Post by Sach-Crabministrator on Nov 18, 2012 15:48:14 GMT -5
A lot of people worry when we say to use playsand since it has that warning about causing cancer. I found an article that explains why/how.
www.non-toxickids.net/2008/05/safer-play-sand.html
The gist is that it comes from breathing the dust, so it really may not be good for kids, but when using it in the tanks, the only potential danger to us would be if we breathed in TONS of dust many times & for a long time. It isn't a danger to the crabs at all; for 2 main reasons.
-Crabs have no lungs; therefore no lung tissue to trap the fibers/crystals.
-The 2 "carcinogens" that are "known to be harmful" are natural and occur in nature! These are "silica" and asbestos.
Wikipedia defines asbestos as: "Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties." With the definition of 'silicate minerals' as:
"The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, constituting approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate group. Silicate minerals all contain silicon and oxygen."
And the definition of silica as: "The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica (from the Latin silex), is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO2. It has been known for its hardness since ancient times. Silica is most commonly found in nature as sand or quartz, as well as in the cell walls of diatoms."
This tells us that it is natural, it is in sand and where do crabs live & spend a great deal of their time, ladies & gentlemen? In sand.
So, in summation, if the sand itself was harmful to hermit crabs, I have no idea how they have survived since the Miocene Epoch; what a bizarre mystery
www.non-toxickids.net/2008/05/safer-play-sand.html
The gist is that it comes from breathing the dust, so it really may not be good for kids, but when using it in the tanks, the only potential danger to us would be if we breathed in TONS of dust many times & for a long time. It isn't a danger to the crabs at all; for 2 main reasons.
-Crabs have no lungs; therefore no lung tissue to trap the fibers/crystals.
-The 2 "carcinogens" that are "known to be harmful" are natural and occur in nature! These are "silica" and asbestos.
Wikipedia defines asbestos as: "Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties." With the definition of 'silicate minerals' as:
"The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, constituting approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate group. Silicate minerals all contain silicon and oxygen."
And the definition of silica as: "The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica (from the Latin silex), is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO2. It has been known for its hardness since ancient times. Silica is most commonly found in nature as sand or quartz, as well as in the cell walls of diatoms."
This tells us that it is natural, it is in sand and where do crabs live & spend a great deal of their time, ladies & gentlemen? In sand.
So, in summation, if the sand itself was harmful to hermit crabs, I have no idea how they have survived since the Miocene Epoch; what a bizarre mystery