What Happens If You Eat A Silica Packet – What if you’ve eaten one of those ubiquitous little packets—in shoeboxes and vitamin containers, or with your new phone?
Will he kill you? (Also, why would anyone be inclined to eat something they find in a shoebox?)
What Happens If You Eat A Silica Packet
Admit it, you got a new pair of shoes today and couldn’t resist the temptation, right? It’s like the Ren & Stimpy scene where Stimpy can’t bear to press the big, red, shiny History Eraser button. We understand.
What Does A Silica Gel Do & What If A Silica Gel Packet Is Eaten?
This stuff is called silica gel, and it’s used as a desiccant, which is a fancy name for “desiccant” or “something that absorbs moisture.”
Silica gel is technically precipitated amorphous silica (chemical formula H2O3Si) — mainly porous granules made from the main constituents of sand and quartz.
When packaged in shoe boxes, vitamin bottles, electronic equipment and a variety of other goods, silica gel packets absorb moisture (up to 40 percent of their weight in water) when moisture and condensation would otherwise damage or mold the product.
It won’t kill you if you don’t play by the rules and decide to really take a bite out of that little packet of beads. In fact, if you haven’t eaten enough bags to wear Imelda Marcos’ entire shoe collection, you probably won’t even feel a thing.
Count, 1g Food Grade Silica Gel Packet
According to the Arizona Drug and Poison Information Center, “[Silica gel] is popular in part because, despite the warnings, it is harmless. Food is not digested, it passes through the body and comes out as it enters.’
But toxicity is not an issue. “Silica gel is considered chemically inert and non-toxic. The concern with this substance is that it can be a choking hazard,” the Illinois Poison Center writes, “If your child is choking on silica gel, call 911 immediately.”
However, this is not the end of the story. It should also be noted that silica gel contains colbaltium chloride (a carcinogen) or methyl iodide (a mutagenic and mitotic poison), which are sometimes used as moisture indicators because they change color in the presence of water.
Cobalt chloride is blue when dry and pink when wet. Methyl violet is orange when dry and green when wet.
I Was Going To Search What Happens When You Eat Silica Gel And That’s What I Found
Eating silica gel combined with any of these substances means it’s not a bad idea to call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 to be safe.
Silica gel is also sold as an aid to dried flowers for preservation and craft projects. You can even get a sample from museums that they use to maintain the correct relative humidity in exhibitions and buy it by the pound to humidify your home.
What else is it useful for? Silica gel is a “crystal” in some cat litter to absorb moisture and odor, such as Fresh Step Crystals or So Phresh Odor-Lock Crystal Litter Cat. As the ASPCA notes, if ingested by pets, “silica gel usually causes mild stomach upset, which usually has little or no treatment.
“Intestinal obstruction can occur if very large amounts are ingested, for example by swallowing several packets or biting into cat litter – especially in very small animals.”
What Would Really Happen If You Ate A Silica Gel Packet?
Simple silica gel, like silica, is used as an anti-caking agent in many foods, mainly to prevent salt granules from clumping in rocks and to keep powdered sugar in powder form.
Why does silica gel say DO NOT EAT on every tempting little packet? Because people are curious by nature? Because could it be mistaken for a packet of salt or pepper?
“Because surprisingly many people, especially children, mistake the packages for food,” says the Arizona Drug and Poison Information Center.
While this sounds great, “in 2009, according to the Association of American Poison Control Centers, nearly 38,000 people reported taking these packets. 34,000 of them are under 6 years old.
What Really Happens If You Accidentally Eat Silica Gel
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Uses For Silica Gel Packets
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It’s common to see someone yawn (even on TV). But how does it happen and why is yawning contagious? Throwing away small packages of beads wrapped in things like shoe boxes is now second nature. In addition, they belong to the dangerous category, they cannot be eaten and they can be thrown away. But what happens if someone accidentally swallows the beads? Children and pets constantly grab things that are not edible. How bad is it to eat silica gel beads?
According to the Illinois Poison Center, this is not an emergency, just caution. Silica gel is known as a desiccant, its purpose is to remove moisture and humidity from the environment. Because of this, it can dry out the stomach a little and cause nausea
How To Reuse Desiccants? L Moisture Absorbing Packaging Solutionpackaging Supplier
If the gel beads come into contact with the skin or eyes, they can have the same drying effect and cause irritation. Wash skin that has come into contact with silica and then apply lotion. If eye irritation occurs, flush with clean water for 15 minutes.
Silica gel packets have warnings because they are a choking hazard for small children. But after they enter the stomach, they pass through the digestive tract
. As always, call 911 if there are any signs of distress or if someone is choking.
Some entrepreneurs keep the packets and try to use the silicon for other purposes. With enough of them, you can dry a bathing suit or even bring a wet electronic device back to life. However, their ability to absorb moisture is limited and by the time they reach you with the original product, they may have served their purpose.
What Is Silica Gel Used For?
It’s best to follow the instructions and throw away these harmless little packets. And if someone accidentally swallows it, do not panic, monitor the situation and keep water on hand. I long for a tea bag with the forbidden “don’t eat”. If I pumped a little bit of it, would it really kill me? What are they hiding?!
If you know anything about silica gel, that mysterious substance in the little white packets thrown into shoe boxes and beef jerky bags, it’s probably a bad idea to eat it. Whoever makes the packaging makes a big fuss by printing “Do not eat” warnings on it in big, hideous letters.
But what if I don’t follow that advice and end up eating it anyway? Would I stop living? Will my organs explode? Would I reach a new level of consciousness and divulge a top secret state secret?
Cyrus Rangan, assistant medical director of the California Poison Control System (CPCS), tells me that silica is a major component of sand. In gel form, it can absorb up to 40 percent of its weight in moisture and has many small pores that absorb moisture in a closed container much lower. This makes silica gel an excellent tool for limiting mold growth, reducing spoilage, and preventing damage from excess moisture or condensation, so it can be found in many products.
What’s The Deal With Silica Gel? |
But despite the warnings, silica gel is practically harmless. Rangan compares swallowing a packet to eating a teaspoon of sand in the park. “Swallowing any foreign object can certainly cause nausea or upset stomach,” he says, but usually no more.
Mainly because silica gel poses a choking hazard for children who swallow the entire packet. Rangan also says that the FDA and CPSC recognize that it is very similar
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