Posted By:
ErlandStevensI don't want to belittle safety or taking precautions when working with chemicals (or hijack Brian's thread on cleaning cards), but solvents like toluene and even benzene are not very dangerous. As long as you don't work with benzene ten hours/day in a small closet with the card two inches from your face, then your exposure problems will be negligible. As long as you take reasonable measures to limit your exposure, then the risk is no greater than pumping your own gas or filling up your mower. Gasoline contains small amounts of both benzene and toluene.
By the way, benzene used to be the solvent of choice for washing one's hands in lab. It was found to be a carcinogen so people quit doing it. Exposure on your skin is not a problem because it doesn't pass through your skin. Breathing its vapors does lead to risk over *very* long term exposure. The problem is that your body has a hard time metabolizing it, so benzene builds in your tissues.
To keep this on topic (somewhat), I agree that toluene won't touch the pencil marks.