JULIE ATWOOD on tue 18 feb 97
Oh boy. Look out...I've been collecting questions for some time,
making a whole load of mental notes to "ask ClayArt about that". The
time has come! And now I can only remember one. (hehe)
The Big Question:
I have known for quite some time that Manganese Dioxide is very toxic,
after running across this fact in books, magazines, and this listserv.
However, I don't have anything more solid about it than "it's toxic, does
a number on the brain and nervous system" and I've seen this "fact" in
"books, magazines, and the clayart listserv". Very specific, don't you
say? Now, general is enough for ME, but I'm asking an instructor at the
college I go to to take our light blue stain off the shelves, since it
contains a good amount of manganese dioxide, and the stain is often
overused, abused, left dry and flaky in places it should never be left
dry and flaky, on hands, breathed in at every opportunity, and my guilty
concience can't take it anymore. I want him to get rid of it. However, he
wants the Specific Facts. Can someone tell me what books or magazines
have detailed information on this, and what would be very helpful is if
any of you have any detailed information.
And yet one step further, can anyone give me a good substitute
for this chemical? Or at least any exceptional light blue oxides used at
^10....:)
I WAS going to ask about a paste to fill in broken spots in
bisque ware, but after seeing the crazy thread about cracks in greenware/
bisque ware/high fired ware, I'm scared to. ;) I'm so confused by that
thread, I think I'm just going to tell that person their pot is going to
look funny for the rest of it's life.
Well...I've sat here wracking my brain, trying to find the rest
of my mental notes, but I think they're stuffed somewhere in the back of
a mental drawer...No matter...I'll think of something else at the most
inopportune moment (and most likely shout it out, much to the dismay of
anyone who's with me).
Thanks so much in advance, I appreciate all your help. I don't
think I could live without this list!! :) (what ELSE would I have to
read late at night when I should be getting some sleep??)
Julie in Seattle
(Where it's beginning to look a lot like springtime!! What a happy
clayarter I am now!)
Laura Freedman on tue 18 feb 97
JULIE ATWOOD wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Oh boy. Look out...I've been collecting questions for some time,
> making a whole load of mental notes to "ask ClayArt about that". The
> time has come! And now I can only remember one. (hehe)
>
> The Big Question:
>
> I have known for quite some time that Manganese Dioxide is very toxic,
> after running across this fact in books, magazines, and this listserv.
> However, I don't have anything more solid about it than "it's toxic, does
> a number on the brain and nervous system" and I've seen this "fact" in
> "books, magazines, and the clayart listserv". Very specific, don't you
> say? Now, general is enough for ME, but I'm asking an instructor at the
> college I go to to take our light blue stain off the shelves, since it
> contains a good amount of manganese dioxide, and the stain is often
> overused, abused, left dry and flaky in places it should never be left
> dry and flaky, on hands, breathed in at every opportunity, and my guilty
> concience can't take it anymore. I want him to get rid of it. However, he
> wants the Specific Facts. Can someone tell me what books or magazines
> have detailed information on this, and what would be very helpful is if
> any of you have any detailed information.
> And yet one step further, can anyone give me a good substitute
> for this chemical? Or at least any exceptional light blue oxides used at
> ^10....:)
>
> I WAS going to ask about a paste to fill in broken spots in
> bisque ware, but after seeing the crazy thread about cracks in greenware/
> bisque ware/high fired ware, I'm scared to. ;) I'm so confused by that
> thread, I think I'm just going to tell that person their pot is going to
> look funny for the rest of it's life.
>
> Well...I've sat here wracking my brain, trying to find the rest
> of my mental notes, but I think they're stuffed somewhere in the back of
> a mental drawer...No matter...I'll think of something else at the most
> inopportune moment (and most likely shout it out, much to the dismay of
> anyone who's with me).
>
> Thanks so much in advance, I appreciate all your help. I don't
> think I could live without this list!! :) (what ELSE would I have to
> read late at night when I should be getting some sleep??)
>
> Julie in Seattle
> (Where it's beginning to look a lot like springtime!! What a happy
> clayarter I am now!)
---------
From Artist Beware written by McCann
Manganese Dioxide (pyrolusite)
Relative Toxicity Rating
Skin - not significant
Inhalation - high
Ingestion -high
Hazards: same as for manganese carbonate
Mang.Carb - Chronic inhalation or ingestion may casue poisoning, a
serious nervous system disease resembling Parkinson's disease. Early
systems include apathy, loss of appetite, weakness, spasms, headaches,
irritability
ret on fri 21 feb 97
I was mulling this over some more and have to add a few horror stories.
Usually, in a small community pottery guild, there are many children's
classes (to financially support the venture) and they are usually taught
here by not so advanced adult potters. I was one of them. I also am a
chemical engineer's daughter and was raised with enough warnings to last
me a lifetime. So imagine my horror when I found bags, not cans, or
jars,
of raw lead on open shelves in the glazing/kiln room. And children and
adults eating their lunches amidst the potting tables. It took me a while
to get rid of the lead, posting toxic chemicals lists, no-eating/drinking
inthe studiop signs. I was ridiculed by everybody.
My daughter,not a potter or practically-minded person at all, used to
work for many summers at the local "loony bin"--hospital for the mentally
challenged,temporary jail for criminally insane, you get the idea. She
was the
occupational therapist assistant and in charge of the pottery class and
firing. Because of budget cutbacks, the pottery class was
cancelled. She thought she'd do me a favour and brought me all their
chemicals. Including large, 5kg OPEN bags of lead, barium, manganese,(
also some much
welcome tin and cobalt. ) There was NO trained instructor at the
institution and I have come to wonder how much the occupational therapy
classes aggravated the inmates' symptoms. Manganese is known to cause
violent behaviour in prison inmates and in mn mines, on one island where
it is mined, the locals are considered the most violent people in the
world.
Is also causes unsociable behaviour-you wouldnot believe the social faux
pas I committted when I was ill with mn poisoning. I still shudder.
The more we learn about violent rituals and
certain blood sacrifices of some SA natives, the more I also am beginning
to wonder about their custom of enbalming and then "glazing" their mummies
with burnished manganese. Certainly, the embalmers would have suffered mn
exposure. Were they also the "priests"?I am really sticking my neck out
here. It is a fascinating subject and I could keep writing a year.
One tribe of early Chileans "burnished" all their dead, even children,
and there
is no proof of
blood sacrifices at all there. I am just in a questioning mood.
When we were really broke and had no manganese, we used to scrape it out
of old batteries and were proud of recycling! By now, I know of a whole
family
(in medical literature) that was killed and/or poisoned by manganese from
buried batteries that leaked into their well! The stuff is so ubiquitous
that
all the education is not enough. They are now bottling it as additive to
gasoline in cars as anti-knock agent! Etc. Etc........Please be careful!
Excuse the outburst. It i s a topic extremely close to my heart and I am
still grateful that one pottery magazine (contact) asked me to write about
it and that Monona is willing to pass my research on.
ELKE BLODGETT email:
eiblodge@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
12 Grantham Place
St. Albert, AB T8N 0W8
403 (458-3445); 403 (727-2395)
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