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Being Realistic About Toxicity and Safety in Ceramics

Section: Materials, Subsection: Toxicity

Description

The materials you use present two hazards you need to think about, are they poisoning your while working with them and are they destabilizing your glazes so they dissolve into food and drink?

Article

Are you getting suspicious that lawyers write most of the labels that now appear on material packages? Do all the labels look the same? How does one pick out the materials that are the most dangerous when materials thought to be safe are labeled in the same way as the toxic ones? It seems warnings have lost some of their impact and sometimes seem no better than nothing at all. Each manufacturer publishes

Material Safety Data sheets that outline hazards associated with coming into contact with the material itself, and while these have the same general format, there is a tremendous variety with reference to the information they volunteer, the hazards detail provided, and the degree of harmony between like materials. The average user is overwhelmed by all of these sheets, and reading them tends to make us cynical about how real the warnings are. In addition, these sheets have nothing to do with safety issues surrounding the functional use of glazes made using the materials.

In recent years the subject of material safety and possible safety issues surrounding the functional use of glazed ware with food and drink have become a hot topic on the Internet, in the press, and within educational institutions. There are people putting their heart and soul into trying to educate us about the hazards of many ceramic materials. At the same time there are many, including authors and people of repute, paying absolutely no attention and making glazes from whatever materials and whatever proportions they please. There are some arguing strenuously to defend the use of known poisons and carcinogens because we can't come up with hard data to prove that anyone is being affected by them. There are others campaigning against ceramics in schools and universities, claiming it is just too dangerous.

Surely there is some middle ground we can reach even. I feel the position is best expressed by Monona Rossol, an author, chemist, potter, and activist who summarizes two decades of selfless dedication to this issue on many levels by calling herself an 'industrial hygienist for the arts, crafts, and theatre'. She speaks of the 'ethical' use of materials and formulations. This approach strikes a chord with many who have seen so many cases where the supposed know-it-alls claim total understanding of things and kick down "caution signs" under the banner that no one can produce hard data to justify their existence. Ethical use of materials means we err on the side of safety and the prevailing common sense, and are less swayed by those with hidden agendas and conflicts of interest. If a material like barium, for example, is surrounded in controversy, then glazes that employ it are 'controversial' glazes. Do you suppose anyone would buy your ware if there was a hang-tag on it explaining that industry experts are currently embroiled in heated disputes over the material's safety?

Finished Product Quality

Is the user of your pottery in danger from food or drink dissolving toxic compounds from the glaze surface, from micro-organisms that the glaze surface might provide a home for or from actually swallowing a chip of the glaze that has flaked off the surface? This site has lots of information to help you make your products safe for the end user, it does not require an engineer. There are some really bad glazes out there, we can help you recognize them.

Is Your Working Space Safe?

There is some credibility to the statement that silica is the most dangerous material we use since silicosis is the most common ceramic material related health effect in production workers. Silica itself is clearly not a poison, you can eat it with no problems. But quartz crystals can lodge themselves deeply in the air pocket of the lungs so breathing alot of it is obviously not good. But remember, quartz is by far the most abundant mineral in nature. Gravel, concrete, asphat, garden soil, etc are all loaded with quartz. So the minimization of dust is a key component to a safe workplace. Kiln fumes are also obviously potentially hazardous, they need to be vented outside or kilns need to be in a separate room.

Material Safety

There are many articles on material safety on this web site. You can find a list of all of these articles by searching for the word "toxicity" or "safety".

As a quick overview following are some general comments. Keep in mind that when I say a material is not generally harmful, I mean in the quantities a person would be exposed to in a clean typical working environment.

  • Clays like kaolin, ball clay, stoneware and earthenware clays, fireclays, redart, slip clays, bentonite are just dirt, they are inert, completely harmless for injesting. But all of them (except kaolin) will likely contain fine quartz dust. Silica powder (quartz) is a similar situation
  • Feldspar, nepheline syenite, cornwall stone, whiting (calcium carbonate), dolomite, pyrophyllite are powderized rock. Feldspars can contain quartz, but otherwise often the dust can be regarded as a nuisance.
  • Barium carbonate is toxic, it should be used with care. There are other ways to get matte glazes but not to get the unique blues it will host.
  • Talc, wollastonite have possibly hazardous dust (the particles are fibrous), be careful.
  • Gerstley borate is a ground mineral, similar to clay.
  • Lead oxide, lead carbonate, litharge, red lead, cadmium, selenium etc should be used only by experts.
  • Superpax, Zircopax, Opax, Ultrox, etc are zircon or zirconium silicates, they are inert and should not be a problem
  • Iron and zinc oxide are not harmful.
  • Lithium carbonate is fairly safe (although there are discussions about people who take lithium carbonate for mental disorders getting an OD)
  • The kiln fumes and dust of metal oxide colorants like manganese, cobalt, nickel, chrome, must be avoided, vanadium. However these materials are generally used in small quantities. Watch out for saturated metal glazes that use large quantities, especially manganese.
  • Frits are ground glasses of controlled chemistry, they are generally inert and non-poisonous and can be considered similar to the ground-rock type materials (of course lead frits have potential risks).
  • Innocent materials can have dangerous sounding names eg. nepheline syenite, and hazardous materials can sound safe eg. litharge.

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