Recently I purchased some tracker bar tubing from a supply house
that had a gray powdery film or coating on it.  I assumed this must
be some sort of releasing agent from the manufacturing process.

While working with the tubing I apparently got this coating on my
fingers.  Without thinking about it, I rubbed my left eye.  Immediately
it started burning as some of this chemical must have gotten under my
eyelid.  It took me a half hour of flushing with water and tearing to
clean out my eye and alleviate the burning.

Be careful when handling this tubing and wash your hands frequently.

By the way, I had purchased some tracker bar tubing from the same
supply house just a couple years ago and it was black without the gray
coating.  This latest tubing (gray) also seems to be undersized too
much.   It's difficult to push on the brass tubes whereas the previous
batch went on much easier.

Dave Krall