Doctor Says Plastic ‘Snow’ Poses Risk for Film Industry

Mom always said play in the snow too long and you’ll come down with a cough and a runny nose. But now even the fake Hollywood stuff can make you sick, a Panorama City doctor has found.

Dr. Michael Sue, an allergist, reports in today’s New England Journal of Medicine that polyethylene snow, which is basically shredded plastic bags, caused months of coughing and a runny nose for a 38-year-old special effects man who accidentally inhaled it during a movie shoot last summer.

Plastic flakes got trapped in the man’s lungs and irritated his breathing until doctors flushed his lungs with salt water and removed the flakes.

There are several varieties of artificial snow in the movie industry, including soap suds and potato flakes as well as polyethylene, widely used for interior shots.

The effects man, whom doctors did not identify, was first diagnosed as having an allergy. But none of the traditional allergy remedies--inhalers, antihistamines, cough suppressants--stopped the coughing and wheezing. He was then referred to Sue, a pollen and hay fever specialist at the Southern California Permanente Group in Panorama City.

Sue wondered if some of the snow was trapped in his patient’s lungs, and a sample was taken. It was as Sue suspected.

The man’s lungs were flushed with salt water, and he recovered fully, Sue said.

This was the first reported case of artificial snow making someone sick, Sue said. But the doctor thinks there may be more cases out there and suggests that people who work with plastic snow wear dust masks.

“Unfortunately, in this business there’s an attitude that it’s wimpy to take safety precautions,” said Marc Pollack, president of Flix FX in North Hollywood.

Still, after hearing about Sue’s findings, Pollack said the next time his crew stages a fake blizzard, they definitely will wear masks.