John Hesselberth on tue 19 dec 00

primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM wrote:

>If anyone has a moment to tell me which are generally considered the
>biggest enemies of a potter's health, I would be grateful.

Hi Kelly,

Please don't get so concerned that you abandon pottery. While there are
hazards, there are a lot more hazardous occupations. One reason some of
us focus so often on the hazards is that we see so many people completely
ignoring them--even laughing at them. That gets me very concerned.

Here are the things I am personally very careful of and/or don't
personally use. They all can be used safely with proper precautions, and
I use most of them.

Lead in any form (I don't personally use)
Cadmium in any form (I don't personally use)
Manganese dust and fumes
Dusts which might contain free silica (very definitely including clay
dust)
Barium carbonate (don't ingest; also I don't use it in functional glazes)
Chromium containing dusts/powders
Nickel containing dusts/powders
Dioxin containing materials (??? I just don't know enough to comment. I
don't think anyone else does at this point either)

I'm sure others will add a few other materials that I have overlooked
above

I am, of course, careful with all of other chemicals and I practice good
studio housekeeping. Perhaps the most important parts of this are to 1)
always wet clean unless you have a vacuum that exhausts out of doors and
2) wear a high quality dust mask when you are working with dry pottery
materials (that very much includes spraying glazes--they may start out
wet, but they sure can put a lot of dust into the air).

Without question, the best overall reference for potters on the subject
of safety is "Keeping Clay Work Safe and Legal" by Monona Rossol, but
even Monona will tell you it is not as complete as she would like. Her
series of articles in Clay Times givse quite a bit of additonal
information and, hopefully, she will turn all that into a book some day.
Check the NCECA web site for ordering information on her book. They
still have it available.

Regards, John





"The life so short, the craft so long to learn." Hippocrates, 5th cent.
B.C.

David Hendley on wed 20 dec 00

Kelly, this is not meant as a dismissal of your concerns,
but rather as a serious dose of 'putting things in perspective'.

My list of the biggest enemies to a potter's health:
--Driving - to pick up materials, to a show, to the movies,
anywhere
--Not making enough money to afford health care and/or
buy health insurance
--Poor lifestyle choices

As for concerns specifically related to pottery, I would rate
dust as the primary hazard, and it sounds like you are already
adequately aware of the precautions.
In spite of the daily dose of scary things on Clayart, I still consider
being a potter a pretty healthy occupation. I'd rather work
with natural earth materials over the man-made chemicals
common to many other occupations.
It's also healthier than sitting in front of a computer screen
or in an office all day; plenty of exercise, varied activities,
inside and outside jobs.
Use your common sense and think about everything you do.
--
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com/




----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 12:17 AM
Subject: toxicity issues


