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SteveB
Joined: 12 Oct 2015
Posts: 235
Location: Canberra
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Posted: Aug 14, 2017 19:01 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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Lol, and at least Douglas Adams wrote "toels can be harmful if swallowed in large quantities" :) |
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lluis
Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Posts: 712
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Posted: Aug 15, 2017 01:32 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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Dear Linus
If we should place all possible allergenic adds in all things, well, lists would be infinite.....
Anyway, which does not affect one, affects other....
I am extremely sensitive to sunburning. I feel like having a vampire in family ancestors :-( ).Most persons are not.
Copper is placed in diet supplements (and advertized, besides). Others, as you say are extremely allergic to it.
If we continue.....
Simply, we generally talk about the majority. If we should talk about exceptions, I fear that any message will clog the server of FMF....
With best wishes
Lluís |
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Aug 15, 2017 02:58 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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lluis wrote: | Dear Linus
If we should place all possible allergenic adds in all things, well, lists would be infinite.....
Anyway, which does not affect one, affects other....
I am extremely sensible to sunburning. I feel like having a vampire in family ancestors :-( ).Most of persons are not.
Copper is placed in diet supplements (and adverted, besides). Others, as you say are extremely allergenic to it.
If we continue.....
Simply, we generally talk about the majority. If we should talk about exceptions, I fear that any message will clog the server of FMF....
With best wishes
Lluís |
You make a good point friend Lluís :-) _________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Peter Lemkin
Joined: 18 Nov 2016
Posts: 398
Location: Prague
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Posted: Aug 15, 2017 13:21 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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Malachite DUST might well be somewhat harmful in and to the lungs - and might from the lung be able to get into the bloodstream, but Malachite specimens of even chips on the skin will do nothing. It is always a good idea to wash one's hands after handling lots of mineral specimens, especially those that contain heavy metals and/or those that are poisonous in some forms [As, Sb, Pb, Hg] etc...but other forms of those same elements with other elements are not bio-available [can't harm you]. Bukovskyite Fe2(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)·7H2O is highly poisonous and I have several LARGE specimens. I do not touch them [they are in plastic and I touched them once to put them in the plastic], and I wash my hands even if I move the plastic. During the Middle Ages this was used as a rodent and people poison. Orpiment and cinnabar handling it is wise to wash one's hands after, as with several other minerals too numerous to list here. Galena is safe, but galena DUST or Pb dust is not [if you are sanding your rare Langban Pb specimen], nor if some Pb minerals were ingested [if one were that stupid]. I believe Dr. Sinkankas once made a list of dangerous minerals and how to handle them [i.e. what dangers could present]. I'll see if I can locate it. The body can handle small amounts of even fairly toxic compounds...but not all - and some are cumulative. It is all a matter of relative risk with a few exceptions of highly toxic minerals....but with all the pollutants in the air, water, food, fabrics, plastics, housing, furniture, carpets and products we come in contact with daily, do you really want to add yet more with some of your minerals? I've taken courses in toxicology, and have many books detailing relative risk by various exposures of huge lists of chemicals. Most people do not, nor would they understand what is meant by LD-50 or LD-100, synergism, etc. Take reasonable care. MOST minerals are completely harmless. A few are not. A few more are if breathed in or ingested, and dose is always relevant [a few exposures touching your specimens vs. a miner being in contact with the mineral or its dust for years]. |
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alfredo
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Jan 2008
Posts: 979
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Posted: Aug 15, 2017 16:32 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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DUST is best always kept OUTSIDE of the human body, whether we're talking about emptying the vacuum cleaner bag, the cat litter box, working in the garden, driving on dirt roads, construction sites, industry or farmyards. If exposed to dust, wear a respirator and wash your hands before touching food. There is no reason to be more fearful of mineral specimen dusts than any of the other types in daily life, and the same precautions apply. |
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Peter Lemkin
Joined: 18 Nov 2016
Posts: 398
Location: Prague
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Posted: Aug 16, 2017 06:50 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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alfredo wrote: | DUST is best always kept OUTSIDE of the human body, whether we're talking about emptying the vacuum cleaner bag, the cat litter box, working in the garden, driving on dirt roads, construction sites, industry or farmyards. If exposed to dust, wear a respirator and wash your hands before touching food. There is no reason to be more fearful of mineral specimen dusts than any of the other types in daily life, and the same precautions apply. |
Yes and no, respectfully. Some of the other dusts you mention are not unusually harmful, but others on your list [or your list if expanded] are harmful to one's health if they get in the lung. Asbestos from buildings, etc. is well known, and no reason to think that a piece in your collection doesn't also have the potential for similar harm. There is a difference in this example - 'commercial' asbestos has had the fibers separated and 'fluffed up', making them more likely to be airborne - while a mineral specimen of asbestos [or asbestiform minerals] are usually still consolidated and thus not likely to become an airborne particle that can get in your lungs....but that is not hard and fast - some specimens could be powdery or have loose fibers than can become airborne. Etc.
Some [certainly not all] minerals we collect are not innocent such as slate, granite, quartz, feldspar and most of the ordinary rocks and minerals we find on the surface and in our lives. Some contain exotic heavy metals and can be dangerous if one is not aware and handle them carefully. None I can think of are so dangerous as to be excluded from a collection if one is aware and takes the proper precautions.
On the other hand, it has long been known in Environmental Toxicology that airborne Pb [from leaded gasoline/petrol/benzine] or environmental Pb from white paint can seriously damage the brain and other organs - and, in fact, those who live near highways or in old buildings that still contain Pb-based white paints have more cases of retardation, lowered-IQ, and neurological function problems. [i.e. our 'everyday' environment has a LOT of very dangerous materials too.....too many to mention...teflon coated frypans, plastic food containers, pesticides, household chemicals even paper napkins - and I could go on and on. The authorities that should protect us from those are usually blocked by the profit interests of the manufacturers, or are one and the same people.
I don't consider my mineral collection a toxic waste zone, but I also do ask visitors to not touch specimens without first asking me [for toxic reasons, and for reasons they might not know some are fragile - and if they break it they are in BIG trouble!]. I also take precautions with SOME of my minerals and, yes, dusts if you do lapidary work really involves a higher level of concern. It really depends on what is in your collection. I like radioactives [but they are kept in vented lead boxes outside] and have some highly toxic minerals, such as bukovskyite and others. |
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Tracy
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 551
Location: Toronto
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Posted: Nov 03, 2017 20:33 Post subject: Re: Potential Toxicity of Handling Raw Malachite Specimens. |
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Is this discussion still going? I throw my hands (and my malachites) up in the air.
Good thing half my collection is quartz, nobody's screaming about silicosis from handling them. Not yet, anyway.
Off to hug my galenas, cinnabars, orpiments, realgars, and native arsenics...to name a few. If I acquire a bukovskyite someday, I'll hug it too.
Toxicologist / risk assessor greetings to all. :)
-Tracy _________________ "Wisdom begins in wonder" - Socrates |
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