• kozy138@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    As someone who does R&D testing on plastics that are used in medical devices, I have some insight. Of course the type of plastic matters, but all plastics use carcinogenic chemicals during the manufacturing/extrusion process.

    To make most plastic, a polymer resin is mixed with additives such as solvents, plasticizers, and stabilizers at high temperatures. Ideally, you want the additives to evaporate out during production so that you’re left with just the newly formed plastic.

    But some of these additives get trapped in tiny air pockets between polymer chains. When they’re reheated, the polymer chains relax and release the volatile, carcinogenic additives into the air.

    This is likely where the toxicity is coming from, not the polymer chain itself. So regardless of the type of plastic used, reheating the polymer during 3D printing will release some volatile additives.

  • veee@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    tl;dr maybe don’t sleep where you print

    Does this mean that 3D printing causes cancer? No, not by a long shot. But, it’s clear that under lab conditions, exposure to either PLA or ABS particulates seems to be related to some of the cell changes associated with carcinogenesis.

  • Nighed@feddit.uk
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    1 month ago

    There was that video from a few months ago from… Prints with layers I think? That looked at the actual particulate and volatile counts and found that PLA actually gave off very little? Other plastics were much worse.

    So remember that the particle counts matter as much as the danger of the particles.

    (Disclaimer, that was a video, not a peer reviewed scientific paper)

    • scutiger@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      There was also a video a while back from one maker channel where the guy said that he got some type of nasty poisoning from breathing in fumes from ABS printing. Fortunately ABS isn’t as popular of a material as it once was, now that there are better alternatives, but I’m sure many of them still put out some nasty fumes.

  • utopiah@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Printing using PLA in the basement, with a filter, not being in the room until the print is actually done. I feel pretty safe.

  • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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    29 days ago

    What does this all mean to the home gamer?

    Oooook……

    Plot twist!

    This took an interesting turn!

  • Wow who would have thunk the chemicals getting dumped into the environment by the fucking oil industries could be dangerouse. There are a million 3d printing materials u can use and have decent extraction and ur fine. Guy u need to be scared 3d printers might give the consumer too much power, cant have foss technology winning out.

    • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      FDM plastic often uses PLA, which is derived from corn starch, not petroleum.

        • Observer1199@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          According to authors [CheolHong Lim] and [DongSeok Seo], the research covered in this paper was undertaken because of reports of rare cancers among Korean STEM teachers, particularly those who used 3D printers in their curricula. It was thought that only long-term, continued exposure to the particulates generated by 3D printers could potentially be hazardous and that PLA was less likely to be hazardous than ABS. The study was designed to assess the potential carcinogenicity of both ABS and PLA particulates under conditions similar to what could be expected in an educational setting.

        • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          Okay buddy ya wanna get specific? Let’s get specific. Sea creatures are made up of protons and neutrons. So was Hitler. Coincidence??? Checkmate? Nah we aren’t done yet buddy.

          What are protons and neutrons made up of? Quarks! You know what else is made up of quarks? My average sized penis.

          Do you think my penis is considered safe? What about sea creatures? I think you have a lot of research work to do in physics and polymers.

          • elliot_crane@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            What are protons and neutrons made up of? Quarks! You know what else is made up of quarks? My average sized penis.

            I have no horse in this race but this shit made me ugly laugh.

          • oatscoop@midwest.social
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            1 month ago

            You’re not wrong, but the idea that “plant based” is “safe” isn’t right either. Plants can create all kinds of horribly toxic, carcinogenic compounds – especially when burned or heated.

            Wood smoke of all things is mildly carcinogenic and we cook our food with it.

            • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              If you had read my comment, you’d see that I never said nor insinuated that PLA was safe. I specified it differed from petroleum.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 month ago

          Petroleum comes from crude oil. Crude oil is the remains of the first forests. Where did you get this idea that it comes from sea creatures?

            • vxx@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              You’re both wrong, but you’re half right. I don’t understand how the ancient forest guy got the upvotes, because he’s completely wrong.

              Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that, just like plants that live on land, require access to the sun to survive through the process of photosynthesis (turning sunlight into energy using chlorophyll).

              Zooplankton are microscopic animals that feed upon phytoplankton to survive.

              These tiny creatures do not have very long lifespans (a few weeks at most), so they are reproducing and dying at a very rapid rate. When these microscopic creatures die, they sink to the floor of the ocean.

              Over time, the plankton are buried and mixed underneath layers of sand, silt, and rock. This process has occurred since these creatures evolved over 1 billion years ago and continues to this day…

              https://bkvenergy.com/learning-center/where-does-oil-come-from/

            • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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              1 month ago

              Coal is from ancient forests but of a different age (400 million years ago) and it also required wetlands and aquatic life. There was for sure an element of micro life that was involved but photosynthetic aquatic life is only a factor, its not really known exactly what exact factors are determined except time heat and pressure. It would be more accurate to say that zooplankton, algae, and bacteria are what made crude oil.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Formation
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous

    • Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      What do you do with all the time you save by writing ‘u’ instead of ‘you’? You must live a life of leisure and be early for every event!