Zoe Johnson on thu 8 jan 04
I have been told by health physicists from Los Alamos and Sandia National
Labs who are incredibly cautious by nature that unless you are sleeping
with the fiestaware, the danger is negligible. They also suggested not
eating off of it, but were not terribly concerned even by that. An
interesting note is that most of the tape dispensers from the mid-60's and
earlier are filled with depleted uranium ore and are far more hazardous,
but also of negligible risk unless one is sleeping with them or keeping
them in a tightly closed room (radon). One gets a higher dose of radiation
when flying or living at high altitude, like Albuquerque or Denver or
living in a poorly ventilated house built on bedrock, especially igneous
bedrock like granite. The best way of controlling radiation danger remains
to check for radon levels in your house and ventilate if they are high.
zoej
-
Elzbieta Sekula on thu 8 jan 04
There was an article in the paper recently about collectibles that were
radioactive. Fiesta Ware was listed as one of them. The author's opinion is that
one or two pieces wouldn't hurt and that the danger was more for the factory
workers who were exposed to it day in and day out. As for me, I'll pass on it
totally. Why ask for trouble?
Elzbieta, who doesn't find glowing in the dark appealing unless you're a
firefly
Edy Lynn on thu 8 jan 04
I heard this on Martha Stewart a couple years ago that the reddish orange
Fiestaware does have uranium in it. I bought a piece (it's very hard to find
as so much of it was destroyed due to this "blunder") and it had a small
note in felt tip marker on the bottom warning the purchaser not to use for
food. It is a very pretty color tho'.
Edy of Ohio slipping and sliding around on our "light dusting" of snow.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Elzbieta Sekula"
To:
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 11:08 AM
Subject: Uranium in Fiesta Ware
> There was an article in the paper recently about collectibles that were
> radioactive. Fiesta Ware was listed as one of them. The author's opinion
is that
> one or two pieces wouldn't hurt and that the danger was more for the
factory
> workers who were exposed to it day in and day out. As for me, I'll pass on
it
> totally. Why ask for trouble?
> Elzbieta, who doesn't find glowing in the dark appealing unless you're a
> firefly
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
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piedpotterhamelin@COMCAST.NET on thu 8 jan 04
During the early 1980's, the FDA issued a recall on Franciscan and Fiesta wares due to the high levels of uranium in the red, yellow and orange glazes. Cadmium was also used by these manufacturers.
As the glaze is from the era preceding our current limits of lead release and lead glaze formulation, I cannot support the use of these wares as the risk of contact release by acidic foods is too great. I frankly don't trust using any wares made before the 1970's. Especially for children.
The pots do go tick tick tick with a Geiger counter. A Brown Univ prof I know used them in his physics classes.
Rick
--
"Many a wiser men than I hath
gone to pot." 1649
> There was an article in the paper recently about collectibles that were
> radioactive. Fiesta Ware was listed as one of them. The author's opinion is that
> one or two pieces wouldn't hurt and that the danger was more for the factory
> workers who were exposed to it day in and day out. As for me, I'll pass on it
> totally. Why ask for trouble?
> Elzbieta, who doesn't find glowing in the dark appealing unless you're a
> firefly
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Vince Pitelka on fri 9 jan 04
> There was an article in the paper recently about collectibles that were
> radioactive. Fiesta Ware was listed as one of them. The author's opinion
is that
> one or two pieces wouldn't hurt and that the danger was more for the
factory
> workers who were exposed to it day in and day out. As for me, I'll pass on
it
> totally. Why ask for trouble?
It is only the bright orange Fiesta Ware (the original stuff) that contained
uranium, although the others may well have contained lead.
There is a well-known story from some years ago about a potter who wanted to
do some low-fire glaze experiments with uranium materials. He did some
research, and was unable to purchase any sort of uranium materials - too
tightly controlled. So he went to all the flea markets and antique malls
and bought up all the chipped or cracked orange Fiesta Ware he could find.
He crushed it all, and then used a common riffle box and a water current,
just like small-time placer miners use, to settle out the heavier glaze
particles and wash away the lighter clay particles. In order to document
his experiments, he needed to know the exact uranium content per unit of
weight, so he sent a sample of this concentrate to a testing lab. He didn't
know that the labs are required by law to contact the government if anyone
sends in radioactive samples which test above a certain level of radioactive
content. Next thing you know a couple of government agents showed up at the
potter's door and confiscated the rest of the Fiesta Ware concentrate - it
was too radioactive for private use. And people ate off that stuff! Hell,
I ate off that stuff!
