A NZ$520,000 project to determine whether timber workers exposed to pentachlorophenols (PCPs) are dying earlier and suffering from ill health is to be launched at Massey University.
The study has been welcomed by the Sawmill Workers Against Poisons (Swap) Group which is concerned about the range of chronic health problems experienced by former timber workers.
Blood will be taken from a random sample of former timber workers to confirm exposure to PCPs.
PCPs were banned in New Zealand in 1991, but between the 1950s and late 1980s timber workers were regularly exposed to PCPs which were used as an anti-sapstain fungicide.
