Contractor's Alert on Carcinogenic Chain Saw Oil

Goco Bar and Chain Oil is a multigrade product that is based on canola oil rather than petroleum oil, with the right viscosity, tackiness and flow qualities for the full range of professional chain saw applications. Its efficacy is confirmed by routine use over a period of several years both here and abroad, and by independent tests that include a major chain saw manufacturer (see below). These qualities are achieved through the use of high performance, petroleum-free additives that makes Goco products operate at higher and lower operating temperatures with better flow properties and less gumming, while remaining toxicologically safe and actually less costly to use as compared to petroleum chain saw oils.

Health care records show that workers who use petroleum based lubes such as chain saw oil, continue to be at risk from the many dangerous consequences of daily exposure to misting petroleum lubricants. Unlike, say, oil refinery workers, field personnel who use these lubes on a daily basis do not receive on-site health care, or do they have convenient places to wash and to change oil-soaked clothing.

User Safe! Goco products are "benign by design." By definition of OSHA, all products made from lightly refined petroleum oils are carcinogenic. That would include virtually all petroleum chain saw oils and other petroleum lubes as well.

With further reference to occupational health, 25% of all workers who come into contact daily with petroleum products suffer from general skin diseases, including discomforting eczema and oil acne. Furthermore, medical records also show that petroleum misting from machinery causes irritation of the respiratory tract from prolonged exposure. Another good reason to switch is that using benign, vegetable oil based lubricants eliminates unpleasant and irritating petroleum oil odors that ruin clothing.

It's Less Costly to Use! Based on independent test data from a Canadian national forest engineering research institute, as described in journal articles from Tree Care Magazine and the Journal of Forestry, it is cheaper to use the canola oil based bar oil as compared to petroleum products. This is because canola oil naturally adheres better to steel and therefore, the product does not fling off as fast. This enables the chain saw operator to use half as much of the canola oil based bar and chain lube. Also, canola oil is higher in lubricity, naturally. This reduces the friction between the bar and the chain, resulting in a longer life for both of them. In fact, the aforementioned Canadian institute found that the bar and the chain lasted 50% longer, compared to using the petroleum oil. That creates real operating cost savings.

Safe for the Environment! Goco petroleum-free chain saw oil biodegrades quickly (97% in 30 days) by action of micro-organisms in the soil and water. Compare that to petroleum oils that can persist in the environment for years, adversely affecting all living things!

Works Better!: In several of the advanced European nations, over 80% of all bar oil used is canola oil based. Formal bench tests on Goco biodegradable chain saw oil by Homelite Textron's test laboratories several years ago confirmed field testing by the above referred to Canadian research institute and thousands of tree care and logger professionals, finding that this safe lubricant worked at least as well as the toxic, smelly petroleum products.