Snail Scott on sun 18 mar 01
A friend with a bit of scientific background was borrowing some
tools from my studio, and stopped to look over my glaze
materials shelves. He turned absolutely white-faced when he
noticed the strontium carb! He tried for a solid half-hour
to convince me that having that much strontium sitting around
(about two pounds, and in a paper bag, too! Gasp!) was enough
to have my whole studio declared a Superfund site! (US Gov't
designation for major $$$ toxic waste dump.)
I tried to explain that not all strontium was the radioactive
isotope type, but I don't think he was ever really convinced.
He's probably still waiting for me to keel over dead any minute!
Meanwhile, he didn't even blink at the chrome, copper,
manganese, et al, nor at the lusters and solvents.
Tech-types are often familiar with only certain types of the
elements they use, and toss the 'short-form' names around,
like saying 'strontium' instead of the full name of the
isotope (or the carbonate, which they've never encountered
in a lab). Don't let such sloppy nomenclature provide the
basis for scare stories; there are enough real hazards to be
careful of without adding bogey-men to the list.
Now I know the reference for an authoritative-sounding article
to refer my friend to. (Thanks, Edouard!) As a credential,
'artist' tends to carry only slightly more weight than 'village
idiot', even to some of my friends!
-Snail
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