I am sure that if you dug around a little in Nottingham, England, the centre of
the lace trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, you would find plenty of "old
lace"!
Jewel
-----
From: Barry Levine
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 1:02 PM
Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Did You Know, Arsenic is present in the earth's
crust
I wonder if you can find old lace in the Earth's crust, as well?
Sorry... sometimes I just can't help myself.
--Barry
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Bob Kennedy
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 5:48 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Did You Know, Arsenic is present in the earth's
crust
Did you know that is the ingredient in anti freeze that makes it so toxic?
It isn't present in the newer echo friendly formulas but it was added to
help harden the copper tubes in radiators. Don't know what gave anti freeze
the sweet taste that attracted animals tempting them to drink it. But now
you know why they died afterwards.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ray Boyce
To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 3:38 PM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Did You Know, Arsenic is present in the earth's
crust
ARSENIC
Arsenic (As) is a silver-gray metal that gained much of its notoriety
because of its historical use as a human poison (approximately 70 to 180
milligrams
of arsenic is fatal to an adult). Arsenic is present in the earth's crust at
an average concentration of 2 to 5 mg/kg, with low levels commonly found in
the air, water, and soil. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
arsenic was used as a preservative in animal hides, and as an ingredient in
pigments,
dyes, glass, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides.
In the first half of the twentieth century, arsenic was used in
pharmaceuticals intended to treat
syphilis
(e.g., arsphenamine), skin diseases (e.g., Fowler's solution, a 1% potassium
arsenate solution), and parasites (e.g., Pearson's Arsenical Solution).
Arsenic
is still used as an ingredient in pesticides, wood preservatives, copper and
lead alloys, glass, semiconductor devices, and veterinary medicines.
Although arsenic is found in nature in its elemental form (arsenic metal),
it occurs most commonly in inorganic or organic compounds. Common inorganic
arsenic
compounds are trivalent arsenic (e.g., arsenite, H3AsO3) and pentavalent
arsenic (e.g., arsenate, H2AsO4, HAsO42). Common organic arsenic compounds
are
monomethyl arsonic acid (MMA), dimethyl arsinic acid (DMA, also known as
cacodylic acid), and roxarsone.
Adverse health effects are dependent on the chemical form and physical state
of the specific arsenic compound. In general, organic arsenic is less
acutely
toxic than inorganic arsenic. The health effects of arsenic are widely
variable, and are primarily due to differences in the oxidation state of the
two
predominant forms: trivalent arsenite and pentavalent arsenate. Several
organic arsenicals that accumulate in fish and shellfish are essentially
nontoxic.
Human exposure to arsenic compounds occurs primarily in occupational
settings and by the ingestion of contaminated drinking water and seafood.
Arsenic
toxicity due to natural contamination of drinking water has been recently
noted as a significant public health problem in Bangladesh. Predominant
adverse
health effects associated with acute arsenic exposure include fever,
melanosis,
hepatomegaly,
cardiac arrhythmia,
peripheral neuropathy,
nephrotoxicity, diarrhea and vomiting, and, at sufficiently high doses (70
to 180 milligrams for an adult), death. Chronic exposure to arsenic may lead
to neurotoxicity (evidenced by sensory changes,
paresthesia,
and muscle weakness), cancer (basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the
skin,
lung cancer,
or
bladder cancer),
cardiovascular effects (including "blackfoot disease," so called because the
soles of the feet and toes turn black with
gangrene),
skin disorders
such as
hyperpigmentation,
and birth defects.
Arsine gas is a potent hemolytic agent. The International Agency for Cancer
Research (IARC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classify
arsenic as a carcinogen based upon epidemiological evidence demonstrating a
causal association between arsenic exposure and specific
cancers,
such as
skin cancer
and lung cancer. Arsenic can accumulate in hair and nails, and measurement
of arsenic levels in these tissues may be a useful indicator of past
exposures,
while measurement of urine is considered a good indicator of current arsenic
exposure. Arsenic is primarily excreted from the body in urine (30 to 85%
of absorbed arsenic is excreted via urine). Scientists have puzzled for
decades over arsenic's mechanism of carcinogenicity due to the discordance
between
the results of human and animal bioassays. Animals appear to be
substantially less susceptible to arsenic-induced toxicity than humans.
Investigations
in animals have suggested that inorganic arsenic can be an essential trace
element in some animals. In contrast, arsenic has not been determined to be
an essential trace element in humans.
So If you are working with wood treated with this stuff be careful and take
all precautions
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