FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[asphalt]

Hi, I purchased a specimen of azurite on a bayldonite matrix and was handling it without protection for approximately an hour before it dawned on me that it's an arsenate. Does anyone know the relative toxicity of this mineral and if I have anything to be concerned about after this amount of skin contact? I did wash my hands but I ate after I'd been holding it (probably a dumb thing to do, I am pretty new to collecting) and I'd appreciate some more information from anyone who knows anything about this specific mineral.

[GneissWare]

Arsenates are pretty stable, so the amount of As expected to be released is low. The actions of any poison is related to the dose, and here the dose would be small from simply handling the specimen. But, moms are always right -- wash your hand before eating...always a good practice when handling minerals.

[kushmeja]

And don't eat your rocks!

[Bob Harman]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it, there are no collector mineral specimens that, when handled only occasionally and appropriately, are truly toxic. This includes radioactive collector minerals, mercury, arsenic minerals, lead minerals etc etc etc.

Handling the specimen occasionally means just that and no more. No eating or licking the mineral specimens, no sleeping with the mineral specimens or putting them in your pockets for more than a moment. So routine occasional brief hand contact with the specimens followed by the good practice of hand washing should make all collector minerals.....even radioactive ones....safe to be around. This includes thumbnail size thru large cabinet size collector grade specimens. When not physically being handled, these specimens should either be boxed up or in a glass or lucite plastic type case and out of close or direct personal contact.

Any particular specific collector mineral(s) that I am wrong about??? Cheers.....BOB

[GneissWare]

There are few specimens that wind up in the hands of collectors that will cause much of a problem. None, except maybe some very friable asbestosform minerals need to be kept in a box. Even radioactive minerals pose a low risk. For example, the radon emissions from a pitchblende specimen are probably way lower than the radon seeping into your house if you live on alluvial / decomposed granite terrains.

The frequency of handling your specimens, or sleeping with them, or otherwise should be limited more by a desire to prevent their premature damage than by fear of toxicity.

[alfredo]

Precautions for handling potentially toxic mineral specimens are no different than the precautions you would take when handling your garden soil, cat litter box, or the contents of your vacuum cleaner bag: You wouldn't lick them, nor snort the dust, nor keep them in your pillow, and you would wash your hands with soap before eating. With such elementary precautions, which all sensible people already follow anyway, no minerals can hurt you.