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clay baby powder/kids eating it

updated mon 6 jun 05

 

Debra Wills on thu 6 may 99


I'm here in New Mexico & have read all the books i can on pottery made by
Indians, (being a Cherokee myself...) all the little Indian kids think clay
is a treat ...to eat.., they run up while their mothers & grandmothers are
coiling & snitch a bite to eat...I always wondered if it could be they lack
minerals in their diet??
Debra

<< Eating clay is an accepted cultural practice, especially in central
Africa, from
where it spread to the New World with slavery, and it is still practiced
both
places. The term is geophagy. For a succinct explanation, go to
www.miningco.com, and type in geophagy in the search window. Probably
lots
of
other stuff about it to be found on the internet also.

Gail Sheffield
Covington, LA
>>

Funny this subject should be approached all of a sudden. I just read an
article in the Sunday paper about two weeks ago about geophagy STILL being
prevalent in some of the poorer areas of Georgia. Comments in the paper
mentioned it's ingestion being a "habit" causing heavy constipation and
other
gastroenterological problems from long term use. But since the clay isn't a
banned substance by the FDA or anyone else, it is commonly sold in bags at
many convenience stores for a buck or two.

I wish I had saved the article so I could reproduce it here...but I used
that
section of paper in my ferret's litter pan.

One other thing, when my first baby was born in 1972, the class I took at
the
hospital said not to use baby powder as it did something in the lungs of the
infant. I didn't pay much attention. They recommended using cornstarch
(cheaper but didn't smell as nice) and to keep diaper rash away not to use
the "new" disposable diapers unless for a short time during traveling, not
using plastic pants (?) allowing the baby's butt to get air, and using only
diapers washed in hot soapy, bleached water, rinsed with vinegar and rinsed
again, hang in the sunshine to dry. No wonder I didn't have time to do much
of anything. BTW - I used baby powder anyway .....AGGGH.

KC
dodging tornados today


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Roger Korn on fri 7 may 99

My friend, George Wright, has been around clay, mixing it, making tile,
making bricks, making pottery clay all his life. He eats a spoon of clay
every day. He loads 100# bags of Lincoln #60 Fireclay into my pickup "so
you won't hurt your back". George is 80.

Roger Korn
McKay Creek Ceramics
PO Box 436
North Plains, OR 97133 - where it's raining again/still, and the
OPA POTTER'S SHOWCASE, the largest pottery show on the Left Coast opens
tomorrow at the Portland Convention Center. Runs through Sunday. Lots of
ClayArters.

Debra Wills wrote:
----------------------------Original message----------------------------

I'm here in New Mexico & have read all the books i can on pottery made
by
Indians, (being a Cherokee myself...) all the little Indian kids think
clay
is a treat ...to eat.., they run up while their mothers & grandmothers
are
coiling & snitch a bite to eat...I always wondered if it could be they
lack
minerals in their diet??
Debra

<< Eating clay is an accepted cultural practice, especially in central
Africa, from
where it spread to the New World with slavery, and it is still
practiced
both
places. The term is geophagy. For a succinct explanation, go to
www.miningco.com, and type in geophagy in the search window. Probably
lots
of
other stuff about it to be found on the internet also.

Gail Sheffield
Covington, LA
>>

Funny this subject should be approached all of a sudden. I just read an
article in the Sunday paper about two weeks ago about geophagy STILL
being
prevalent in some of the poorer areas of Georgia. Comments in the paper
mentioned it's ingestion being a "habit" causing heavy constipation and
other
gastroenterological problems from long term use. But since the clay
isn't a
banned substance by the FDA or anyone else, it is commonly sold in bags
at
many convenience stores for a buck or two.

I wish I had saved the article so I could reproduce it here...but I used
that
section of paper in my ferret's litter pan.

One other thing, when my first baby was born in 1972, the class I took
at
the
hospital said not to use baby powder as it did something in the lungs of
the
infant. I didn't pay much attention. They recommended using cornstarch
(cheaper but didn't smell as nice) and to keep diaper rash away not to
use
the "new" disposable diapers unless for a short time during traveling,
not
using plastic pants (?) allowing the baby's butt to get air, and using
only
diapers washed in hot soapy, bleached water, rinsed with vinegar and
rinsed
again, hang in the sunshine to dry. No wonder I didn't have time to do
much
of anything. BTW - I used baby powder anyway .....AGGGH.

KC
dodging tornados today

Tim Lynch on sat 8 may 99

Around here, orchardists have started spraying their pear orchards with
kaolin. It's supposed to act a a "bug barrier" for pear psylla and leaf
hoppers. On a cloudy day the orcfhards look ever so ghostly. Every thing
is white, top to bottom. Ooooooo....
--
Tim Lynch
The Clay Man
1117 Tedford St SE
East Wenatchee, WA 98802-5254
509-884-8303

Westside High School
1521 Ninth St
Wenatchee, WA 98801
509-663-7947
clayman@internet.wsd.wednet.edu
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/1613

----------
>From: Roger Korn
>To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
>Subject: Re: Clay baby powder/kids eating it
>Date: Fri, May 7, 1999, 9:10 AM
>

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> My friend, George Wright, has been around clay, mixing it, making tile,
> making bricks, making pottery clay all his life. He eats a spoon of clay
> every day. He loads 100# bags of Lincoln #60 Fireclay into my pickup "so
> you won't hurt your back". George is 80.
>
> Roger Korn
> McKay Creek Ceramics
> PO Box 436
> North Plains, OR 97133 - where it's raining again/still, and the
> OPA POTTER'S SHOWCASE, the largest pottery show on the Left Coast opens
> tomorrow at the Portland Convention Center. Runs through Sunday. Lots of
> ClayArters.
>
> Debra Wills wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> I'm here in New Mexico & have read all the books i can on pottery made
> by
> Indians, (being a Cherokee myself...) all the little Indian kids think
> clay
> is a treat ...to eat.., they run up while their mothers & grandmothers
> are
> coiling & snitch a bite to eat...I always wondered if it could be they
> lack
> minerals in their diet??
> Debra
>
> << Eating clay is an accepted cultural practice, especially in central
> Africa, from
> where it spread to the New World with slavery, and it is still
> practiced
> both
> places. The term is geophagy. For a succinct explanation, go to
> www.miningco.com, and type in geophagy in the search window. Probably
> lots
> of
> other stuff about it to be found on the internet also.
>
> Gail Sheffield
> Covington, LA
> >>
>
> Funny this subject should be approached all of a sudden. I just read an
> article in the Sunday paper about two weeks ago about geophagy STILL
> being
> prevalent in some of the poorer areas of Georgia. Comments in the paper
> mentioned it's ingestion being a "habit" causing heavy constipation and
> other
> gastroenterological problems from long term use. But since the clay
> isn't a
> banned substance by the FDA or anyone else, it is commonly sold in bags
> at
> many convenience stores for a buck or two.
>
> I wish I had saved the article so I could reproduce it here...but I used
> that
> section of paper in my ferret's litter pan.
>
> One other thing, when my first baby was born in 1972, the class I took
> at
> the
> hospital said not to use baby powder as it did something in the lungs of
> the
> infant. I didn't pay much attention. They recommended using cornstarch
> (cheaper but didn't smell as nice) and to keep diaper rash away not to
> use
> the "new" disposable diapers unless for a short time during traveling,
> not
> using plastic pants (?) allowing the baby's butt to get air, and using
> only
> diapers washed in hot soapy, bleached water, rinsed with vinegar and
> rinsed
> again, hang in the sunshine to dry. No wonder I didn't have time to do
> much
> of anything. BTW - I used baby powder anyway .....AGGGH.
>
> KC
> dodging tornados today

jsamson@tampabay.rr.com on sun 5 jun 05


Hi!

I found the answer to your question while I was in New Mexico (at
relatively high altitudes). I live in Florida at (technically) -12m below
sea level and when I was in NM, I developed a yen for eating dirt or clay.

Dr. diagnosed this as a "pica", common in pregnant women (no, I wasn't),
and can be fixed by increasing the amount of iron in the diet.

Guess that's why I craved the dark rocks and not the light ones .

The "baby powder" issue -> the original "baby powder" was talc, which can
cause repsitory damage.

Cheers!

Julia