Yes and no. The stains are because the silver nitrate is reacting with the
organic materials your skin is made of. The actual toxicity of the silver
nitrate is pretty low. DO NOT GET IT YOUR EYES! The silver nitrate solution
can cause severe eye damage up to blindness. As soon as your hands are
exposed, wash them with salt and water, this will help with reducing the
stains. I would suggest that you should waer surgical or latex gloves when
dipping your wet plates. I have attached to this e-mail a MSDS for silver
nitrate that I sntached from the web.
Joe Portale
Tucson, AZ
At 11:26 AM 5/18/1998 -0400, you wrote:
>I was wondering if Silver Nitrate is damaging to ones health after repeated
>exposure to the skin? I have yet to wear gloves when doing wetplate work
>and always have black hands. Can the silver enter the bloodstream through
>your skin. I would like to know if anyone on the list has knowledge of this.
>
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