muffin,
I have used KMNO4 for years (I'm a pharmacist) and the secret to safety is
to get it into solution as quickly as possible. It is still not harmless in
solution, but it is much more dangerous in the dry form. Of course you
still have to be careful of your eyes and skin.

don cunningham

"*muffin*" wrote in message
...
anyone watch Tremors last night in sci-fi??

well one guy was poisoning the 'poor' graboid with small amounts of PP. &
IT
finally ate him with the guys pockets FULL of the stuff ( which made him
the graboid pretty sick, & they had to make him an antidote).. anyway,,
Bert was nearby when he said the guy went 'down ' in a cloud of purple
*dust* , which meant the stuff was whhoooffff all over!!

now,, from reading on HERE how horrific this stuff is , if you use it
wrong,, (one small amount astray can blind you, or mess up your
respiratory
system), they sure didn't have any comments to THAT problem. I figure
anyone
nearby , by now, should be in a hospital!!(ok, it was TV),,

I am thinking,,, about all the people who might use the stuff for some
'homemade bombs' , or whatever,, like they alluded to. (after watching the
show) hmmm.

oh, btw, after I had such a problem finding the stuff previously,, I walk
into my feed store, & its on the shelf ( in a pretty BIG container) with
all
the other pond stuff( for algae etc).. I read the pkg, & it didn't give
any
'real big' warnings about the stuff.

I used this stuff 20 years ago,, & I know I didn't take precautions with
it.. just poured it in a container OUTSIDE to mix it, I'm sure lots of
dust went flyin' around.. even last month , I hadn't read all the hazards
about it, & took a small amount out (with a Popsicle stick) to mix in an
empty water bottle to add to my quarantine tank. I KNOW I wasn't that
careful, as I found when I was wiping up, lots of little purple 'dots' on
the table. #yikes#. PLUS little brown dots on my hands. Now after
reading
all the stuff, I'm afraid to open the thing up without a hazmatsuit on! (
which I can readily get from my hubby, since the company he works for has
these things for the guys who paint the bridges........)

ok,,, I know,, rambling, but maybe someone hasn't heard of all the stuff
that can happen (like blindness, etc) with this stuff. When I bought it
from the pond place ,, NO precautions were on the bottle.