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Q: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin ( Answered 4 out of 5 stars,   6 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
Category: Health > Conditions and Diseases
Asked by: gail-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 24 Aug 2002 18:52 PDT
Expires: 23 Sep 2002 18:52 PDT
Question ID: 58223
We need help immediately please.  Five people I know have serious
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.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
Answered By: digsalot-ga on 24 Aug 2002 21:04 PDT
Rated:4 out of 5 stars
 
Hello gail

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

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 24 Aug 2002 21:53 PDT
For your additional information:
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
gail-ga rated this answer:4 out of 5 stars
This is good information, however it doesn't resolve questions such as
chemical make up of pencil lead other than graphite, which might be
poison, or if each company producing pencil lead has their own
chemical make up with both soft and hard lead pencils.  Has pencil
lead changed in chemical make-up from 1960's to 2002.  We were putting
asbestos behind walls in schools. No one has really looked at long
term studies with pencil lead in the skin.  How about silver in your
teeth.  Many dentists now-- after looking away from this problem are
now replacing the silver believed possibly to be a link in bad health.
 One couldn't get poisoning from the skin just a few years ago, now we
use patches to deliver medicine.  Research companies need to look into
this further carbon and graphite in pencils are considered poison
according to digsalot-ga's research on website "avera".

Comments  
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: morris-ga on 24 Aug 2002 21:06 PDT
 
I've had a pencil lead (#2) in my hand since 3rd grade, over 30 years.
Still visible under the skin. Can't claim any health problems, haven't
even visted a doctor in at least 8 years, but I guess the latter
explains the former.
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: authorshelper-ga on 24 Aug 2002 23:08 PDT
 
Same here...a mean kid who shall remain nameless jabbed me in the leg
with his pencil twice when I was in the 7th grade (1969).  The
information Digsalot found for you is consistent with that I've
received from a few different doctors over the years.  In addition, my
health is great, while my closest pencil-lead-free family members
suffer from a variety of serious ailments, including disorders of the
immune system.  If I eventually become ill, I'll attribute it to bad
luck and genetics.

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.
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: siliconsamurai-ga on 25 Aug 2002 11:46 PDT
 
You still seem to be laboring under the misconception that there is
lead (the metal element Pb) in pencils, there is NO LEAD IN A LEAD
PENCIL, although many years ago there was lead in some of the paint
used on the outside of the wood so chewing a pencil was not a good
idea.

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.
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: robertskelton-ga on 25 Aug 2002 16:34 PDT
 
Me too! I've had a pencil tip embedded in my wrist for the last 25
years, and no problems have arisen, my health is close to perfect.

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.
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: expertlaw-ga on 25 Aug 2002 20:06 PDT
 
I have a tattoo on my face from when an emotionally disturbed kid in
my fifth grade class decided to stab me with a pencil. (It mostly
looks like a small mole.)

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.
Subject: Re: Health problems due to pencil lead (graghite) in the skin
From: orbitald-ga on 10 Jul 2003 12:14 PDT
 
Me too,

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

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