Toxicity levels of coins

I would cite just the toxicity of the zinc used in coins as a potential hazard:

[h=2]Poisoning[/h] In 1982, the United States Mint began minting pennies coated in copper but made primarily of zinc. With the new zinc pennies, there is the potential for zinc toxicosis, which can be fatal. One reported case of chronic ingestion of 425 pennies (over 1 kg of zinc) resulted in death due to gastrointestinal bacterial and fungal sepsis, while another patient, who ingested 12 grams of zinc, only showed lethargy and ataxia (gross lack of coordination of muscle movements).[SUP][6][/SUP] Several other cases are reported of humans suffering zinc intoxication by the ingestion of zinc coins.[SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP]
Pennies and other small coins are sometimes ingested by dogs, resulting in the need for medical treatment to remove the foreign body. The zinc content of some coins can also cause zinc toxicity, which is commonly fatal in dogs, where it causes a severe hemolytic anemia, also liver or kidney damage; vomiting and diarrhoea are possible symptoms.[SUP][9][/SUP][SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP] Zinc is highly toxic in parrots and poisoning can often be fatal.[SUP][12]
[/SUP]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity

Of course, every metal connected to a coin is a potential risk, from the tarnish on silver coins, the copper in pennies, other alloys that are alien to human and animal nutrition.

 

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Looks very much like a cut and paste job.
Cutting and pasting of copyrighted material is a violation of CT rules.

 

If so I will summarize and paraphrase.

Your obedient servant....

 

Most metals can be toxic if they're converted into soluble form. Zinc is bad because it's quite reactive, and even very weak acids attack it.

The particularly nasty thing about copper-coated zinc is that it turns into a little battery, and that makes the zinc dissolve even more quickly than it otherwise would. So, instead of passing through the digestive system largely intact like most metal objects, a cent with scratches (or bite marks) can dump lots of zinc promptly into the gut and bloodstream.

Copper-coated zinc coinage isn't likely to kill millions, but it really is a remarkably stupid idea.

 

Who in his right mind is going to eat 425 pennies?

 

Zinc is actually necessary for human nutrition, but not in the metal forms (valence states) in coins.

 

From the Wikipedia Terms of Use:

So, just put this link in the original post, and everything's fine:

Zinc toxicity

In fact, having it present here in the thread is probably sufficient.

 

Actually, if it would stay in that valence state (0), it wouldn't have any effect. The problem is that stomach acid and galvanic activity oxidize it to +2, and make it soluble.

The dose makes the poison. In trace amounts, yes, zinc is necessary. In large amounts, it's toxic. The amount in one coin is "large" for a small animal, and well beyond "trace" even for an adult human.

 

I only have two words. Charles Darwin.


If you eat 400+ cents you kind of have it coming to you and the human race will be better off without you.

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Other risks here would be ingestion of post-64 dimes and quarters and even the pre-82 pennies. Nickels also are toxic. If the individual has an active digestive system with lots of HCL present in the stomach, those metals could enter solution and screw up the bloodstream with problem metals. As stated earlier, we do need zinc, copper, manganese, etc. in small quantities and in the right form. We do not need the metals in the form that coins provide!

 

DO NOT EAT COINS.:eating:

 

There is an eating disorder called Pica that causes the sufferer to compulsively eat non-food items. It is more commonly seen in children and women especially pregnant women. There was a story back in 2004 of a man who had consumed over 350 coins weighing over 5 kg.

Link to article with an interesting x-Ray. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3503967.stm

OK, I guess you could make the case that he wasn't in his right mind.

 

There's enough zinc in a single penny to kill a mammal less than 18lbs.

A penny doesn't stay in the stomach long and might pass through undigested. A penny without a damaged copper coating is safe to eat but about 20% have scratches or flaws in the coating.

Doctors and coroners do not routinely check for zinc poisoning because many don't even know pennies are made of zinc.

Pennies are less than worthless and many people throw them away. Pennies litter playgrounds, parks, and many places children and babies congregate.

No other coinage metal is likely to stay in the stomach long enough to get digested and is extremely toxic.

 

Also, it is going to be hard to get the toxic metals out of the body of the ingester. Folk remedy for heavy metal poisoning is regular consumption of eggs. The sulfur in the eggs chelates out the metals supposedly. I have also done hair analysis to find out which metals my body was throwing off; not 100% but may be useful especially if you have been exposed to mercury, cadmium, lead and metals indicated here. What was the heavy metal in Erin Brockavitch? Hexavalent chromium? Yet glucose tolerance chromium is needed in nutrition.

 

Hmmm. "Zinc Toxicity"?

"Even though zinc is an essential requirement for a healthy body, excess zinc can be harmful, and cause zinc toxicity."

Someone ingests 425 cents and folks blame "zinc toxicity"? It may have been the cause of death but I'm thinking "stupidity" was the more likely cause.

How many people in this country suffer from "Quarter Pounder with Cheese Toxicity"?
Or maybe "Too many Milkshakes Toxicity"? Or perhaps "Couch Potato Toxicity"?

 

duh!

 

Folks that routinely stick things in their mouths that hundreds of other folks have touched with their hands are prone to "routinely" picking up all sorts of maladies.

Wash your hands folks!
Eat only food folks!

Take some "responsibility" folks!

BTW, I have it on good authority that if you swallow a Morgan Dollar you stand a 99% probability of choking to death!

 

Anyone who eats a Kg of zinc probably isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.:bangg:
Even as a small child I knew enough not to eat coins - or drink bleach or stick my finger in an electric socket!

 

are you sure???

are you sure about that :devil: