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Cider Digest #0379
Subject: broken hygrometers
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1993 08:49:52 -0800 (PST)
From: _Ralph Reed <reedr@BCC.ORST.EDU>
Dear Net:
My field of work is toxicology so I thought that I'd give 2 cents
here to the person who had a broken hygrometer in a batch of cider.
Even if the carboy was filled with Dom Perignon Champagne, I would
toss the whole thing out, and make sure to not throw it on my garden.
Lead is a very toxic substance and the acidity in the cider would be
expected to accelerate the dissolution of the lead into the cider. Public
health agencies are concerned about lead concentrations in the parts per
million range in teeth and levels of less than a part per million in
blood. They are concerned about small grains of lead-containing paint
consumed by children that can lead to brain damage, ranging from lowering
of IQ to more debilitating damage such as capillary damage and death of
brain tissue. Lead-containing paint dust from crumbling paint is thought to
be sufficient to cause damage. (Source material from various articles in
the New England Journal of Medicine and the J. Am. Med. Assoc.). If that
isn't enough, my hydrometer also contains a thermometer with mercury in it
for a double-whammy. Also, some lead compounds are listed in the Merck
Index as being carcinogens.
Happy cider drinking on THE NEXT BATCH.
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