At 08:29 AM 4/23/00 -0400, Marion wrote:
>The report I received several days ago from the USDA is of great concern to
>me. If you read it you would be concerned also. There is no question that UVB
>releases free cyanide. If I sold food that had been brine soaked with a salt
>composition that contained sodium ferro cyanide I would look for a package
>that prevented UVB especially when the Department of Agriculture states that
>cyanide is released even under "shade" conditions.
I'm still not sure what the hazard is here.
The action of cyanide as a position is to act as ligand to haem iron,
reducing availability for oxygen binding. This will eventually result in
death, if enough iron is removed from the blood supply. (The LD50 for
sodium cyanide is 15 mg/kg.)
But sodium ferrocyanide is ALREADY bound to iron. This would ameliorate the
hazard present. The Merck Index confirms this by stating the strong bond
between the iron and the cyanide results in a 'low order of toxicity'.
Is there actually any REAL information that sodium ferrocyanide is capable
of presenting a health risk?
So far, all that has been presented simply indicates OSHA-related issues
for workers who handle this compound. (I.e., UVB and acids can release
cyanides, ashing at 435 C converts to sodium cyanide, etc.)
Is this discussion really about the word 'cyanide', or is there a real
health risk present?
================================================================
Robert A. LaBudde, PhD, PAS, Dpl. ACAFS e-mail: ral@lcfltd.com
Least Cost Formulations, Ltd. URL: http://lcfltd.com/
824 Timberlake Drive Tel: 757-467-0954
Virginia Beach, VA 23464-3239 Fax: 757-467-2947
"Vere scire est per causae scire"
================================================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Apr 23 2000 - 06:16:11 PDT