Blue Indicating Silica Beads, Cobalt Chloride, Cancer and Hearing Aids
There are many concerns by the public in general about the possibility of some food, chemical, or environmental factors that can cause us cancers. Blue silica gel indicator beads or cobalt chloride is one of the products that are considered a Class 2B carcinogen. They’re used for drying out your hearing aids at night while you sleep. We all know about those little packets of beads or desiccants that come with almost everything from electronics to vitamins that help keep them dry.
Just to be clear, there are two main agencies that determine if a product is carcinogenic. They are the IARC International Association for Research on Cancer and the NTP or US National Toxicology Program. Each organization has a slightly different determination of what a Class 2B carcinogen actually is. However they both agree that cobalt 2B is probably carcinogenic, while other research clearly shows it is carcinogenic.
A carcinogen is a substance that will lead toward the development of a cancer by causing changes to your DNA or genetic blueprint. Weather inherited or due to outside exposure or environmental factors. Nature and nurture are both at work here.
Carcinogens don’t cause cancer in every case. Some substances labeled as carcinogenic could have different levels of cancer causing potential. Some may only cause cancer after prolonged exposure at unsafe levels; like fumes from metals like cadmium, chromium or nickel for example. They can also have different latency periods. That means from the time of the exposure to the incidence of cancer.
Although laboratory studies alone cannot always predict if a substance will cause cancers in people, all the known human carcinogens that have been thoroughly tested, have also caused cancer in lab animals. In many cases, the carcinogens are first found to cause cancer in lab animals and are then found to cause cancer in people.
The most common uses of Cobalt Chloride 2B is in a type of desiccant named Blue Indicating Silica Gel. This product is in bead form and will turn from blue to pink when fully absorbed. This is one of the most widely used indicating desiccant products and poses health risks and strong environmental issues.
There are also indicator beads available today that reflect a trend in consumers who don’t want a class 2B determination. They are now using yellow or orange non toxic cobalt free silica indicating beads instead of the cobalt blue.
There are also blue cobalt 2B moisture indicating cards on the market that can tell you when a product you have contains a certain amount of water. They have three little dots on them that discern thirty, forty, or fifty percent moisture. Because of public demand, they are now also available in yellow or orange non toxic, cobalt free indicator cards.
Other uses for cobalt chloride is for making disappearing ink. The other is used for making T.R.U.E. tests. (Thin-layer Rapid Use Epicutaneous test.) A TRUE test is a patch used to determine if different allergens in the body can create a certain allergic reaction to compounds found in the body. Doctors can then advise their patients which compounds or chemicals to stay away from.
Researchers compare studies done on both animals, epidemiological (skin) samples, and studies of case histories. By combining the data from these different efforts, scientist can make an evaluation of the substances ability to be cancer causing or not.
The IARC’s bottom line is that blue indicator silica beads, Cobalt Chloride Class 2B, are “possibly carcinogenic.” They are third from the top.
- Group 1: Carcinogenic to humans
- Group 2A: Probably carcinogenic to humans
- Group 2B: Possibly carcinogenic to humans
- Group 3: Unclassifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans
- Group 4: Probably not carcinogenic to humans
However, the EPA Environmental Protection Agency places them second from the top of their list, and refer to them as “probably carcinogenic.” The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), an electronic database that contains information on the effects on human health from exposure to specific substances in the environment.
The EPA uses a rating system is similar to the one the IARC uses when describing the cancer-causing potential of a substance. Notice in their evaluation, the Class 2B carcinogen is second from the top.
- Group A: Carcinogenic to humans
- Group B: Likely to be carcinogenic to humans
- Group C: Suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential
- Group D: Inadequate information to assess carcinogenic potential
Group E: Not likely to be carcinogenic to humans
The IRAC goes on to say that Cobalt chloride 2B may not only be carcinogenic to humans, it is toxic to marine life and could cause many long term ill effects on the environment. Other hazardous effects include contact to the skin, eyes or lungs. It’s very corrosive. Other class 2B carcinogens are arsenic and lead, along with pickled vegetables, coconut and palm oil, and as of just recently, cell phones.
The 2B classification list goes on to include anti-perspirants, baby shampoo, hot dogs and bacon, talcum powder and alcohol. Now include DDT, chloroform and gas exhaust. Throughout the whole world 3.5% of all cancer deaths are directly attributable to alcohol consumption, a class 2B product.
Dr. Samuel Epstein, a world renowned expert toxicologist and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention coalition said the: “Lifelong use of these type of products… clearly poses major avoidable cancer risks to the great majority of the U.S. consumers, particularly in infants and young children.”
This may seem like a pretty weighty topic, especially when all you came here for was to read an article about cancer, hearing aids and silica gel beads. So, on a lighter note, just to keep some sense of balance here, coffee is also considered a class 2B carcinogen. But there’s a catch.
There is an ongoing debate over the health effects of coffee. There are different studies that show an increased risk of some cancers, and decreases in the risks for others. In the early nineties a study showed that drinking coffee increased your risk of bladder cancer. While another study demonstrated that more than two cups a day increases lung cancer by fourteen percent.
Yet a more recent study claims that drinking over six cups of joe a day reduces the possibility of prostate cancer by a huge sixty percent. That’s incredible! Presently green coffee beans are now being used as a weight loss drug. Just ask Dr. Oz.
Suffice to say that when shopping around for a container of some silica indicator beads to dry out your hearing aids with, be careful which one you purchase. As suggested earlier, many consumers are getting smarter about these things and making wiser choices as a result. I hope this help you make that more qualified decision.
