Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin Best answer on the web
health problems (three life threatening). Two men age 53 have MS.
One lady 45 has terminal cancer. Two more have brain clouding and
allergic reactions age 53 and 30. What we all have in common--- we
all have pencil lead in our bodies from child hood. We need medical
research on this or where we can go to get research. Also, we need chat rooms
to ask others who may have graphite lead in their skin for a long
period of time if they have related immune problems due to graphite in the skin.
Because they are 5 people you know, you are likely to have many things in common with each other.
Coincidences abound in this world, and this is bound to be one of them.
My step-father had the tip of a sharpened pencil break off in his arm. Over the next few years it migrated several inches up his arm before coming to a final resting point.
It seems like just about everybody has a bad childhood experience involving a sharp pencil.
I had a sharp pencil pierce my finger nail and 35 years later still see the small pencil tip under my index finger nail and I'm not sick in any great way (knock on wood).
I am hoping that by knowing that there are probably hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of children who are poked by pencils then you will begin to realize that 1) yes, there probably are some kind of binders put into pencil lead and that 2) they probably aren’t that toxic if a large portion of our population has be poked and show no serious immune problem signs.
Blessings,
OrbitalD
search - Google
key terms - graphite poisoning, long term studies graphite exposure, pencil puncture wounds, graphite +in +the environment, medical uses +for graphite, pencil lead composition, graphite +as +a carcinogen, long term effects +of graphite +in skin
It's human nature, however, to try to find an explanation for the kind of coincidence you are experiencing, and much of modern medicine has been built upon the study of common elements in the lives of people with similar symptoms. I encourage all of you to discuss your concerns with your own doctors; they may be willing to examine your lifestyles and histories for common elements.
No, pencil graphite has not changed in any significant way in the past 70 years in the United States.
The questioner is correct in part about dentistry but that is not due to the silver. There is rarely some lead in some tooth filling materials as well as a considerable amount mercury in amalgam which was very commonly used and that is potentially very dangers but neither has anything to do with graphite (carbon) pencil filler material.
Graphite is simply another crystalline form of carbon, very closely related to diamonds. There is no evidence in any of the toxicology books I have which indicate any significant danger from having graphite inside your body unless it was infected or unless you inhale it. Pure charcoal is a standard ingested treatment for some poisons, although the briquettes used in BBQs are not pure. The wood portion of the pencil is FAR more dangerous.
That said, I hope the questioner will go to a toxicologist, the medical specialty which looks at such things.
I certainly wish them the best of luck, but have very serious doubts that a tiny amount of graphite (I presume we are not talking about pounds?) would have any adverse impact on the health.
First of all, graphite is not lead. Graphite is a form of carbon and it is not poisonous. Even children chewing pencile graphite seldom have any symptoms. If they do, you will find information here: Website by Avera Health, page title is "pencil lead" - ( http://www.avera.org/adam/ency/article/002817.htm )
This next website is from the National Center for Emergency Medicine Informatics and covers pencil puncture wounds. The greatest long term danger is a permanent black tattoo which can be removed if you so desire. Page title is "pencil point puncture." - ( http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse1107.htm )
About the most hazardous 'common' use of graphite is by artists. "Inhalation of large amounts of graphite over a period of years can cause a benign pneumoconiosis..." This however has nothing to do with pencil tatoos in your skin and the small quantities of graphite found there. The quote used here comes from Health & Safety in the Arts - ( http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/paint3.html )
Exposure to graphite powder can also aggravate (but not the initial cause of) emphysema, asthma, and other respiratory problems. You will find information about that here in a 'safety data sheet' from the Henkel Locktite Corporation - ( http://www.loctite.com/datasheets/msds/76764.html ) Once again this has little to do with graphite tatoos in the skin. This material is being provided to let you know there are dangers and drawbacks to using graphite, but not in the sense of which you are asking.
This page from Wainbee Limited also posts the risks from graphite and the risks are from breathing dust and other exposures in quantity. PDF format, you will need an Acrobat Reader. ( http://www.wainbee.com/pdf/msds/gast_ab125b_ab992b.pdf ) If you don't have an Acrobat Reader, you may access the page here: ( http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:WSEVMyBXl6kC:www.wainbee.com/pdf/msds/gast_ab125b_ab992b.pdf+graphite+carcinogenic&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet )
This blurb about foreign objects under the skin is from the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital which is part of Stanford University. The webpage is titled "splinter or sliver." Once again, in most cases, the black dot left under the skin is only a tatoo rather than a lump of graphite. ( http://www.lpch.org/HealthLibrary/ParentCareTopics/SkinLocalizedSymptoms/SplinterorSliver.html )
As far as medical research on the long term exposure to graphite, as far as I can find, all such studies have been done related to the inhalation of graphite powder, the exposures to burned radioactive graphite from atomic reactors, and the uses of graphite in the diagnosis of disease and the detection of heavy metal poisoning. The last two may even involve the ingestion of graphite in order to properly work. I can find none which address the issue of pencil lead in the skin or any sources of any kind where any danger from graphite under the skin or any other "small" exposure presents any danger whatever.
The chat room part of the question is one that for your good as well as mine, I will let slide by. The reasoning is quite simple. First of all, most chat rooms require a registration and in many of those when you register, you wind up on somebody's "opt out" list and get a deluge of junk email. I certainly don't need it as a researcher and I don't think you would appreciate it either. The second and most important reason is that chat rooms are hardly a hotbed of accurate information, or even 'real' personalities in many cases. You may get into a discussion with someone who claimed to have a whole slew of problems caused by the black dots under their skin, and every word of it is made up. And when you consider that there is little or no evidence to be found about dangerous graphite tatoos, it may very likely be that most complaints based on the concept would be made up. If I were to answer your question by giving you a list of chat rooms, I would be undermining our dedication to providing well researched answers by sendin you off into a speculative "lala land" with no quality control whatever. I cannot in good faith do that.
I know this is not the answer you were looking for. I'm sure you were looking for information which would back up your theory regarding pencil lead spots and disease later in life. I cannot come up with that for you and I'm certainly not going to make something up in order to give the answer you were hoping for.
I do hope however that this answer 'does' ease your mind somewhat on at least one of the "possible" causes for the conditions your friends are suffering.
In fact I accidently stabbed myself in the arm with a pencil a couple of weeks ago. I'm not worried about the 'dot.' I'm just worried where all this self inflicted violence will lead. :) - (weak attempt at joke)
I think you can relax on this issue and begin to look for another common environmental possibility rather than pencil lead.
If I can clarify any part of my answer before you rate this question, please let me know.
Cheers
digsalot
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