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"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)

Week: 577.5

Guest: Ron Hazelton, Home improvement editor, Good Morning America

Topic: Stripping furniture cautions

Host/ Producer: Steve Girard

NEMA: Refinish furniture safely...coming up...

SPOT: 15 years in the prevention of heart disease, stroke and trauma- the National Emergency Medicine Association. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: Usually, when I refinish furniture, someone else has to re-refinish it...but we're talking to Ron Hazelton, the home improvement editor at ABC's Good Morning America, about using chemical strippers in refinishing...

HAZELTON: They save you a tremendous amount of work but the active ingredient that really makes them work is methalene chloride which can be a health hazard. So it vaporizes you can breathe these fumes in. So my suggestion is if you're going to strip furniture it's best to do it outside...or in a garage where you can get some good cross ventilation going.

NEMA: These chemicals are very rough on your skin...

HAZELTON:And of course you want to protect your hands with rubber gloves that are designed for stripping. Strippers tend to dissolve the kind of rubber glove you might use say for dishwashing. So, you can though, in most paint departments, buy rubber gloves that say 'stripping gloves', and they will hold up to that chemical.

NEMA: And always put the chemicals in a place where kids can't get to them. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.