Safety
As an oxidant, silver nitrate should be properly stored away from organic compounds. Despite being used in low concentrations to prevent gonorrhea and control nose bleeds, silver nitrate is toxic and corrosive. Brief exposure to the chemical will not produce immediate or even any side effects other than the purple, brown or black skin stains; but with more exposure, side effects will become more noticeable, including burns. Long-term exposure may cause eye damage. Short contact can lead to deposition of black silver stains on the skin. Besides being very destructive of mucous membranes, it is a skin and eye irritant.
Although silver nitrate is currently not regulated in water sources by the Environmental Protection Agency, when between 1-5 g of silver have accumulated in the body, a condition called argyria can develop. Argyria is a permanent cosmetic condition in which the skin and internal organs turn a blue-gray color. The United States Environmental Protection Agency had a maximum contaminant limit for silver in water until 1990, but upon determination that argyria did not impact the function of organs affected, removed the regulation. Argyria is more often associated with the consumption of colloidal silver solutions than with silver nitrate, especially at the extremely low concentrations present for the disinfection of water. However, it is still important to consider before ingesting any sort of silver-ion solution.
Read more about this topic: Silver Nitrate
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.... Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“[As teenager], the trauma of near-misses and almost- consequences usually brings us to our senses. We finally come down someplace between our parents’ safety advice, which underestimates our ability, and our own unreasonable disregard for safety, which is our childlike wish for invulnerability. Our definition of acceptable risk becomes a product of our own experience.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)
“The Declaration [of Independence] was not a protest against government, but against the excess of government. It prescribed the proper role of government, to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this alone. So government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)