Hi all I just typed in Oxalic acid in the space provided by
Google.com and got many hits. Try this one for on its
toxicity:
OXALIC ACID
OXALIC ACID. ... Ingredient CAS No Percent Hazardous
Oxalic Acid 144-62-7 99 - 100% Yes ...
www.jtbaker.com/msds/o6044.htm - 19k
Remember, it’s the dose that makes the poison. Dosage consists of
two variables: the concentration of the material brought into the
body and the length of time over which it is brought it. A high
concentration over a short length of time results in acute toxicity,
low concentrations over long lengths of time results in chronic
toxicity with the symptoms being different for each condition. In
general, with acute toxicity one gets immediately very sick and
either recovers or dies. With chronic toxicity one gets sick (as to
how depends on the agent), remains sick for a very long time and may
never recover.
Of the two chronic toxicity, in my opinion, is the worse because the
symptoms are below the threshold of awareness. My reasoning is as
follows. If one gets food poisoning one knows in a matter of hours
that one has a real problem, and one can learn from the experience.
In contrast, the effect of smoking that additional cigarette is so
low that it cannot be sensed and therefore one cannot learn what
damage is being done.
The best way, again in my opinion, to prevent being poisoned at the
jeweller’s bench or in the foundry is knowledge and application of
industrial hygiene. Sometimes one is forced to take risks (the
chance of a bad even occurring times the cost of that bad event), and
taking such a risk when being informed is probably a good way of
mitigating that risk. Also and in general, those who are uniformed
tend to underestimate risk (I apologzie for not having a source to
back up this assertion).
The nature of the craft (in the best sense of the term) of jewellery
making can put both professional and amateur jewellers at risk. This
is because the materials used by jewellers can be potentially toxic
and because the materials can enter the body by being inhaled,
swallowed, or touched.
Given the number of threads on toxicity that occur in this forum I
am forced to conclude that chemistry, industrial hygiene and
toxicology do not form part of the formal curriculum of those
attending jewellery making school. Is this conclusion correct?
As for the rest of us, our local libraries and the “net” contain
vast amounts of these topics.
David