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Did you know nickel was named the 2008 Contact Allergen of the Year? I figured sorting was some kind of disease, but jeez...


http://nickelallergyinformation.typepad ... ed-20.html

I did not know until last year.

I handled 358,000 nickels with no ''protection''...so maybe I should practice safe sorting....

Seriously, in a coin format, no problem.

You guys are freakin hilarious!!! I LOVE this place...it has got to be the most informative forum of all times. You all come up with everyting there is to come up with and then some!

By the way, if anyone here finds they are allergic to nickel, don't spend another minute in agony. Box up those deadly pellets and send them to me for disposal.

This actually is not a joke thread. I have an allergy to copper coins. I am not sure if it is copper or zinc (it actually MAY be the grung on the coins, and allergens in that grung). I really think it is zinc, and more than that, the zinc's that are starting to really oxidize badly. Normally, it does not impact me too bad, BUT it is during a season where my hay fever is borderline, the pennies will really set me over the edge. However, since i have gotten into sorting pennies more aggressively, it has seemed to have somewhat abatee. The first couple days, if I would stick my face down by them, looking for dates (varieties), I could really feel the burn in my nose and eyes. But the more I have done this over the past few months, it seems to have gotten where they do not bother me, even though, right now is the very end of the ragweed season (my WORST hay fever factor).

But currently in the house, I have about 3k of coppers that I am about 1/2 done searching for varieties and about 600 in zincs that I am searching for varieties, and saving to do a penny floor. All are being kept in the house, and searching for varieties (putting my face down by them) does not seem to be a bad enough allergy trigger any more. Which would make the eyes, nose, throat erupt into symptoms. Yes, I still do know my body is not overly happy being that close to them or breathing whatever particulate, fumes or whatever is given off, but if it does not cause serious outward side effects, I really do not worry about it.

The one thing that was worse about this, vs pollen for me, is that quality antihistamine (clariton D-24), did not seem to help if it was the pennies that triggered the reaction. So I would just have to be miserable until it passed. Hopefully by forcing myself to be around this enough, I have forced my body to be able to deal with it.

But I agree with Morsecode, if someone can not handle these terrible things, they can clear them out of their house, box them up and send them to me, and I will take over all of the agony for them. It is the right thing to do. To take on their pain and agony and place it on my back

If you look at the link in the top post you'll see that gold was the 2001 Allergen of the Year. No mention of copper, though.

It makes sense. Copper can be rather gross.

Wheat allergies are pretty nasty too. IMO, most things on this planet you are going to find a small group that are allergic to.

Most metals are toxic (nevermind allergic) Some are lethal in small amounts. Really, there are only about eight elements that can be safely used as money in pure form.

Arguably, pure nickel is the best because it is the hardest and least likely to shed small amounts into the skin/bloodstream. Silver and copper are usually ok by themselves, but as soon as they react with other chemicals, you can get some really nasty compounds. IE: You can turn carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen into lethal compounds.

Anyone who has accidentally touched a silver coin tested with nitric acid, knows what it does to skin

Zinc pennies can be lethal to a dog.

My 11 yr old deva daughter cannot wear any cheap jewelry that is not sterling or better due to nickel allergy.

Proper nickel plated jewellry should be ok for most people with nickel allergies. Unless its right up against a newly pierced area there should be little to no absorption.

Its the improperly or unburnished jewellry that can sometimes cause a problem for some. There are many US nickels that are "unfinished" or unburnished nowadays (to save maybe 0.1 cents worth of cost) Its fairly easy to detect with a good eye, as it actually looks unfinished (not solid shiny) The side effect of using unfinshed silver is of course, blackening or blueing (looks like a big bruise).

If you want to be sure, you really can only use titanium or gold.

Everyone is "allergic" to zinc on one level or another - if you ingest too much it can be very bad or deadly - that's why dogs that eat pennies need them removed right away instead of just letting them pass through their bowels, or so I've been told. I think that's why the zinc pennies are copper-plated, to reduce peoples' exposure to the zinc.

AGgressive Metal wrote:Everyone is "allergic" to zinc on one level or another - if you ingest too much it can be very bad or deadly - that's why dogs that eat pennies need them removed right away instead of just letting them pass through their bowels, or so I've been told. I think that's why the zinc pennies are copper-plated, to reduce peoples' exposure to the zinc.

I think they would have done it anyway... for the same reason that they plate quarters and dimes in nickel.

I run/assist a galvanize coating sheet steel production line. Also, the same with a aluminize coating sheet steel production line. TONS of zinc dust. TONS of aluminum dust. And a few other nasty metals floating around.

But I'm allergic to WORK!

There is a tubal sterilization device called Essure that is made from nickel and the company has problems with women being allergic to it.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_new ... sure-coils

Nickel is a known carcinogen according to cancer.org. Click the following link:

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercaus ... arcinogens

Note that copper, gold and silver are not on any of the lists shown at this link.

I've read that nickel can cause lung cancer, irritation of the sinuses, birth defects, and sterility. Does anyone have any good information regarding the handling of nickels by coin collectors, cashiers, etc.? Also, US nickels are only 25% nickel (75% copper), so in theory they'd be a lot safer than Canadian pre-1982 nickels which were supposedly pure nickel. Does anyone have anything else to share about this?

Would it be good to wear gloves when handling large quantities of nickels? What about a small breathing mask like the type some people wear when mowing the lawn?

Assuming nickels are toxic, if you store them at home, would they be safer indoors at room temperature or in a garage or shed exposed to more extreme temps? Forget about the potential for theft. I'm thinking purely about safety here- from a health standpoint.

Also, I was at a coin dealer's shop recently. This is someone I've known for a good long time. When he saw me handling a large number of coins made of nickel which were in a special container, he asked "Are you planning on having any more kids?" He was only half kidding and we talked a bit about the toxic potential. He didn't give any warnings on copper, gold or silver- only nickel.

Normally I don't mind kidding around about certain things, but this is one time where I'd really like the responses to be of a serious nature. Thanks in advance!

To expand on earlier post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_tetracarbonyl

Probably the most dangerous compound of nickel. But then again, realize that carbon monoxide is also lethal, as are many carbon and hydrogen compounds, and you will never get "rid" of water (hydrogen) or carbon the basic building block of life.

It is almost impossible to determine every adverse chemical reaction that could possibly happen in a human body.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... omach.html

Eating too much bread is potentially lethal to this man, for instance.

Out of all elements on the periodic table though, the ones most suitable for everyday use as metal form money are gold, silver, nickel and copper. Zinc has some nasty compounds which is why it is rarely seen rubbing against skin as a coin, and aluminum has also been linked to some brain disorders (Yen and alzheimers) Its usually a reaction to hand acids or bleach that make them unsuitable as metal money (IE: Rhodium is nasty when exposed to bleach)

Platinum, palladium, Rhodium and Ruthenium are catalysts - and while not toxic in themselves, can create toxic substances just by "proximity" to other compounds, although they are more likely to create "friendly" substances with the most common airborne particles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_stainless_steel There are some surgeons that perfer a non nickel for surgical equipment, but there are downsides to using only chromium iron tools. That many surgical tools are 316, does say much about potential reactivity with the human body (that is - its a little bit overstated as a nickel allergen)

If a surgeon uses a nickel cromoly scalpel to do your heart transpant, I might be slightly worried about nickel allergens

BYW: Silver can never be used in a scalpel because of its physical properties, it traps too many particles and can never be cleaned at the level a nickel scalpel can. Which also means: Properly cleaned stainless steel is cleaner than silverware.

Hoard on!