Human Exposure and Consumption
Silver plays no known natural biological role in humans, and possible health effects of silver are a disputed subject. Silver itself is not toxic, but most silver salts are. In large doses, silver and compounds containing it can be absorbed into the circulatory system and become deposited in various body tissues, leading to argyria, which results in a blue-grayish pigmentation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Argyria is rare, and although this condition does not otherwise harm a person's health, it is disfiguring and usually permanent. Mild forms of Argyria are sometimes mistaken for cyanosis.
Read more about this topic: Silver Compounds
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or consumption:
“The moral qualities are more apt to grow when a human being is useful, and they increase in the woman who helps to support the family rather than in the one who gives herself to idleness and fashionable frivolities.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (18151902)
“Daily life is governed by an economic system in which the production and consumption of insults tends to balance out.”
—Raoul Vaneigem (b. 1934)