Al wrote
And as a result of your experiments with mercury, are you a blithering
idiot? I don't think so! Harry C. wrote
Read up on the history of carbon tetrachloride, because the toxicity
issue was a puzzle for many years. For years it was used as an
industrial solvent, a standard solvent in every radio and TV repair
shop, and even sold as a safe, non-flamable household cleaning agent
under the name Carbona Cleaning Fluid.
Yes I do remember that cleaning fluid, as well as the glass globes that
were used as fire extinguishers "toss at the base of flames" Some even
had a heat sensitive trigger that would release the carbon tet in a
fire.
Al, I was always leery of messing around with that mercury so as a
result my exposure was limited. Now I just read in Discover magazine
that they discovered a genetic marker for sensitivity to mercury. I
think that exists with other chemicals too. I worked in the photo
industry for many years and always tried to use tongs and rubber gloves
in working with methol the developing agent. I met a few old timers who
had developed an acute reaction to it. They couldn't be in a building
where it was being used without developing a severe reaction.
I grew up on a farm in the west and in the '50s we were using two weed
killers. 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T. The first was a broad leaf killer and the
2nd killed everything. I never liked either of them but was
particularly afraid of 2-4-5-T. I took a lot of ribbing over my mask,
rubber everything goggles etc. but I figured anything that anything
that could knock down my mom's roses 50 yards down wind, 5 mph wasn't
nice. It was bright orange. Guess what that was called when I saw it on
TV in Viet Nam?
Now they actually use a chemical to keep the canals and ditches clear
of moss. It's so dangerous that the last time I was out there a county
guy accidentally sprayed it all over himself. He died. I suppose that's
why there are no frogs or toads in those irrigation ditches anymore.
Sometimes the hazards are obvious sometimes we're just ignorant. I saw
kids at the Buster Brown Shoe store stick everything they could into
that fluoroscope they used to check where your toes were in the shoes.
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm
I was also very careful about sound levels on the farm, now my dads
nearly deaf and my brother's on the way.
..
Harry, they took lead out of the gas. Remember the gray residue that
used to build up on your sills if you lived close to a street with a
lot of traffic on it especially at a stop light? Does anyone remember
the old tooth paste tubes? They always felt suspiciously heavy to me.
Ha just Googled it:
http://www.saveyoursmile.com/toothpaste/toothpaste-a.html
and I do remember them changing the water supply lines to houses. In a
lot of these old houses I still see lead pipe supplies coming from the
street.
Richard