cold. Solid CO2 goes directly (sublimes) to gaseous CO2, which is mainly an asphjtxiant. See also CARBON DIOXIDE. 

Vapor permeable adhesive films are of use in those wounds in which granulation tissue is established and wound exudate is declining. These products were developed as materials that would, in part, mimic the performance of skin. The resultant products were transparent, synthetic adhesive films generically described as vapor permeable adhesive membranes, and comprised of transparent polyurethane or other synthetic films of low reflectance, evenly coated on one side with a synthetic adhesive mass. The adhesive is cohesive and inactivated by contact with moisture and will not therefore stick to moist skin or the wound bed. The films are permeable to water vapor, oxygen, and carbon dioxide but occlusive to water and bacteria and have highly elastomeric and extensible properties. They are conformable, resistant to shear and tear, sterile and particle free. 

Solid carbon dioxide can produce severe bums in contact with the skin and appropriate precautions, depending on the circumstances and quantity of material handled, should be taken. A face shield and protective clothing, including thick gloves, are recommended. 

Observe normal precautions appropriate to the circumstances and quantity of material handled. Contact with the skin and eyes should be avoided. Decomposition produces toxic fumes, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. 

Formaldehyde can enter your body after you breath it in, drink or eat it, or when it comes in contact with your skin. Formaldehyde is quickly absorbed from the nose and the upper part of your limgs. When formaldehyde is eaten and drunk, it is also very quickly absorbed. Very small amounts are probably absorbed from formaldehyde that comes in contact with your skin. Once absorbed, formaldehyde is very quickly broken down. Almost every tissue in the body has the ability to break down formaldehyde. It is usually converted to a non-toxic chemical called formate, which is excreted in the urine. Formaldehyde can also be converted to carbon dioxide and breathed out of the body. It can also be broken down so the body can use it to make larger molecules needed in your tissues, or it can attach to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or to protein in your body. Formaldehyde is not stored in fat. 

In addition to the hazards associated directly with the prcperties of chemicals, it should not be forgotten that even relatively safe chemicals can sometimes present hazards with extremes of temperature. Water, normally a relatively benign chemical, can be extremely hazardous in contact with human tissue when at 100 C. Carbon dioxide can cause severe skin injury when cooled to its liquid state. And even a relatively harmless ester or hydrocarbon can cause severe injury if a worker slips on a spillage of the liquid on the plant floor However, it is the intrinsic hazards of the chemical itself which will be of concern in this chapter. 

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