sandbox sand carcinogenic. where to buy safe sand locally ? help.

[Anonymous]

does anyone know where to buy safe sand for the sandbox locally?

I had no idea that sandbox sold at our toysrus is carcinogenic and it only has
a label warning when sold in california..

grr...

I found safesand site online but they charge arm and leg for shipping.

does anyone know where to buy safe sand that does not contain silica
locally?

help.

[Anonymous]

It is very hard to find. Most places have no idea what you are talking about if you call and ask.

We did a thorough search two years ago and couldn't find any. Being very protective parents, we paid for the shipping of the "safe sand." And then watched as our son dumped the overly expensive "gold" onto the ground. Then I realized we let him play in public sandboxes all the time. So now we just buy the regular sand (not saying you should, just saying it is what we did).

[Anonymous]

Can I ask a serious question? The risk of cancer from sand comes from studies of workers contracting silicosis from sandblasting, where abrasive sand is pounded at high speeds against a surface to be smoothed. It's listed as an occupational hazard. Do you think playing with sand in a sandbox is really a threat?

[Anonymous]

Beach sand has the same stuff in it. As a pp mentioned - the danger is when you inhale the sand "dust" that comes about when sandblasting.

[Anonymous]

If you've ever put 'white sand' in a sand box, you know that the dust comes off all over everything -- clothes, hands, everything. You don't have to be doing any sandblasting to be exposed to it. And for kids who put things in their mouths, this is a real risk. Try T. W. Perry on Connecticut ave in chevy chase. they sell plain old sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I ask a serious question? The risk of cancer from sand comes from studies of workers contracting silicosis from sandblasting, where abrasive sand is pounded at high speeds against a surface to be smoothed. It's listed as an occupational hazard. Do you think playing with sand in a sandbox is really a threat?

Thank you! We have a HUGE sandbox and just had sand delivered from a gravel yard in Lorton.

[Anonymous]

It's. Just. Sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's. Just. Sand.

yeah, regular sand is just sand. 'white' sand is sand that has been made pretty by adding something carcinogenic to it.

[Anonymous]

Good god! Is EVERYTHING out there potentially harmful or cancer causing? Now it's the sand in sandboxes? I think I'll just keep my child at home wrapped in bubble wrap until she's ready to go to college!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good god! Is EVERYTHING out there potentially harmful or cancer causing? Now it's the sand in sandboxes? I think I'll just keep my child at home wrapped in bubble wrap until she's ready to go to college!

Toss a few cigarettes in there with her to keep her busy. We all know the whackos who think they cause cancer are nothing more than a pain in the a$$.

[Anonymous]

actually the thing is that my child who has been playing in a new sand box filled with
sand purchased at the toys ur us loved to pur tons of water to it and made a mud..
I noticed the rash on the skin immediately after such play, at first thought of food allergies but since it happened on at least 5 occassions I had clear proof that it
was linked to tha type of play. once we stoped letting using water in the sand
situation stoped. ? suggestions?

my take on it is that it must have been associated with apparent use of pesticides and herbicides that they DO add to sand sold at toy stores.

also:

my child do love to sift the sand and throw it in the air in very wild manner, I see the
dust everywhere, air is filled with it and the cancer parte of the sand is about the little particles that get into the langs and stay there.. so I guess little of it is okay but how little of that is okay really? I mean really?

I ren a reaserach on google and found this whole site that sells sand for arm and leg but it is free of bad stuff and although I can't afford it it is intersteing in terms of information that they accumulated on hazard of sand. It is just hard to not marvel..


http://www.safesand.com/information.htm

[Lab]

Anonymous wrote:Good god! Is EVERYTHING out there potentially harmful or cancer causing?

Yes, just about everything, including Dove soap and Johnson's Baby Shampoo: http://www.wikicancer.org/page/The+list+of+carcinogens?t=anon . But take it all with a grain of salt (probably cancerous too!); as one toxicologist I know noted, "it's the dose that makes the difference!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good god! Is EVERYTHING out there potentially harmful or cancer causing? Now it's the sand in sandboxes? I think I'll just keep my child at home wrapped in bubble wrap until she's ready to go to college!

Toss a few cigarettes in there with her to keep her busy. We all know the whackos who think they cause cancer are nothing more than a pain in the a$$.

Wow! What bitch you are. I think the PP is just frustrated with everything we have to worry about these days. To imply that she's a whacko who doesn't believe serious health risk warnings is just plain mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's. Just. Sand.

yeah, regular sand is just sand. 'white' sand is sand that has been made pretty by adding something carcinogenic to it.

No. Most sand found inland contains silica, which is quartz. It is one of the most common minerals on earth, and it is not made to be carcinogenic. It is naturally occurring. And it is harmful if you breathe lots of silica dust over a long period of time. Eventually (say, if you are in the mining industry), you can get silicosis, or "tough lung". But your child is extremely unlikely to be breathing enough over their lifetime to encounter any negative effects unless they become miners or go into certain construction jobs.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read the study, but does the size of the sand particles have anything to do with the cancer-causing properties? I imagine that sandblasting would cause the particles of sand to be much finer than just sand from a sandbox, and that's where the risk comes from.