From: agbrooks@teaching.cs.adelaide.edu.au (Zoz)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Recipe for nitrate-based flashpowder!
Date: 15 Sep 1992 03:05:02 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

daver@felix.filenet.com (Dave Richards) writes:
>In article <1992Sep3.144306.450@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> buda@star.enet.dec.com (Mark A. Buda) writes:
>>
>>In article <1992Aug31.190831.13599@ruc.dk>, pjac@ruc.dk (Peter Jacobsen) writes...
>>>The author of the rec.pyrotechnics FAQ claims that inhaled Al-dust destroy
>>>the lungs. I find it hard to believe since it was used for many years in
>>>inhaled form to relieve the breathing-pains on asthma-patients, and even
>>>today Al-dust is sprayed out in the air in mines in the U.S. and Canada
>>>because it bind dangerous silicate dust
>>
>>Just because it is used, does not mean that it is safe.  I think there
>>needs to be a lot more research done (a lot has already been done), to
>>be able to say the above...
>
>Conversely, just becasuse the FAQ states that it destroys the lungs doesn't
>make it true either.  Particularly disturbing is the anecdote given about
>the first actor to play the tin man in "The Wizard of Oz", whose lungs were
>"destroyed by breathing the aluminum makeup."
>
>This is simply not true.  He DID have an allergic reaction to the makeup
>that prevented him from continuing the role (contact dermatitis, I assume),
>but his lungs were not "destroyed".  In fact, he continued to be successful
>in the entertainment industry for many years.  For example, he was a regular
>in the series "The Beverly Hillbillies" in the 1960's, ~30 years after his
>problem with aluminum exposure.  And he was still breathing in the 1980's
>(~50 years after) for the series "Barnaby Jones".  Not bad for somebody
>with destroyed lungs.  By the way, in case you haven't guessed, the actor's
>name is Buddy Ebsen.  Perhaps you've heard of him.
>
>I guess my point in posting this is that it's all well and good to give
>warnings about the dangers of working with materials, but hopefully readers
>of this group are mature enough that we don't need to create false horror
>stories, or greatly exaggerate small mishaps just to scare people.

Well, I didn't make up the story about the tin man, I heard it from
somewhere, and, being unfamiliar with 1930s actors, had no reason to
disbelieve it. I agree that it is unnecessary to create false horror stories
(unfortunately there are enough real ones about), but as far as I knew the
tin man story was true. Since it seems that the FAQ is incorrect in this
anecdote at least, I have removed the bit about the tin man, however the
warnings about Al dust inhalation are still there.

PS I don't quite agree with your estimate of the maturity of the readers
of this group. Certainly there are mature and knowledgeable readers that
post regularly, however all it takes is a look at some of the more extreme
mad bomber posts to realise that this is not the case across the board.
Plus there are a (proportionally) huge number of Usenet readers that do
not post, and also items from this newsgroup get distributed via hardcopy
(for example TBBOM, also I received mail from a person who had seen a
hardcopy of the FAQ and wanted to 'sign up' for rec.pyrotechnics). So really
we have no idea what a large number of the readers of this newsgroup do
with the information they obtain here, and I think we have a responsibility
to ensure that the safety details we provide are comprehensive.
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                     agbrooks@teaching.cs.adelaide.edu.au

Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics