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General Climbing Discussion

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Cancerous chalk 13-Oct-2004 At 11:13:29 PM REXONASHAKEWELL

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INHALING ROCK DUST IS DEFINITELY A RISK FOR SILICOSIS, AND NOT RECCOMMENDED, BUT SILICOSIS IS DUE TO PROLONGED EXPOSURE AND ALTHOUGH I wouldn't advocate concentrating and inhaling rock dust, you see plenty of brickies etc inhaling shitloads of the stuff daily, not wearing masks for mucho reasons and not getting it. I doubt the amount of rock dust you inhale is even significant by comparison to a typical underground miner or a brickie. I personally would wear a mask.
as for the chalk debate Real chalk is mostly magnesium carbonate, probably with a bit of calcium carbonate depending on the source rock. Both these substances are not harmful and your body could quite easily dissolve them and transport them out of whereever it gets in. What I dont know is what and if weird and wonderful chemicals are added to the stuff to ensure it stays dry blah technology. Also there is a possibility that a small trace of the natural stuff is something else that is harmful, will look into it but only out of curiousity I wouldn't worry about, mostly these dusts at our exposure level are an eye risk as youv'e already mentioned no safety glasses bolting would probably be stupid.