Subject: Re: Dusts and stuff (was Gasketing etc)

From: [email-masked] (John & Cynthia/ MidLife Crisis Ent.)
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 11:15:10 +0200

>>snip
>>>As for toxicity I'd be surprised if fiberglass is any better. I remember
>>>listening to an old insulator coughing once...eeeeeeeeeee! Sounded like
>>>a cross between a coffee pucolator and an asmatic.
>>snip
>>
>>Asbestos has been very misalligned.  There are a few types of the fiber
>>that are dangerous, but the majority are not.  This  whole thing has really
>>been blown out of proportion.  As to the glass being dangerous, actually
>>most any fiber material can be dangerous to ones health if breathed in, in
>>large amounts over a long period of time.  Actually most any dermal or
>>internal contact with most any chemical or mineral product should be delt
>>with, with caution.
>>
>>John Dach and Cynthia Thomas
>
>Deep Breathing of Fine dusts is not advised in any case.
>
>Wear a good dust mask, Dust plugs up the works.
>
>Re: Silca dust,  In that most of the earths crust is made of the stuff
>and it is virtually everywhere, abject fear at the very mention of this is
>to say the least overreaction.
>
>However:  A recent issue of Science News had an article about silica dust
>from sandblasting or glass grinding.  It seems that when silica is
>fractured the cleaveage planes are left covered with highly reactive
>chemical sites where the bonds were broken during the fracture.
>
>Highly reactive translates as Poison.
>
>In this case the silica absorbs hydrogen. In a moist environment such as
>your lungs, this pulls a hydrogen off a nearby water molecule and leaves
>an OH radical looking for a home.
>
>That means a strong base on the order of LYE deep in  your lungs. Lye
>reacts with fatty acids (you) to form soap, which disolves and washes
>away.
>
>This helps to account for the catastrophic degeneration of the lung (often
>less than 2 years sometimes less than 1) where it seems to have literally
>melted away in spots. Normally, stuff like black lung and white lung
>diseases take much longer to plug things up because the cilia on the lung
>lining pass some the particles back out and into the throat where you
>swallow them. Fresh cleaved silica dust is kind of like tossing the cilia
>hot rivets to catch. They get scarred or die and stop hauling stuff out.
>
>The Reactivity of the broken silica only lasts for about 60 hours. After
>that it just plugs things up like any normal dust.
>
>Gene
>
>Please forgive if you've alrady heard this song.
>
> The Studios of Gene Olson and Chris Wilson
>   Working in Metals, Stone, Mixed Media
>    URL: http://www.cris.com/~mettlewk/

Gene,

        Thanks for the more detailed info.  As I work mostly in cast bronze
using a ceramic shell/lost wax method, I received a notice from my shell
amterials supplier that the dust from the "fired" shells was carcenogenic
and should be delt with as such.  There was no mention of potential
problems with the unfired materials (however I use calcined sands so they
are heated????) but I am careful with most any and all sorts of dusts.

        Breathing deeply in the wilds of Mendocino County (was in San
Francisco last Saturday.... the bay area has terrible air!)

                        John

John Dach and Cynthia Thomas
Maiden Metals
a div. of
MidLife Crisis Enterprises
PO BX 44
Philo, CA  95466           The only thing that we know for sure
707-895-2635(phone/fax)            is that we believe.
800-749-1981

---

From: Ralph Snel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 10:06:57 METDST

> are heated????) but I am careful with most any and all sorts of dusts.
Just to make everybody feel ill at ease: oxygen is carcinogenic, so go
easy on the breathing...

Keep things in perspective :)

Ralph Snel
[email-masked]
Sweden