Use a glove bag or glove box with a dry inert atmosphere to avoid exposure to air when checking for degradation discoloring. Likewise, transportation of any hazardous material off campus, be it isotope, chemical or biohazardous, must adhere to strict regulatory guidelines. When completing a radioactive waste tag, please be sure to use the proper units. List the quantity of radioactivity in units of milliCuries as printed on the tag. For questions about radioactive waste, contact Tod Ferguson at 534-9745.
Perchloric acid is very corrosive to all living tissue.
It can cause severe burns on contact with eyes, skin, and mucous membranes and is a severe irritant. With lower level exposures, its acute toxicity is moderate. Perchloric acid has not been shown to be a carcinogen, a reproductive, or developmental toxin in humans. Many heavy metal perchlorates and organic perchlorate salts are very sensitive explosives. Mixtures of perchlorates with many oxidizable compounds are explosive.