Jon Singer on fri 15 dec 00
Barbara asked whether a lowfire glaze would be food safe if it had
lithium in it.
Khaimraj replied:
>
>Barbara ,
>
>I stay clear of Lithium anything , because of what I read in the
>Pharmacopoeia .
>[ Always read the Martin Dale for Oxide effects e.g Ca0 , Sr0 ]
>
>Replaces - sodium in the body's functions , when you notice
>the symptoms of poisoning , it is usually too late .
?? Too late for what? (Lots of people with bipolar disorder
take lithium; but for some the effective dose is higher than
the toxic level. Those people try it, find that they don't
tolerate it, and switch to other meds. If "too late" were
actually true as a general rule, d'you really think they'd let
anyone even _try_ the stuff? I sure don't!)
> Therapy is with potassium oxide .
PLEASE -- if you think you have poisoned yourself with
lithium, go to the doctor. DO NOT go after the potassium
oxide!! (Only half kidding. Very few people have K2O
lying around the house, but you most certainly don't
_ever_ want to ingest it directly. Not even pearl ash, which
is the usual pottery source for potassium carbonate -- it's
much too caustic to take internally.)
>Lithium oxide is easily leached out of glass with hot water ,
>and is available as a trace component in foods and liquids.
>[ I believe it can be toxic at the mg stage ]
>
>The healthy body handles 1 gram easily on a daily basis .
>[ What is a healthy body ? ] .
There is an inherent contradiction in this. If the healthy body
handles 1 gram _easily_ on a _daily_ basis_, then it most certainly
is NOT toxic at the mg stage!!
As to what constitutes a healthy body, my guess is the following:
1. Not taking lithium as medicine.
2. No kidney trouble.
3. No liver trouble.
(4. No major chronic illness.)
Monona can probably correct me if I'm wrong, or anyone
who is either using the stuff, or is a physician who has
prescribed it...
> People on lithium treatment are always at a risk .
In fact, as Monona (I think) pointed out a while ago, potters
who are taking the stuff themselves are probably just about
the only people who are at risk from the amounts involved
in pottery; and they are only at risk from soluble forms like
the carbonate that Barbara is using. (Barbara, if you have
bipolar disorder and you take lithium as a medicine, be VERY
cautious about using the carbonate in glazes!) Spodumene and
Petalite are not soluble, and do not present much risk, if any,
to potters, at least from the lithium they contain.
As to fired ware, while it is conceivable that someone who is
on the edge of toxicity might have trouble with a new piece
that happened to have leachable lithium in it, there is NO
WAY anyone is going to get a full gram out of a cup or even
a pitcher, especially not more than once. For one thing, lithium
is very light, and a gram is a lot. For another, it is completely
different from lead. Lead stays with you for a long time, and is
very toxic even in small quantities. As Khaimraj has pointed out,
a normal adult who isn't taking the stuff as a medicine can easily
ingest many milligrams of lithium every day and never even
notice it.
Cheers all --
jon
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