| I spend most of my waking hours wanting to make pots and more pots, but
frankly, the more i read about dioxins and toxins and leaching on clayart,
the more I wonder if I should quit pottery now before I'm a full fledged
potter and hooked for life.
|
| It's hard to know what (or who) to believe. My tendency is to assume the
worst and wait for research to catch up and confirm my suspicions.
|
| Just in my lifetime, there have been a dozen examples: my mother (in the
early 60s) believed great lakes fish was healthy food, and I no doubt got
lots of lake Erie's PCBs and mercury in utero. (The surgeon general now says
nobody of childbearing age or younger should eat great lakes fish.) She
worked as an x-ray tech back when they used to x-ray pregnant women's
bellies, and shoe stores had x-ray machines for kids to stick their feet in
just for fun. The doc was down to 3 fingers from holding babies under the
machine, but everyone said it was safe. So was the DES my mom was given
during pregnancy. Her family farmed in the shadow of Dow Chemical, where my
grandpa spend 35 years making several pesticides now internationally banned.
We all drank milk from the PCB tainted cows later buried in mass graves in
michigan. oops.
|
| Dad had a summer job spraying migrant camps (and workers) with DDT to kill
lice. As a kid he made spending money by melting scrap lead to make duck
decoy weights in his mother's muffin tins. Nobody thought any of this was a
bad idea. Lead paint on my crib, asbestos in my school, even the talc in
baby powder was a bad idea. Add to the list the recreational substance abuse
of my college years; (I thought i was bulletproof and immortal). Now they
link nitrates in hotdogs to childhood leukemia, prostate cancer to
disposable diapers, dioxins in tampons to cervical cancers, the list is
endless and terrifying. Remember playing with the balls of mercury from
broken thermometers?
|
| There is a point, and a question, here. I am aware that there is no way to
live without risk in the modern world. On the other hand, I am unwilling to
accept logic that goes, "I'm still alive so (whatever toxin) must be OK." I
realize that scientifically it's impossible to PROVE anything, even that
smoking cigarettes causes cancer. But here's what I'd love to have: a list
of maybe the top ten REALLY BAD GUYS in pottery. Glaze ingredients, kiln
fumes, I'm learning a lot just reading clayart but would like at least know
what dangerous elements everybody agrees on.
|
| I live as naturally as I can, grow and buy organic, try to protect my kids
from known risks. I didn't touch glazes for the 8 years that I was pregnant
or nursing. (but it never occured to me not to buy the clay with the
manganese speckles...) I could go off the deep end once I start worrying.
Do I need my niosh mask to change the cat litter? should those little kids
at the art camp be painting with underglazes and clear, then running off to
the next project without washing their hands?
|
| If anyone has a moment to tell me which are generally considered the
biggest enemies of a potter's health, I would be grateful. I know to wear a
mask and use a mop and my kiln is in a detatched garage. I would find the
information useful in creating, for myself, the illusion that I have some
control over the hazards of my environment ;0)
|
| After the recent "helping" thread I wonder if this is like asking doctors
for free advice at cocktail parties... but spending much time on toxins in
the archives gives me the willies and way too long a list of worries.
|
| Thanks... Kelly in frigid Ohio (ordering some fleece lined jeans for the
brass monkey)
|

Paul Taylor on thu 21 dec 00

Dear Kelly and all

I agree with David on this issue.

I have never met a potter with siliceousis

However I have never met a potter who has not had some back trouble. I
think it is inevitable result of sitting under pressure. by putting ones
mind in the hara ,kath or dan tien- same place just bellow the belly button
but inside- your legs will bend enough to save the shock to the back and the
relaxed state is helps the control . Being tense and in the head is an
illusion of control like worry it hinders not helps. The safety instructions
from the health and safety is just to bend the knees but this never worked
as a comprehensive system but it is easier to understand:) .

I now stand at the wheel which forces me to use the center point as my
strength point . I knew the theory when sitting but The extra feeling of
control I got from using the back was too tempting. My pots have
considerably improved since I now center myself in a more yogic way the
relaxation has forced me to discipline the proportion of the pots as
opposed to a tense concentration of accuracy of line. I used to try and
create a relaxed confidence symbolically big rims and thick cut lines but I
prefer the real thing.

Good dust control and only sweeping the workshop wearing a mask and at the
end of the work. My lady is an obsessive sweeper but I am strict and
obstinate she has to put the broom aside until I am well out of the
pottery. There is a wet sawdust ritual but I think it does not keep the dust
down as believed . Siliceouses was a killer in days past a certainty to
damage dry turners lungs . It is suspected that siliceouses affects some
more than others but good habits should keep the lungs clear till
retirement. Good dust control is a matter of respect and not ,too often
finding yourself in a dust .it is impossible not to get in a dust sometimes
- without suffering from the sort of compulsive obsession that could kill
all life.

Arthritis is the next hazard working with water and under strain . It may
seem mucho not to bother about the cold but a good stove will Keep you
healthy. arthritis affects most potters eventually whether it is the nature
of any phisiycle job I do not know .

All potters using hard clay and most production potters have had a dose of
carpel tunnel- repetitive strain injury, The sensible ones soften their clay
and change their throwing technic some are stubborn and ignore it until
permanent damage is done - some seem to be unlucky and suffer unjustifiably.

Art addiction is a serious a complaint being a potter does mean that you
are not going to make the money you would from some other job . But there is
a balance if you are alone or your relation ships are in a mess you may have
art addiction. Its a disease that the sufferer is the last to notice. IF you
have had an emotional reaction to what I have just said an inventory of your
emotional well being when you are not in a creative space may be necessary.

