I am pretty sure that sawdust under some conditions can be toxic, specifically some kinds of wood, including pines, which you mentioned, contain tremerogenic mycotoxins. Also, if there is damp sawdust. several putative neurotoxic agents may be present.
See
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8008045/Are you practicing good dust control and wearing at east a N-95 (p-100 HEPA is the only one I found adequate) mask?
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Aspergillus spp. such as Aspergillius fumigatus are also known to produce Abundant" quantities of highly respirable ergot alkaloids which can cause sleep disturbances, even mild drug like visual disturbances, More even than ergot itself. This problem can be incidental to composting, as well as sawmills where a lot of wood is sawed up.
Ergot alkaloids are well known from ancient times for causing periods of mass psychosis which as late as the 1600s were documented as leading to contamination of bread and subsequently to witch burnings, in places like Salem, MA. and also throughout Europe.
See Appl Environ Microbiol. 2005 Jun; 71(6): 3106–3111.
doi: 10.1128/AEM.71.6.3106-3111.2005
PMCID: PMC1151833
PMID: 15933008
Abundant Respirable Ergot Alkaloids from the Common Airborne Fungus Aspergillus fumigatus†
Daniel G. Panaccione* and Christine M. Coyle.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1151833/----------------
Additional material from
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8008045/Mycopathologia
. 1993 Nov;124(2):87-93. doi: 10.1007/BF01103107.
Production of tremorgenic mycotoxins by isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus from sawmills in SwedenC J Land 1 , H Lundström, S Werner
Affiliations expand
PMID: 8008045 DOI: 10.1007/BF01103107
Abstract
One hundred and six strains of A. fumigatus were isolated from 21 sawmills in Sweden, and 73 of these strains were examined for production of fumitremorgen B and verruculogen (tremorgenic mycotoxins) on YES-medium using thin layer chromatography (TLC). Twenty-three strains (32%) were tremorgen producers and 50 strains (68%) were non-producers. Tremorgenic mycotoxins were detected in conidia of seven A. fumigatus strains. The amount of toxin varied between 0.6-8.0 microgram/10(
conidia (mean value 2.3 micrograms/10(
conidia, equivalent with 0.18%). No production of the mycotoxin gliotoxin was detected in 6 strains of A. fumigatus. No tremorgens were detected during mould growth on wood substrates, in spite of the use of different wood species (Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris: Norway spruce, Picea abies and birch, Betula spp.), dried versus non-dried wood, bark (pine), leached wood, and wood after various sterilization methods.
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Here is another one..
Appl Environ Microbiol
. 1987 Apr;53(4):787-90. doi: 10.1128/AEM.53.4.787-790.1987.
Tremorgenic mycotoxins from Aspergillus fumigatus as a possible occupational health problem in sawmills
C J Land, K Hult, R Fuchs, S Hagelberg, H Lundström
PMID: 3555338 PMCID: PMC203757 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.53.4.787-790.1987
Free PMC article
Abstract
Wood-trimmers' disease, generally called extrinsic allergic alveolitis, which affects workers in sawmills, is thought to be caused by fungal diaspores. The importance of Aspergillus fumigatus on the surface of wood dried in kilns is accentuated by its ability to produce tremorgenic mycotoxins. Eight strains of A. fumigatus from five different sawmills were isolated and cultivated on liquid media, and one of the strains was also cultivated on wood blocks. Extracts were prepared, and the tremorgenic reactions were induced by oral administration of extracts to rats. Extracts of the strain grown in liquid medium and on wood blocks induced very strong tremorgenic reactions when administered orally to rats. Four other strains induced mild tremorgenic reactions. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed two tremorgenic mycotoxins, verruculogen and fumitremorgen C, in the five toxic strains. One nontoxic strain produced detectable levels of verruculogen. These results, coupled with the known resemblance of the acutely toxic phase of wood-trimmers' disease to the symptoms produced by these tremorgens, imply that wood-trimmers' disease and similar occupational diseases are, at least in part, mycotoxicoses.