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Cheryl Fisher on fri 9 jan 04
Interestingly enough in the January 2004 issue if National Geographic has an
article Zip USA 59631, Basin Montana. It seems people go the the radon
"health mines" for health cures. Some people even take their animals with
them for cures for them too. Some people feel that is helps rheumatoid
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, depression. Cataracts and migraines, to name
a few. Some people have been going for years to breathe the radon gas from
the old gold and silver mines. Not passing judgment either way, it's just an
interesting article.
Cheryl Fisher
Sarasota, Florida
can56fish@comcast.net
Zoe Johnson on fri 9 jan 04
The connection between radon quantity and cancer at low levels is well
established by research. The assumption is the the dose response curve is
linear, so that low amount is bad and big amounts is worse, but maybe that
assumption is wrong.
zoej, who would go into the old mine to look at the neat rocks, but not
breathe the radon
--On Friday, January 09, 2004 8:40 AM -0500 Cheryl Fisher
wrote:
> Interestingly enough in the January 2004 issue if National Geographic has
> an article Zip USA 59631, Basin Montana. It seems people go the the radon
> "health mines" for health cures. Some people even take their animals with
> them for cures for them too. Some people feel that is helps rheumatoid
> arthritis, multiple sclerosis, depression. Cataracts and migraines, to
> name a few. Some people have been going for years to breathe the radon
> gas from the old gold and silver mines. Not passing judgment either way,
> it's just an interesting article.
>
> Cheryl Fisher
> Sarasota, Florida
> can56fish@comcast.net
>
> _________________________________________________________________________
> _____ Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
Marta Matray Gloviczki on sat 10 jan 04
vince wrote:
>>>... And people ate off that stuff! Hell,
>I ate off that stuff!
now we know how very dangerous it is!
:-))
marta
Andi Bauer on mon 12 jan 04
I saw that article in National Geographic and it made me think of a potter
we met in Basin, Montana several years ago when we were on vacation. We
took off on a side road and discovered this little one street town tucked
into the hills. His name is Patrick (can't remember the last name) and he
runs Basin Creek Pottery. He digs his own clay from the creek beds (pretty
groggy stuff, as I recall). We bought a few pieces from him; now I wonder
if it also was permeated with radon (do gases get into clay??).
Andi in San Diego (Counting down the days until I leave the craziness to
move to Western Washington and some peace and quiet!)
Geographic has an article Zip USA 59631, Basin Montana. It seems people go
the the radon "health mines" for health cures. Some people even take their
animals with them for cures for them too. Some people feel that is helps
rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, depression. Cataracts and
migraines, to name a few. Some people have been going for years to breathe
the radon gas from the old gold and silver mines. Not passing judgment
either way, it's just an interesting article.
MJ Moriarty on wed 21 jan 04
I know I'm late with this, but I'm just now catching up on Clayart.
I vaguely remember several years ago an article in the New Yorker magazine
about radioactive waste and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington
state. It mentioned a sculptor who was buying up old red Fiesta Ware and
crushing it to fuel a nuclear reactor as an art statement of sorts. He
was having some problems with the government as I recall. Anyway, I
googled until I found the following:
The magnum opus of James Acord must be his Monstrance for a Grey Horse, an
ambitious piece that actually contains radioactive material derived from
Mango Red Fiesta Ware (incidentally, one of Andy Warhol's favorite
collectables), encased in a stainless steel cannister ("canned!"), itself
secreted within a colossal granite monument.
Well, the thing is, like it or not, we've created tons and tons--thousands
of tons--of radioactive material. The waste from the Manhattan Project is
still with us, out at Hanford, and, one way or another, it'll be with us
for a long time. We're talking about containing radioactive materials with
half-lives that exceed our written history by thousands of years--
plutonium, for instance, with a half-life of about twenty-five thousand
years. And now we've got to deal with it, all of us, for the very
survivability of the planet....I don't want to tout my engineering skills
here, but the materials I'm using can, in fact, safely contain this
material, in a way in which it can be preserved and safely shielded from
the outside environment....So we need to send a warning to generations yet
unborn. The trouble is, we have no idea what the world will be like twenty-
five thousand years from now, what people will be thinking, how they will
be communicating. If we look back in the other direction, though, we do
have art that dates from the Ice Age, thirty thousand years ago....Some of
these sculptures and paintings still speak to us today with an eloquence
that we can all respond to, I think. So art is an answer. I'm not against
words and mathematics, you know, but I'm not counting on them. The
language of art may be the best way we have to let people know that this
is bad stuff, and they'd better keep away.
[James Acord, quoted in Schuyler, New Yorker, (Oct. 14, 1991) p. 61.]
Here is a link to a more extensive article
http://www2.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/pdfs/2002-11-3.pdf
Mary Jane in beautiful downtown Indianapolis, waiting to see you all at
NCECA.
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