Led is an obvious hazard there is no need to use it and if you do do the
research work The archive and I am sure you will receive a list of
references if you ask. Barium is also considered unnecessary again do the
research if you wish to use it

The other chemicals like lithium and boron aluminum cobalt and iron could
be harmful but in what context, in ordinary use ? or holding vinegar? I use
some of the suspect chemicals but not in a situation were direct contact
with liquids is a certainty . The inside of enclosed forms and all cooking
ware unless I am confident of the glaze. The glaze chemicals are all
working to their optimum and any effects that rely on the surfeit of a
chemical I make sure it is not one of those that are suspect. This will make
a good glaze chemist wince as this sounds more scientific than it actually
is.

Other than that I think it would be inappropriate paranoid . If you are
worried about absorbing dangerous chemicals I would start with nicotine and
its associated chemicals alchol and caffeine and similar drugs found in
beverages. There Is an argument that the individual has choice this I think
is an illusion. My illusory choice is that proportionately to the chemical
consumption of society as a whole a little petalight in a shino glaze is not
going to heart even if it leaches so many parts of lithium per million in
vinegar - but in moderation it should not .

A theory I shall be testing is that with a very small particle size and a
small amount of boron so not to interfere with the color red and orange only
a small amount of lithium as a flux is necessary to stop crazing . This
should fall well whiting safe limits.

If you are using the glaze as a production glaze it is worth getting it
tested but there is no way you are going to test every glaze you slap on a
few vases .

These are only my opinions which I share with many other potters and please
take them as such- anger and paranoia may be a bigger killer than lead glaze
ever was.

Working in the same room as a kiln is firing is self evidently bad for you.
Do not do it. It is strange that while some are worried about minute of
leaching of chemicals into an acid others are working in a room full of god
Knows what smelly chemicals burning off the kiln.

Regards from Paul Taylor
http://www.anu.ie/westportpottery

PS I have always had little regard for common sense since we discovered that
the earth spins and that we do not do the common sense thing by flying off,
pushed by the centrifugal force . But common sense is handy enough not taken
dogmatically.



> From: David Hendley
> Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
> Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 12:26:54 -0600
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: Re: toxicity issues
>
> Kelly, this is not meant as a dismissal of your concerns,
> but rather as a serious dose of 'putting things in perspective'.
>
> My list of the biggest enemies to a potter's health:
> --Driving - to pick up materials, to a show, to the movies,
> anywhere
> --Not making enough money to afford health care and/or
> buy health insurance
> --Poor lifestyle choices
>
> As for concerns specifically related to pottery, I would rate
> dust as the primary hazard, and it sounds like you are already
> adequately aware of the precautions.
> In spite of the daily dose of scary things on Clayart, I still consider
> being a potter a pretty healthy occupation. I'd rather work
> with natural earth materials over the man-made chemicals
> common to many other occupations.
> It's also healthier than sitting in front of a computer screen
> or in an office all day; plenty of exercise, varied activities,
> inside and outside jobs.
> Use your common sense and think about everything you do.
> --
> David Hendley
> Maydelle, Texas
> hendley@tyler.net
> http://www.farmpots.com/
>
>

Ron Roy on tue 26 dec 00

Hi Kelly,

I recommend Mononas book on the subject. It has information on all those
other crafts as well.

I see no harm in being well informed - there are always choices to be made
and I find it more comfortable when I can make informed decisions based on
my morality. It's one thing to take chances with you own health - but to
involve others because we don't mind taking chances is just not my way.

The Artists Complete Health and Safety Guide by Monona Rossol.

RR


>If anyone has a moment to tell me which are generally considered the
>biggest enemies of a potter's health, I would be grateful. I know to wear
>a mask and use a mop and my kiln is in a detatched garage. I would find
>the information useful in creating, for myself, the illusion that I have
>some control over the hazards of my environment ;0)
>
>After the recent "helping" thread I wonder if this is like asking doctors
>for free advice at cocktail parties... but spending much time on toxins in
>the archives gives me the willies and way too long a list of worries.

Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough
Ontario, Canada
M1G 3N8
Evenings 416-439-2621
Fax 416-438-7849