To mitigate some of those problems, I always use gloves, and I take the used cleaner to the hazardous waste depot for recycling.
While I have no doubt that drinking Varsol will kill you at some level, I'm not as careful as others are.
When I was a boy, we stripped the wax on the hardwood floors once a month or so with varsol (which used to mean
varnish
solvent), and we didn't have rubber gloves to use back then. The process was done on your hands and knees in rooms that were not allways well ventilated either. I'm still here to talk about it. I don't use gloves today either.
I'm NOT saying that PPE is NOT required, just that sometimes we are too afraid of our shadows. Government testing is usually extreme and done at levels that far exceed anything reasonable and certainly don't represent normal exposure levels. One thing is certain, government testing kills rats.
Reasonable precautions are also a good thing. Better safe then sorry. Certainly so in the absence of specific knowledge.
But back to varsol, if I had sensitive skin, I'd wear gloves. If I had a few hours of cleaning to do, I'd prolly wear gloves too. But for a few minutes of cleaning a part or two, I'm fine without. I just wash up with soap and water afterwards to kill the scum and the stink the same way I would with cutting oil, engine oil, or fuel.
I'm not trying to change anyone else's practice. We all take responsibility for ourselves. On my own end, I like the way varsol works, I'm not afraid of it at all, and I see no good reason to change.
As per Susquatch's comment, I'm going to stick with Varsol-paint thinner again this time, but I'll switch to the low odour. $18.99/3.78 litres at Home Hardware. Cheaper than some, but not cheap as I'll end up with 7 jugs in my washer, but it works well. My friends and I have only used Varsol over the past 40 years, so I don't have any experience with any other solvents. There are a lot of mixed comments about the water based cleaners. No one has ever complained about the cleaning power of Varsol as a degreaser, just the envirnoment and health challentes. To mitigate some of those problems, I always use gloves, and I take the used cleaner to the hazardous waste depot for recycling.
