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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brocknroller" data-source="post: 1614527" data-attributes="member: 665">Mark,Yes, once the rubber armoring has outgassed, the bins should be okay, but until it does, you're breathing in those odors. However, since you use bins outdoors, that's probably not nearly as harmful as breathing in the "new car smell" inside an automobile. I find that strong rubber odors bother my lungs. So I probably couldn't tolerate using a Minox or the original Zeiss Victory even if they weren't toxic. I read about one bin owner baking his Fujinons FMTRs at 110* F until he got the odor out of it!The problem with doing this, of course, is that you need very good ventilation otherwise you're going to breathe in the chemicals in greater concentration. I'm not sure how toxic the chemicals are in soft rubber armoring, but they did a study awhile back, which I referred to earlier, that did show the Minox rubber armoring gave off toxic fumes. If I find the original source, I will post it. Certainly in higher concentrations and chronic exposures, chemical fumes can be harmful. Studies conducted in Eastern Block countries that were heavily industrialized without any pollution control during the "Soviet Error" showed a correlation of lung ailments and cancers, particularly in children, and the nearby chemical processing plants and manufacturing plants where they lived.Yes, bisphenols in plastics are a more immediate concern to most of us. They have an estrogen-like response in the body. A study conducted in England of sperm counts, comparing sons and fathers, showed that the sons actually had significantly less sperm. They think this is due to bisphenols. Young girls are also developing breasts at an earlier age due to bisphenols. I'm in the process of switching from plastic food storage containers to glass bottles. As long as the bottles weren't made in China... with lead... I should be better off.</blockquote>

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