anthrax risk from treating skins (don't panic!)

[ferret]

Came across this article today following the death of a drum maker in London. Statistically there is only a small risk but better safe than sorry.

[UKRay]

Came across this article today following the death of a drum maker in London. Statistically there is only a small risk but better safe than sorry.

I had never given a thought to this before, Dave - but the key point is surely that the goat skins the guy is using are from imported from Africa where tanning methods may be a little less stringent than they are elsewhere. By the sound of things the skins harbour anthrax 'spores', possibly in the hair. My feelings are that western tanning techniques would almost certainly wash away most of the nasties and kill the rest with chemicals but I'd like to know more...

[Pip]

shoot, thats aweful. Anthrax what a terrible desease. I hope its an isolated case..... interesting point about tanning? Anthrax is a bacterial desease, but some bacteria can be tough little bu**ers, so hmmmm.

[Jordan]

Reminds me of a story on the net as to the origins of the term "Mad Hatter" apparently the chemicals used up until fairly modern times to make felting for hats was quite dangerous and had neurological and other severe side effects over a long period of exposure. Another tidbit from my overactive repository for pretty obscure information. It's a curse I tell you.

[whinewine]

Reminds me of a story on the net as to the origins of the term "Mad Hatter" apparently the chemicals used up until fairly modern times to make felting for hats was quite dangerous and had neurological and other severe side effects over a long period of exposure. Another tidbit from my overactive repository for pretty obscure information. It's a curse I tell you.

Mercury based chemicals, they were (I am also a repository of arcane {& often useless } 'stuff' in my head).

[celticleather]

Reminds me of a story on the net as to the origins of the term "Mad Hatter" apparently the chemicals used up until fairly modern times to make felting for hats was quite dangerous and had neurological and other severe side effects over a long period of exposure. Another tidbit from my overactive repository for pretty obscure information. It's a curse I tell you.

Okay - here's some more equally useless and arcane information. There are some schools of thought that say the term 'mad as a hatter' is a corruption of 'mad (furious) as an adder (a venomous snake)' The word 'adder' is itself a corruption of the Old Saxon word 'atter', meaning poisonous. There is some evidence that the phrase 'mad as a hatter' was in use before hat-making became recognised as a trade.

I was born in Luton in the UK, which was a centre of the hat-making industry until forty or fifty years ago, and I don't have any childhood memories of the place being populated by madmen (or women)!

However, if I'm being honest, I prefer the explanation that involves the use of mercury nitrate in felt hat-making.

That's my two-penn'orth!

[greg gomersall]

Hey Sam Who cloned Cliff.

[ferret]

I had never given a thought to this before, Dave - but the key point is surely that the goat skins the guy is using are from imported from Africa where tanning methods may be a little less stringent than they are elsewhere. By the sound of things the skins harbour anthrax 'spores', possibly in the hair. My feelings are that western tanning techniques would almost certainly wash away most of the nasties and kill the rest with chemicals but I'd like to know more...

Not so sure the skins are African, seem to recall someone getting something nasty from eastern european skins a while ago. With the massive loophole in the trades description act you can never be sure where stuff comes from.