Hmmm.... Selenium is Poisonous?????

Gatsby1923 · Feb 10, 2009

OK, I know Selenium toner is poisonous but I still say the best way to tell if it is fresh is to get down and smell it...

Just kidding of course

papagene · Feb 10, 2009

David... have you been doing too much toning lately???

gene

Colin Corneau · Feb 10, 2009

Hah, that's ridiculous of course.

The proper way is to rub it into an open cut, as everyone knows.

bdial · Feb 10, 2009

The proper way is to rub it into an open cut, as everyone knows

Hmm, I thought that was the test for fixer

removed account4 · Feb 10, 2009

Gatsby1923 said:
OK, I know Selenium toner is poisonous but I still say the best way to tell if it is fresh is to get down and smell it...

Just kidding of course

you obviously didn't see that episode of house, did you

fschifano · Feb 10, 2009

jnanian said:
you obviously didn't see that episode of house, did you

I did. Nasty stuff, but I'm pretty sure you need a whole lot of exposure to get into that condition.

The smell of selenium toner is ammonia. The ammonia is from the ammonium thiosulfate, of which there is plenty in the toner. As long as you don't drink the stuff, or soak your hands in it, you're safe.

Photo Engineer · Feb 10, 2009

Selenium smells like garlic. If you smell it in the toner, or on your breath, you are in trouble.

Symptoms include imptence, nausea, vomiting, and a whole host of other stuff like hair loss. Have fun.

PE

domaz · Feb 10, 2009

I saw some granola bars or something at the Whole Foods store (fancy grocery store) and one of the packages actually said "now with Selenium". That sure made me want to buy it.

keithwms · Feb 10, 2009

Pure selenium isn't so lethal; it is found in various nutritional supplements yum.

H2Se, on the other hand, are highly lethal. The good news is that, as I recall, it smells so gawdawful that the chances of you getting poisoned before smelling it very strongly are low. I mean, you will probably be vomiting convulsively just from the smell long before you reach toxicity. Same for various organoselenides that I had the (dis)pleasure of working with. I can still remember that rancid smell... and I was wearing a respirator, mask, double gloves, jacket, and working with the material in a fume hood!

I don't know what form the Se is in, in the toner.

phaedrus · Feb 10, 2009

Which episode of my esteemed, but grumpy colleagues television series is this? And more importantly, are they doing a macular biopsy with an aspiration needle poked right through the cornea to find it? Being an ophthalmologist, that always makes my day.

Curt · Feb 10, 2009

Symptoms include imptence, nausea, vomiting, and a whole host of other stuff like hair loss.

Similar to seeing a recent copy of my 401K.

keithwms · Feb 10, 2009

Haha, when I was working with that sh*t I would have been a perfect patient for House. After a few months working with diphenyl diselenide I started to have little mini-blackouts, just a small fraction of a second in length. So I could be walking or driving and it'd be like my vision just skipped a frame somehow. House would have done a biopsy of my left nut and put me in a coma on ice, probably.

Anyway, I got tested in a more conventional way and nothing was found, but.. the odd symptoms completely subsided a few weeks after I told my advisor that I would cease all work with these compounds base don my own gut feelings about them. Coincidentally, it was right around that time that a very respected chemist (Wetterhahn) died of very small exposure to dimethyl mercury through a glove. That's a compound that was on my to-do list for the experiment that I was working on. Turns out that these compounds are so nasty that very little is known about them. Even people who should know about them don't always.

eddym · Feb 11, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
Symptoms include imptence, nausea, vomiting, and a whole host of other stuff like hair loss. Have fun.

PE

Hmmm... maybe that's why I don't have any kids...!

Joe Lipka · Feb 11, 2009

Curt said:
Similar to seeing a recent copy of my 401K.

You still have a 401k. After last year, I have a 201k.

Steve Smith · Feb 11, 2009

Everything is poisonous if you have too much of it. Even water.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511475/Man-35-drank-death-consuming-water.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6263029.stm

Steve.

VaryaV · Feb 11, 2009

That would explain my violent headaches, road-rage, erratic behavior, sudden twitches and loss of appetite....... Better put some ventilation in.

Dang, and I really liked the smell .......

Allen Friday · Feb 11, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
Symptoms include imptence, nausea, vomiting, and a whole host of other stuff like hair loss.

PE

Here I thought I was just getting older, having hit the big 50 last year. Maybe I have been working with Selenium too much.

Kvistgaard · Feb 11, 2009

This is definitely one of the more enjoyable threads I've read in a while
On a serious note (sorry!) I have begun toning all prints outside in my garden, after reading about the toxicity of selenium elsewhere.

But definitely keep it going - more war stories, please!

/Søren
(two kids, hair intact, no recent vomiting, nausea)

Sirius Glass · Feb 11, 2009

I will not go over to the dark side until I can make photographic prints with toxic solutions!

Steve

Photo Engineer · Feb 11, 2009

Acutually, according to some sources, Pyrogallol and Catechol are as poisonous as some Selenium compounds. This is mentioned for example in Anchell and Troop.

PE

Ian Grant · Feb 11, 2009

The major danger from Selenium is lack of it, a huge number of people across the world take Selenium supplement tablets because they have a deficiency. There's probably more papers written every year about this than there are people who suffer Selenium poisoning

Ian

VaryaV · Feb 11, 2009

And, I do know that they are using Selenium to fight (or as a cure for) Lung Cancer......

hmmmmmm.....

Photo Engineer · Feb 11, 2009

Many chemicals are needed by the human body, but in tiny amounts. They are used as metal complexing agents or inclusions in enzymes. Too much and they become toxic. Iron is needed for healthy blood to make red blood cells and transport oxygen via the complex hemoglobin. Too much causes the disease Hemochromatosis in which the liver is damaged unless they remove iron from the body. They do this by taking a pint of blood about every month.

Most metals are double edged swords. Mercury is not. It is toxic in any amount. Tellurium is not... Etc..

PE

eddym · Feb 11, 2009

VaryaV said:
That would explain my violent headaches, road-rage, erratic behavior, sudden twitches and loss of appetite....... Better put some ventilation in.

Dang, and I really liked the smell .......

The first step to the cure is admitting you have an addiction...

VaryaV · Feb 11, 2009

I thought all of those attributes were just me, but I guess it was the chemicals - back to the darkroom I go.......... ha ha!

So, I am no longer responsible for my actions......... cool!

Hmmm.... Selenium is Poisonous?????

Membership Council

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency