L. P. Skeen on tue 2 sep 08
Well, thank God for that; I thought we were gonna have to call Orkin. ;)
L
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Lili Krakowski=20
Disclaimer: I have no children, I have no rats, I do not Raku or
pitfire.
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Lili Krakowski on tue 2 sep 08
Yes. I know that metal fume fever is caused by zinc fumes--as
off galvanized stuff--and also know that two women--both in their
40s at the time--had heavy metal poisoning they and their MDs
attributed to their Raku and pit firing passion.
Having said that: A dear friend reproached herself all her life
because she had had a baby with spina bifida.
The baby died at ten months. She mourned and reproached herself
for the rest of her life...because she had driven in a snow storm
while pregnant, gotten in an accident, and she thought she had
hurt her baby. That was well before it was known that pregnant
women need folic acid, that folic acid is important in preventing
SB--and at the time of her pregnancy this was NOT known, and she
probably did not take vitamins.
Moral? A lot is not known about birth defects and or illnesses
and conditions children can develop. A lot is not known about
the cause of certain cancers, certain diseases--MS for one--
Alzheimer's for another...and I think it behooves us to err on
the side of safety. Ok. On the side of alarmism.
Furthermore: I am willing to bet that studies of metal fumes
fever were done on men. There just are not that many women
welders.
So to back up a little: unless your or your doctor find a serious
study in which pregnant rats Rakued every weekend, and had
ratlings that were happy and healthy and lived long lives--think
twice.
Disclaimer: I have no children, I have no rats, I do not Raku or
pitfire.
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Kim Hohlmayer on wed 3 sep 08
Lili,
I'm with you! Always better safe than sorry. Why use trashcans for Raku when you can throw the bucket over the piece sitting in straw in a sand pile and back away. Less contact and less in the way of fumes. It is also one of the reasons I prefer to pit fire with clean, mostly hard woods. No cans or funky stuff to give off scarey fumes! I can fill it, pile on the wood, light it and stand up wind until it pretty well burns down. Then I bury it and go relax for a while.
But even that I wouldn't do if I were pregnant.
As for having kids and/or rodents I have one child and used to have many rodents none of whom have I allowed to pit fire. The rodents long ago went to rodent heaven (know a great joke on that but will be kind and not bore everyone with it) but if you want to borrow my child we might be able to make arrangements. I doubt he would tollerate the separation but if he would I could assure you of a lively entertaining time! ;^) On the safer and simpler side you may just want to try the rats. They make great pets and are much easier to raise than children!!! --Kim H.
--- On Tue, 9/2/08, Lili Krakowski wrote:
> From: Lili Krakowski
> Subject: Metal fumes, Raku: And when were you last pregrant?
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 5:26 PM
> Yes. I know that metal fume fever is caused by zinc
> fumes--as
> off galvanized stuff--and also know that two women--both in
> their
> 40s at the time--had heavy metal poisoning they and their
> MDs
> attributed to their Raku and pit firing passion.
>
> Having said that: A dear friend reproached herself all her
> life
> because she had had a baby with spina bifida.
> The baby died at ten months. She mourned and reproached
> herself
> for the rest of her life...because she had driven in a snow
> storm
> while pregnant, gotten in an accident, and she thought she
> had
> hurt her baby. That was well before it was known that
> pregnant
> women need folic acid, that folic acid is important in
> preventing
> SB--and at the time of her pregnancy this was NOT known,
> and she
> probably did not take vitamins.
>
> Moral? A lot is not known about birth defects and or
> illnesses
> and conditions children can develop. A lot is not known
> about
> the cause of certain cancers, certain diseases--MS for
> one--
> Alzheimer's for another...and I think it behooves us to
> err on
> the side of safety. Ok. On the side of alarmism.
>
> Furthermore: I am willing to bet that studies of metal
> fumes
> fever were done on men. There just are not that many women
> welders.
>
> So to back up a little: unless your or your doctor find a
> serious
> study in which pregnant rats Rakued every weekend, and had
> ratlings that were happy and healthy and lived long
> lives--think
> twice.
>
> Disclaimer: I have no children, I have no rats, I do not
> Raku or
> pitfire.
>
>
> Lili Krakowski
>
> Be of good courage
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