Re: Absorption of Beryllium Salts

[LIPTONW@detroitedison.com]

You asked: 
 
Greetings- 
 
Does anyone know if beryllium salts are readily absorbed/transported 
through intact and healthy human skin?  If so, please provide the 
reference.   
 
Thanks, 
Ron Reif 
rreif@doeal.gov 
505-845-5094 
 
Although I have no experience working with Be compounds, I looked it up in, 
"Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials, Sixth Edition", by N. Irving 
Sax (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984).  the entry for "Beryllium Comounds" states 
that these are primarily an inhalation hazard.  It also states, "Be compounds 
can enter the body through inhalation of the dusts and fumes and they may act 
locally on the skin.  Exposure to Be compounds encountered in the extraction 
of the metal or its oxide from the ore, particularly the halide salts, has 
been attended, in certain individuals, by the development of dermatitis of an 
edematous and papulovesicular type, chronic skin ulcers, rhinitis, 
nasopharyngitis, epistaxis, bronchitis and in severe cases, by the development 
of an acute pneumonitis, with cough, scanty sputum, low-grade fever, rales, 
dynpnea and substernal pain."  Treat this with caution, since this reference 
is old.   
 
The opinions expressed are strictly mine. 
It's not about dose, it's about trust. 
 
Bill Lipton 
liptonw@detroitedison.com