GEM POISON WARNING - REALGAR / ORPIMENT, Do not Expose to Light!, + SILICOSIS Experiment, Safety

CORRECTION!: Back in the old rockhound days it was commonly believed that Realgar would degrade/transform into Orpiment, but it has more recently been studied and identified as a separate sulfide. With this correction in place now, I still present this film, now referring to them as "associated minerals". REALGAR actually becomes PARAREALGAR, not ORPIMENT. Very good work, observant Rockhounds! I stand corrected/updated. These examples still serve us well as examples of poisonous lapidary Sulfide and Arsenide materials you may someday come across in your Rockhounding, and as eye training for dangerous materials.
DO NOT EXPOSE TO LIGHT!
Poisonous Gemstones
Realgar/Orpiment
First health consideration when cutting rock
Silicosis

All of you guys have convinced me to focus on this important subject, so for the next few episodes we will focus on some potential dangers that I had to learn, every one of them by myself the hard way. For some reason people rarely talk about this necessary wisdom. I was going to just mention these perils over time, but now it only makes sense to tell EVERYBODY about the potential dangers of the Lapidary and Rock cutting right away. There are certain minerals that have some dangerous aspect that you wouldn't even suspect. I'll bet there are some people who will be surprised at what's already in their collection. I thought we were going to move right into some of the shiniest gemstones out there, but for now, the original agenda will have to wait. THANKS EVERYBODY FOR MAKING THIS SO FUN!!