Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 19:49:57 +0000 From: <mrwu@cello.qnet.com> (Howard J. Wu L.Ac) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg254$foo@default> Subject: Blasted sand.
Silica dust can cause silicosis, a irreversable but totally preventable
lung disease, not cancer. What will Home Depo comsummers now use to blast
their fenders clean?
I used to by small bags of horticultural sand from Thrifty's Drugstore
before Bi-Rite bought them out and took it off their selves. This looked
like washed beach sand. Lately from a local nursery, I've been using
horticultural sand marketed by Uni-gro (Chico, CA.) This looks like
washed river sand and has an orange hue rather than a greyish hue of the
other commerical horticultural sand I had used before.
The first few terrestial utric's I've transplanted into a 50/50
sand/peat mix with this new brand have responded very well indeed. I've
seen more vigorous growth and flowers in plants I haven't seen bloom
before. I haven't proven this sand to be superior by using tight
scientific controls but plan to explore this further.
> I went to my local Home Depot yesterday to buy a couple of bags of white
>silica sandblasting sand for potting up a bunch of carnivorous plants,
>and was told that Home Depot no longer carries the stuff, as it causes
>cancer! I know, of course, that the stuff is dangerous when one is
>sandblasting with it, and that if you're dumb enough not to use proper
>protection when blasting, it will get into your lungs and certainly mess
>you up big time. But many things are dangerous if used incorrectly! And
>ALL sand is silica in it... the white stuff is just more pure. So shall
>they eliminate play sand, too, as dangerous?
>
> I started to panic anyway, wondering what I will use to pot my cp's if
>silica sand disappears off the market, but fortunately I found the same
>brand of sand at a local lumber store. I asked them if they'd heard
>anything about it being banned, and they said no, that probably Home
>Depot just doesn't want to carry it. I guess it's one more result of our
>litigious society!
>
> Anyone else know anything about this?
>
> Susan Farrington Missouri Botanical Garden P.O. Box 299 St. Louis MO
>63166-0299 susan.farrington@mobot.org (314)577-9402
>
Howard J. Wu
Bishop Ca.
mrwu@qnet.com
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