March 29, 2024, 01:16:06 AM
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Topic: How would you test if sugarcane paper is safe for high IgE and MCS sufferers?  (Read 1591 times)

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Offline Blueberries116

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I've been posed this question from a friend of mine. He is in the sugarcane paper business and had asked me if there is some laboratory which may certify if his paper is safe and approved to be used for people with allergies or MCS syndrome.

I do know ELISA test kits do exist for use in the food industry. This is highly selective for proteins but it can only detect things known triggers allergies like ELISA for peanuts or casein in milk. Other tests but used in human serum are RAST which as you know uses radioactive tracers. But the latter is done in a person to know if he or she has allergies.

But how do you in general do a full sweep of different known allergy substances in an object like sugarcane paper?.

Does it exist some specialized laboratory well known in the industry for this?. I know NIST does test different things but I don't know if they do actually test for allergens. Needless to say in things outside the food or pharmaceutical uses.

It might be noted that if there is also the possibility to scan or test for the presence of furan related compounds, formaldehyde by products and aromatics. Can this be tested on the paper as well?. Which technique would be the best to use here?. HPLC? Mass spectrometry? what?

Which lab can do this?. In other objects which would be used by children which might be prone to eat stuff, like chalks or eraser blocks and even crayola, what sort of technique is used to see if those aren't toxic or do not have dangerous levels of let's say PVC or are free from latex and etc?  Is there an industry standard for this?.

Please, I will really appreciate help in this matter and someone which may have had experience in this field to educate me better so I can relay the message to my friend. Therefore a well explained answer which would address my doubts will help me the most.
Have a nice day!

Offline Borek

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do a full sweep of different known allergy substances

I am not convinced this is realistic.

Different people are allergic to different things, some people react to substances you haven't heard off. So you can do test for some of the most common ones, but "full sweep" is unlikely.

I would start by searching what known allergens can be present in the sugar cane and in other substances using in the production process, then I would still limit the tests to these most common. Otherwise you can spend every penny in the world for testing and still not be sure if the thing is entirely safe for everyone.
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Offline Blueberries116

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do a full sweep of different known allergy substances

I am not convinced this is realistic.

Different people are allergic to different things, some people react to substances you haven't heard off. So you can do test for some of the most common ones, but "full sweep" is unlikely.

I would start by searching what known allergens can be present in the sugar cane and in other substances using in the production process, then I would still limit the tests to these most common. Otherwise you can spend every penny in the world for testing and still not be sure if the thing is entirely safe for everyone.
I think you took my words too literaly Borek. Of course I wasn't implying scanning for all the possible allergens known in the world. In fact I agree with you when you say that there are substances that aren't well known and still cause allergies to some individuals. That's why I also mentioned MCS sufferers.

The scope in my question was in line with what you said later. I mean to scan for a short list of allergens already standarized in the paper industry. This by extension also affects those who have high IgE and MCS. This list which I am alluding perhaps maybe feature 10 chemicals or perhaps a 100. I don't know. Even if it goes up to 100, I was trying to imply to do a full sweep from that set to let's say 5 substances or maybe 10 which the industry already agreed that those should be tested on paper so it can be "safe" for allergy prone patients.

By listening to what my friend told me on the sugarcane paper mill process and crossing references with this video I figured out that a list of substances that I would agree to see them tested are:

HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural), at is a product due the dehydration of fructose
ethanol
peroxides
dioxins
sulphites
nitrites

According to him, the process that he uses does not uses whitening agents. But since water and heat might be involved, by products of the hydrolysis of glucose polymers found in the cell walls from the bagasse which is the raw material for the paper and also proteins would produce the substances mentioned above.

But still this does not totally address my question, and this is why I asked specifically if there is some guideline for testing things in the stationery industry and more specifically in paper.

ASTM has a method for latex and its numbered D5712.

Upon doing more research I found there exists the TAPPI which is the technical association of pulp and paper industry. Maybe they have some guidelines, but I don't know.

So far, I feel that I am kind of self answering. But I feel it is still lacking.

Do you know what other things can or should be tested?. Is there some society that can give its seal of approval for use in people with certain allergies perhaps?.

Again, as I noted in the original post, there might be different methods to test all of those substances once its been decided what to test quantitatively. Its just I wonder, since the intended purpose is to analyze the end product as it is dry. Will this imply that different equipment will come into play? if so, will they have enough sensitivity?. I am not sure in fact which are the best to be used in paper as it is or if it does require some preliminary treatment.

As a fun note, I'd like to say that all of this would had been much simpler if somehow we could have access to my character ichigan buster, Leela bracelet, Data tricorder, Asami Future industries or
Varrick analyzers.
Have a nice day!

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