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Article: GAS WARNING FOR SURGEONS Operating theatres' staff scare
- Article from:
- Evening Mail
- Article date:
- June 23, 1999
CopyrightCopyright 1999 Evening Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WORKING in an operating theatre around anaesthetic gas may be as
harmful to the immune system as smoking a packet of cigarettes,
researchers said today.
Doctors examined blood samples taken from ten veterinary surgeons
and ten non-surgical vets who were all non-smokers.
The surgeons had been exposed to waste nitrous oxide and
isoflurane anaesthetic over eight hours - levels equivalent to those
experienced during operations on children.
Chromosomal damage to the white immune cells of the surgeons was
significantly higher than in the non-surgeons.
The German and Austrian study said that the genetic damage was
comparable with smoking between 11 and 20 cigarettes a day.
The results have ...