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Galvanized Steel fumes making your skin smell

January 22, 2009

Hi, I have a question about galvanized steel, my father claims to only smell a gas like substance after a galvanized steel container he was welding, exploded a few weeks ago, and now he can smell nothing but fumes, wherever he is, outside, in a fish house, in bed
in church, all over.... it is concerning me since, no one has any answers, do you know what this could be? please advise
caring daughter
in Minnesota

Lori Austing
farmer - Minnesota

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Hi, Lori. He needs advice from medical personnel rather than metal finishing people. But I have read of a phenomenon called something like "olfactory hallucinations", where for no apparent reason the smell sensors trigger to indicate the smell of something that is not there.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 23, 2009

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January 28, 2009

Dear Lori:
Your father was likely exposed to zinc metal fume fever. A long time ago I did an experiment outside my house using a frying pan, some zinc, and a small propane torch. I kept the zinc molten in the pan with the propane burner for several days and when I rode my bicycle up the street I could smell the zinc fumes from a few blocks away. After some days I finished the experiment and then noticed that for a few days later I could still smell the zinc fumes. It seemed to me at the time that the ground may have been contaminated or perhaps my nose and the smell lingered. I am a chemist not an MD. Perhaps you could have your father's blood tested for zinc. I trust that his exposure to zinc fume was for a short period in the outdoors.
Regards,

Dr. Thomas H. Cook
Galvanizing Consultant - Hot Springs, South Dakota, USA