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Stop the Presses! Reporter Discovers He’s Allergic to Newspaper Ink

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If you can’t stand the way newspaper ink turns your hands black, then get a grip: one reporter has been allergic to the stuff for years.

Longtime Baltimore Sun reporter Michael Dresser said an allergy test has revealed that pine resin in newspaper ink has caused puffiness and irritation around his eyes and various skin problems over the years, according to a self-deprecating memo he emailed to his colleagues that has been published on The Wall Street Journal’s website.

Dresser, whose beats have included Maryland politics and transportation, wanted to warn his colleagues that he would be wearing gloves around the office now so they wouldn’t think he was “administering any uncomfortable examinations or looking for blood spatter.”

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com