[Nhcoll-l] Arsenic testing and general safety standards

Thu Feb 27 08:31:26 EST 2014

If people are concerned about absorption, and they should be, they can have urine and hair sampled.  Best to work with an occupational nurse or doctor.  To prevent it, use gloves and labcoats.  There is no way to determine how much will be absorbed by an individual as each person's skin is different.  Ingested arsenic would also show up in urine and hair samples.  Best prevention is the same work procedures for lab work, keep hands away from face, don't chew gum, eat, drink or smoke while working with these collections, wash hands before eating, drinking, smoking and use a different room for food consumption.

-----Original Message-----
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Brown, Matthew A
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 1:59 PM
To: Kirsten Nicholson
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Arsenic testing and general safety standards

Related to Kirsten's question, I've recently had similar conversations with our Environmental Health and Safety people regarding radon exposure. Radon test kits placed in some of our cabinets have yielded test results 60x EPA action levels. Yet, when our Radiation Safety office came out to look at it, the inspector had virtually no concerns. He stated that we'd have to live in the cabinet before he'd be worried about it. That didn't really reassure me, but seems to be the consensus among our EHS team. I still ask my staff to take reasonable precautions when working with hot material. 

Best,

Matt

Matthew A. Brown
Laboratory Manager, Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Lecturer, Department of Geosciences The University of Texas at Austin R7600, Austin, TX 78758
Lab:(512)232-5516
Office:(512)232-5515
matthewbrown at utexas.edu
webspace.utexas.edu/mab4775/www

On Feb 26, 2014, at 8:10 AM, Kirsten Nicholson <norops at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a related question to this arsenic thread. Our OSHA and Safety people on campus told me when we were arsenic testing and had concerns that there is very little information available on dermal toxicity of arsenic. In their minds, therefore, since we weren't using it ourselves or at risk of ingesting it or inhaling it, then there wasn't much concern from their standpoint. I mentioned that (at that time) we had discovered some contaminated specimens in our teaching collection (they were enclosed in tubes, but still; we've replaced them with clean specimens) and that we were concerned that folks might handle the birds and then either eat afterwards or whatever, and they seemed relatively unconcerned, claiming that an individual would have to consume a large amount of arsenic to be affected. 
> 
> Can anybody speak to this? Clearly we're all concerned in the museum world for containing affected specimens, yet our health officials really aren't concerned. 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Kirsten
> 
> 
> On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 9:21 AM, Lena Hernandez <LHernandez at themosh.org> wrote:
>  
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>  
> 
> Recently I attempted testing for arsenic in the mounted specimens of our collection. My issues, that I hope some of you can help with, is that I am getting a negative result on specimens that I am sure have arsenic. Has anyone else run into this problem? If so how did you solve it? I am following the protocol developed by NPS in their Conserve-o-Gram 2/3 and using Hach's arsenic test kit, since the one recommended by NPS is no longer made. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Feel free to contact me off list if you would prefer.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Lena Hernandez
> 
> Collections Manager/Registrar
> 
>  
> 
> Museum of Science and History
> 
> 1025 Museum Circle
> 
> Jacksonville, FL 32207
> 
> (904)396-6674 x212
> 
> lhernandez at themosh.org
> 
>  
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://mailman.yale.edu/mai
> lman/listinfo/nhcoll-l&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYs
> yw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%
> 0A&s=386e71d869cfaf069c545d02150eda895b9f20fdbb78584693b08fbfdda2226a
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of 
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose 
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of 
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to 
> society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://www.spnhc.org/&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%0A&s=e02beb27de8284d03560b6bc0029bfe50349819d496308db49262495fe7cbc5c for membership information.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Kirsten E. Nicholson, Ph.D
> 
> Assoc. Prof. Biology          and       Curator of Natural History
> Dept. of Biology                             Museum of Cultural and Natural History
> 217 Brooks Hall                            103 Rowe Hall
> Central Michigan Univ.                 Central Michigan University 
> Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859                 Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
> 989-774-3758                                989-774-3829
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://mailman.yale.edu/mai
> lman/listinfo/nhcoll-l&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYs
> yw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%
> 0A&s=386e71d869cfaf069c545d02150eda895b9f20fdbb78584693b08fbfdda2226a
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of 
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose 
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of 
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to 
> society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://www.spnhc.org/&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%0A&s=e02beb27de8284d03560b6bc0029bfe50349819d496308db49262495fe7cbc5c for membership information.

_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%0A&s=386e71d869cfaf069c545d02150eda895b9f20fdbb78584693b08fbfdda2226a

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://www.spnhc.org/&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=cKxb82Am53ZxMmxVdtFxjG926vcNWQ2NFU6jmAjDoR4%3D%0A&s=e02beb27de8284d03560b6bc0029bfe50349819d496308db49262495fe7cbc5c for membership information.