Yew Poisoning?

I've read profusely on line regarding yews poisonous properties. Taxines being the group of chemical poisons found in most parts of the tree particularly the leaves and seeds. Small scale users such as turners, bowyers and carvers tend to pontificate far more than professionals who silently must know far more. Making a piece or in my case a series of pieces using the timber exposes the maker more than a single bowl. At the beginning of the current series of pieces I am currently making, bedroom furniture for a house on Exmoor, I bought a tree, planked up, grown somewhere on the long least estate. The tree must have been of moderate size, the planks were one and a half inches thick and variously twelve to eighteen inches wide. I can't recall my reaction to this first time. I was in an odd space and gave it little thought.  When this ran out I bought a further five boards from interesting timbers. Yesterday a collected another four two inch thick boards from a tree that grew in Shropshire. A much bigger tree that has produced these clean pieces that are of far away the best quality of the lot. The guy who gave me them is a talented and productive woodworker who has used the timber in other parts of the house. Doors, kitchen doors, handles etc. he seemed happy to see it go. He has been quite I'll and suggested that dust from the timber maybe the cause. He too researched the poisonous properties of the dust and is the only other person I know who has worked the stuff to any great degree. The problem of finding decent information lies in the sources. On line there are hundreds of first person tales from hobbyists who have become affected during their crafting a single small item. No where can I find anything from a professional. Herein lies a problem. Workshop factories have joiners working in the dustyist ways possible, 24 7 , on MDF. None of these comment on it, choosing to grit their teeth and get on with it. All their knowledge, vast and untapped becomes lost as some hobbyist using half a sheet oncea year writes on line creating a stream of responses from his ilk. This becomes the 'truth'. So I ought to speak up on my responses to using yew, everyday pretty much for two years, (bar a gap of six months when I was off ill, as far as I know not down to yew dust poisoning)
When I returned to work I spent a few days sorting through the yew. It was covered in saw mill dust that had sat on it for years. Brushing this off, sawing it up, planing, thickness sing, routing it I must have inhaled a fair bit. I wear a mask but as anyone who does this for a living knows you can not wear a mask at all times. Dust gets in anyway. On a project of this scale you become immersed in the timber. Carrying large boards. Turning them over. Transporting them about. Your arms, legs, all muscles lift and shift the stuff. You are thoroughly exercised by its weight. You pant. Your body aches. You swim in a yew sea. My sinuses swelled up so I couldn't breathe other than through my mouth. This happens whenever I am exposed to dust of any type. Extraction works and dust masks help yet milling up invariably puts dust in the air. But it affected me no more than say ash dust does. What is odd is that the amount of Taxines in one board can be far more than in another. The first tree I used was far worse than the birds I milled up today. This must be down to the conditions the tree grows in.
There is some deep mythology around yew trees of pagan origin. Some of this may well be due to genuine medicinal properties. Taxine is the base of certain cancer medicines. It is believed that it is poisonous to animals, perhaps a reason it is left to grow in churchyards. But it takes 50 to 150 Grammies of leaves to kill a human. The seeds of the red berries contain Taxines however the red juicy flesh is ok yo eat.
At furniture college we were taught that cabinet makers, back in the day, we're paid an extra penny an hour to work with satinwood. We were told this was because it was a hard wood to work. We were never told, and I don't believe our tutor understood what this meant. David Oldfield, a friend of mine and a fine craftsman took on a commission to make a series of pieces in satinwood. Somewhere in the middle of this he walked in to my workshop. The back of his hands were one huge scab and further scrabbling stretched right up his sleeve to his elbow. I have done a little satinwood veneer work but never worked in the solid. Seeing the reaction of David's skin I don't want to. Whether he has a particular allergy to the stuff or if anyone working in depth with stuff would suffer this badly I know not. What I do know is that it is far far worse to work than yew. Unless there is some accumulative poisoning or my airwaves continue to constrict further I'd say yew is ok. My breathing is fairly damaged from a life woodworking but then again I used to smoke various substances so I can not tell for certain wence the damage came from. I shall be less cavalier with my body in future. A close friend of mine, two in fact are suffering emphysema . This puts my respiratory problems in perspective.
Sitting on the couch typing this I feel my sinuses blocked up from yew dust. The interior of my nostrils is irritated. After a yew milling session this will linger for two or three days. It smells wonderful and is probably my favourite firewood. It seems that all good things come at a risk.