In message <199810021937.PAA07421@dayton.akorn.net>, Jon Ogden
<jono@enteract.com> writes
>
>>So before I turf unwanted spares in the garbage, for delighted
>>scroungers on the municipal rubbish dump to ingest, inhale or otherwise
>>eat the crushed contents of blue bags, and before I breathe in heaps of
>>the stuff trying to achieve water cooling and similar kinky technology,
>>does anyone have some advice for me on handling these tubes. Assuming
>>they do, in fact, contain beryllium, or am I on no-no (taboo) territory?
>
>I don't know about these tubes containing beryllium-oxide, but as for
>beryllium-oxide in general: It isn't toxic unless it is in powder form
>and then only if inhaled. No deaths (as far as I know) have been
>attributed to its use. I belive Brush-Wellman is the only company that
>makes the stuff and they have a great safety record. One does not want
>to pulverize it into little bits and snort it, but normal contact that a
>person has will not hurt them one bit. As far as I know most if not all
>Alumina substrates have BeO in them. It "probably" wouldn't hurt
>anything to even put BeO containing products into your local garbage heap
>(I am being very politically incorrect here), but I would probably be
>wary of doing it - particularly due to the fact that you folks on the
>other side of the pond have very stringent rules about such stuff and as
>you say what if some of it gets crushed and seeps into local water
>supplies, etc.
My research turned up exactly the same. Cases of Berylliosis turn up in
people who have worked for a long time in an atmosphere of fine dust.
Incineration is a problem - Beryllium metal vapour can be given off,
which is not so good if you sniff it. I think that's the main reason for
not disposing of them in normal domestic waste.
Steve
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