selenium poisoning

[Severian]

would somebody please define selenium poisoning. Can it be gotten without direct contact, through the air for instance. Is there actually something that can be medically defined as selenium poisoning?

[Jacques Augustowski]

I take 50 mcg of selenium every day

[Ed Richards]

You need a little (very little) of it, but a lot will kill you. Like a lot of other trace elements. I do not know the dose, but you could find it on google.

[ronald moravec]

Powder form is dangerous. Keep your paws out of the liquid and you will be OK.

[Bruce Watson]

A google search for "selenium poisoning" turned this:

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=39194

[Eric Rose]

Quoting the above site:
"Epidemiological studies of humans chronically (long-term) exposed to high levels of selenium in food and water have reported discoloration of the skin, pathological deformation and loss of nails, loss of hair, excessive tooth decay and discoloration, lack of mental alertness, and listlessness."

Boy that explains a lot!!

[Peter Collins]

Holy Smoke!

A lot of us have a lot of those symptoms!! Some of us have never done selenium toning.... hmmmm.

[John_4185]

What does not kill me ... just delays the inevitable.

[Alan Davenport]

"...humans chronically ... exposed to high levels of selenium... have reported ... lack of mental alertness and listlessness."

Does that mean selenium turns people into state workers?

[Dan Jolicoeur]

Alan that would also include politicians, such as southern mayors and governors.

[David Beal]

When I was in graduate school one of my coworkers contracted selenium poisoning and it nearly killed him. Turns out that high levels of selenium interfere with cellular architecture, and the result is something similar to Marfan's syndrome: aneurysms develop and then rupture.

However, it's important to know the circumstances. He was preparing Selenium Fluoride from metallic selenium and hydrogen fluoride, and producing pure (liquid) material, which he then reacted with more hydrogen fluoride (in solution) to make an extremely powerful acid. He did instrumental studies of the effect of the acid on various organic compounds. (Yes, it ate through glass, so we kept such things in Teflon bottles).

As has been observed, it takes repeated exposure to high levels of selenium to produce toxic effects.

It is true that the organic forms of heavy metals produce toxic results, but it is also true that the inorganic forms can be absorbed into the body and transformed into organic forms (example: the expression "Mad as a Hatter" comes from the delusions suffered by hatters, who used to use liquid metallic mercury to block hats; the causative agent was methyl mercury, an organic compound produced by the body).

There are some good books on industrial toxicology you might want to look at.

Good shooting, and safe processing.

/s/ David Beal
Memories Preserved Photography, LLC