Like many people, I probably come across an inordinate amount of silica gel packs. Those are those little packs that come with food, medicine, etc. And they are supposed to remove moisture. And yes, they all say “Do Not Eat”.
I have two questions: (a) What would happen if you actually ate one of them? Would you get sick? Would basically nothing happen at all? And, (b) Have there been documented cases of people actually eating them? I mean, why do they have to all say “Do Not Eat”? Has this ever really been a problem?
This thread is not a joke (obviously). I really wonder about this, alot in fact.
My dog once bit through one of those freeze/heat packs, and suffered no ill effects, except he left cum-stain-looking stains all over our expensive cashmere throw.
I assume you’re joking. But if you’re serious, please don’t! Yes, science must advance. But not in such a way that puts anyone at risk–even in just a small way:).
I used to work at a vet clinic, and one day somebody brought in a dog who ate one of the things. I think one of the vets or techs called a poison control center and was told that there was no need to worry whatsoever.
Because they come with stuff that people do eat, like food, medicine, etc. When something is packaged in the same space as stuff meant to go into your mouth, and isn’t obviously inedible like, say, a coffee measurer, it’s prudent to have a warning. It’s not too far out there to think that someone might take it for a promotional free sample of some foodstuff, or a “sneak preview” of a new form of the medicine.
Since the question has been answered, I’ll add that if you pop open a packet or three and put it in a glass, then add a little water, it makes popping sounds just like pop rocks and makes a 5 year old girl giggle like there’s no tomorrow.
(It won’t, however, make a nice gelatinous goo like I was hoping it would. We had to get out the superabsorbent crystals from the garden shed for that demonstration.)
My best guess is because they look, at first glance, like a salt packet.
It wouldn’t be improbable to have one of those things get separated from the product it originally came with, and end up in, say, your car’s glove box floating around with the pepper and ketchup packets saved from last week’s fast-food lunch. You might think it’s just another salt packet and put it on your fries!
This thread is rather disappointing. I rather hoped that the answer would be “all the water will be sucked instantly from your body and you will turn into a desiccated husk blowing tumbleweedlike around your home”.
Sorry. Also, eating alum will not cause your face to cave in around a puckered mouth, and vanishing cream is not what you hope it is.
(However, if you plan to rob a bank by stripping nude, slathering yourself in vanishing cream, and relying on the intimidation factor of a floating note and bag, I wish you the best of luck and representation. Especially if you are a lithe maiden and choose a bank with exceptional security cameras.)
Silica is also used in foods and in cosmetics. It is basically inert, and ingested, it passes straight through. However, airborne fine jagged crystals of silica can lodge in the lungs and cause irritation and damage, possibly leading (eventually) to lung cancer. Silicosis is a lung disease caused by long-term silica exposure.
When a lot younger, on encountering a sachet of silica gel in a camera or something, that’s the sort of “danger” I did imagine it to be. :eek: Then again, it could be quite an experience: perhaps one would be revitalised as soon as it rained.
