TOXIC MATERIALS

Many ceramic materials are dangerous not only for

the physical damage they may do in the lungs and
respiratory tract, but also for purely toxic effects
caused by absorption into the system by whatever means.
Some, such as lead and arsenic oxides, have long been
recognized as dangerous to life but a surprising
number of seemingly benign materials are toxic, some
dangerously so.

Lead potaoning has long been regarded as the classic
potter's disease. By the late 1700's, movements were
underway in Europe which would bring regulations on
the usage of lead glazes. Today nearly every country
in the Western world has stringent rules regulating
lead glazes in industry. The artist potter remains
one of the few as yet unaffected by such regulations
- a freedom which also makes him susceostible to the
very dangers they were designed to prevent.

Unfortunately, nearly all lead compounds, with the
exception of certain frits, are poisonous. White lead,
the usually preferred material for raw lead glazes,

is no less toxic than litharge or red lead.

Lead is classed as an accumulative poison and may be
stored for years in the bone structure, Fortunately,
only about one-half of all lead taken into the body is
absorbed and much of that is later excreted. Even so,
the fatal dose of absorbed lead has been determined

to be as low as one-half gram.

Inhaled lead is relatively more dangerous than ingested
lead and the symptoms appear more rapidly. Acute
poisoning *rom inhalation has been known to cause

death after only two days of exposure. Symptoms are
characteristic of many other forms of poisoning:
abdominal pain, vomiting, black stools and diarrhea,
retention of urine, collapse ard, in terminal cases,
coma ,

The aspect of death aside, chronic poisoning is worse
in its effects than acute forms. There are a variety
of symptoms including lassitude, loss of appetite,

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