- Aug 11, 2023
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So many of us have probably gotten tired of news about wars, so let's discuss books. A French library found out that some books in the collection, specifically a few from the 1800s were laced with arsenic, a toxic metalloid (partial metal with nonmetal properties, arsenic Wiki Link). Who knew that reading can be sometimes be deadly (being facetious here). Article link: French national library quarantines books believed to be laced with arsenic
Short summary of the open-access article by The Guardian (<20% in length, for fair usage reasons):
The French National Library in Paris has removed four 19th-century books from its shelves due to concerns that their emerald green covers may contain arsenic. The library plans to send these books to an external laboratory for further analysis, following the discovery by US researchers that publishers in the Victorian era used arsenic to color book bindings. The Poison Book Project at the University of Delaware has identified over 200 potentially dangerous volumes containing arsenic-laced green pigments, and four such books were found in the National Library of France's collection. The World Health Organization advises against long-term exposure to arsenic through water and food, but there is no mention of contact with objects containing it. The Poison Book Project cautions that handling arsenic-laced green bindings could pose a health risk to library staff and researchers. (Author: Agence France-Presse, Publishing Date: April 25, 2024)
Short summary of the open-access article by The Guardian (<20% in length, for fair usage reasons):
The French National Library in Paris has removed four 19th-century books from its shelves due to concerns that their emerald green covers may contain arsenic. The library plans to send these books to an external laboratory for further analysis, following the discovery by US researchers that publishers in the Victorian era used arsenic to color book bindings. The Poison Book Project at the University of Delaware has identified over 200 potentially dangerous volumes containing arsenic-laced green pigments, and four such books were found in the National Library of France's collection. The World Health Organization advises against long-term exposure to arsenic through water and food, but there is no mention of contact with objects containing it. The Poison Book Project cautions that handling arsenic-laced green bindings could pose a health risk to library staff and researchers. (Author: Agence France-Presse, Publishing Date: April 25, 2024)
