[Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
Rik Dillen
rik.dillen at skynet.be
Sat Feb 2 05:19:21 PST 2008
I agree completely, Axel, I know only one case of someone who got sick from metallic mercury, and that was the late
Professor Médard Herman (Antwerp University), who had worked for more than 20 years in a lab in Kinshasa, where they
discovered afterwards that under the wooden floor he worked on day after day there was about 20-30 kg mercury floating
around. So his has been exposed during 20-30 years to an atmosphere totally saturated with mercury.
Grts,
Rik DILLEN
Doornstraat 15, B-9170 Sint-Gillis-Waas
Belgium
E-mail rik.dillen at skynet.be
Homepage : http://users.skynet.be/rik.dillen
MINERANT 2008 - 26-27 April 2008
Bouwcentrum (Antwerp Expo)
Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 191 Antwerpen
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Mineral collector's page http://www.minerant.org/
-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Axel Emmermann
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 11:51 AM
To: 'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors'
Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
I there any documentation of people getting sick from amalgam?
Drinking wine from lead-crystal ware daily is known to cause dementia and
other symptoms of lead poisoning.
Aluminum does the same. Eating and drinking from aluminum plates or flask or
cooking pots is bad for the brain.
What does stainless steel do to you? These's 8% or more chromium in it.
I'm not sure that amalgam really is toxic... It's a bit like cyanide.
Cyanide is lethal as hell but when you make a complex with iron (potassium
hexacyanoferrate) it suddenly becomes almost non-toxic. In amalgam you bind
the mercury to the silver. Anybody knows how amalgam hardens? Does the
mercury evaporate or is it a crystallization process?
Metallic mercury certainly is a health risk but you need a fairly big amount
of it to get sick... It's the mercury compounds that are highly toxic. A few
micrograms of methyl mercury will kill you.
Axel
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] Namens
> rocknlight at aol.com
> Verzonden: zaterdag 2 februari 2008 3:31
> Aan: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
> Onderwerp: Re: [Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
>
> Dentist have and continue to use, TOXIC SILVER MERCURY
> AMALGAM tooth fillings and have been doing so?for over 100
> years and that is the SAD SAD truth -
>
> The government says it is ok but is slowly phasing it out of
> our society, silently...??
>
> Can you imagine the law suits, if the government?admitted the
> truth of their stupidity?!
>
> The reason mercury was used with silver is because mercury
> makes a nice soft amalgam?for pounding the filling securely
> into the tooth?-
>
> The only other metal that could used was and is still gold -
>
> But gold was too expensive for the masses and dentist knew
> they need a cheap readily available metal to fill teeth with,
> whether the tooth had a cavity or not -
>
> As many as 1 million mercury fillings and other fillings are
> falsely?placed per year / fillings?that are NOT NEEDED, in
> order to fill the pockets of dentist with money !!!
> ?
> The dentist know that they make up their own dental
> rules,?people are basically sitting ducks in the dental
> chairs and are manipulated continually !!
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Sigouin <marksigouin at verizon.net>
> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem
> collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>; Mark Sigouin
> <marksigouin at verizon.net>
> Sent: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 7:01 am
> Subject: Re: Re: [Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
>
>
>
> Steve,
>
> This is from the MINDAT mineral database web site:
>
> "Health Warning: Contains mercury - always wash hands after
> handling. Do not inhale dust and use caution when breaking.
> Do not lick or ingest. Do not heat in unventilated
> environment - emits toxic Hg fumes. Mercury Sulfide is,
> however, relatively insoluble and toxicity of the pure
> material is low. But be aware that many samples of Cinnabar,
> especially those which are 'massive' rather than crystalline,
> also contain traces of native mercury, and this is far more
> easily absorbed by the body.
>
> Industrial Uses: Principal ore of mercury. Used as a cosmetic
> pigment in ancient times."
>
> I know the environmental impacts of the Spanish Almadine
> Cinnebar Mining District have caused those mines to shut
> down. This is proably not because of the mercury. The
> sulfide causes Acid Drainage which is devastating environmentally.
>
> My mineralogy professor told us to wash our hands for this
> and many other minerals like orpiment and realgar just to
> name a few. Basically, always wash your hands when you
> handle minerals. They can be the concentration of a material
> you don't want in your body.
>
> I rotate my specimen in the display cabinette like all the
> rest of the minerals I have. When not in the cabinette, I
> keep it in a plastic bag, and in a glass jar. I don't want
> my 3 year old granddaughter that loves every rock I have to
> have a taste.
>
> Some people take risks. They smoke, they drink, they do all
> sorts of things
> that can kill them. So, you will have to judge for yourself.
>
> Mark
>
> >From: Mark Sigouin <marksigouin at verizon.net>
> >Date: 2008/01/30 Wed AM 08:28:22 CST
> >To:
> "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem
> collectors"
> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> >Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
>
> >
> >>From: Steve Shimatzki <sjs132 at accesstoledo.com>
> >>Date: 2008/01/30 Wed AM 08:28:22 CST
> >>To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
> >>Subject: [Rockhounds] How Toxic is Cinnabar? (Mercury sulfied)
> >
> >>Recently, I bought a specimen at an estate sale (Claude S. Bullen
> >>Collection) of "Cinnabar in Opalite." I bought it
> because I don't
> >>have any and it was pretty cool looking. When I got it
> home and I was
> >>explaining to my wife that Mercury comes from Cinnabar, she then
> >>got worried about the children. I didn't think anything
> of it, till
> >>I started to do some searches. Here I find conflicting information:
> >>
> >>"Body temperature is often enough to vaporize the mercury
> out of the
> >>rock and this gas can be absorbed through the skin. "
> >>(http://www.open-adit.com/mineralinfo/cinnabar.php)
> >>
> >>"A couple of decades ago, mercury was discovered to be very
> toxic for
> >>any sort of contact with the human skin. So it has not been as
> >>commonly used as it once
> >>was..." (http://www.minerals-n-more.com/Cinnabar_Info.html)
> >>
> >>"In the past some have raised health concerns about wearing
> cinnabar
> >>of any kind next to the skin. Personally it doesn't worry me: the
> >>amount absorbed by the body even over a long period will likely be
> >>much less than the amount I received from many
> mercury-silver amalgalm
> >>tooth fillings and the large amounts of pure mercury I
> played with as
> >>a kid." -
> >>(http://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=56535)
> >>
> >>So, any definitive word? Should I have this double
> bagged/sealed and
> >>out of direct sunlight and heat? I'm assuming that cabbing and
> >>polishing it would probably not be good, either then... But the
> >>pictures of the pieces under the "pricescope" link above, look nice
> >>and I briefly thought about working it. All that and more... My
> >>REAL Fear is that any increased heat of the specimen will vaporize
> >>the mercury and my 2 young children would be exposed.
> Possible, or
> >>just overreacting dad because of worrisome mom?
> >>
> >>I'm leaning towards that last part right now, but I would
> appreciate
> >>anyone's opinion to calm down my other half.
> >>
> >>Thanks
> >> -Steve
> >>
> >>
> >>Stephen Shimatzki
> >>sjs132 at accesstoledo.com
> >>http://www.shimatzki.com
> >>
> >>--
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