The 1995 season of Seinfeld ended with the death of George鈥檚 fianc茅e. Poor Susan was poisoned. And it was all George鈥檚 fault. It seems the prospective groom had purchased the cheapest envelopes for wedding invitations and Susan was done in by licking hundreds of envelopes. The implication was that the glue was toxic and furthermore that the tragedy could have been avoided had George not been so tight. Apparently, more expensive envelopes would have been less toxic. Could this episode have been based on some real life event? Hardly.
The adhesives that are used on envelopes and stamps have very stringent safety requirements. That shouldn鈥檛 be surprising. After all, some of the stuff may be swallowed, so it has to be regulated as a food. Gum arabic from the acacia tree, dextrin from corn starch and the water-soluble resin, polyvinyl alcohol are the adhesives most commonly used. There are also additives for flexibility and spreading quality which include glycerin, corn syrup, various glycols, urea, sodium silicate and emulsified waxes. Preservatives such as sodium benzoate, quaternary ammonium compounds and phenols are also included. These substances may not taste great, but they are not poisons. In fact, cockroaches have been observed to survive on a diet that consisted of nothing but postage stamp glue for a long time.
If there is some concern about glues, it would be in the area of allergic reactions. Some people may have sensitivities to the adhesives used in carpet backing, particle board furniture or even artificial fingernails. The latter presents an interesting case, one that I鈥檓 quite familiar with. A friend of mine developed typical allergic symptoms, including watery eyes, runny nose and impaired breathing. Her allergist thought it was a reaction to pollen but when the symptoms got worse he decided to do submit her to battery of tests. She showed no reaction to any of the typical allergens. Frustrated, one day my friend was bemoaning her lot to an old acquaintance who immediately asked if she was wearing false fingernails. It seems she had experienced the same symptoms which disappeared when the nails were removed.
My friend rushed home, took off the nails, and you guessed it, by next morning the symptoms were gone! I got involved at this point and suggested that we needed a controlled experiment to confirm the suspicion. Being scientifically inclined, she was game for a proper investigation. When she put the nails back on, the symptoms returned. When the nails disappeared, so did the allergic reactions. The allergist now tested her for reaction to cyanoacrylate, the glue often used to paste on artificial fingernails. She reacted! Since then the allergist asks all patients who show up with mysterious allergies whether they are wearing artificial nails. Be they male or female!
Following a discussion of this bizarre sequence of events on the radio, I had a call from another lady with a remarkable story. It seems she had developed an allergy to acrylates when she was being fitted for an artificial tooth and experienced an allergic reaction later when she just walked by a nail salon! I鈥檓 not sure about the validity of this observation, but in the strange world of allergies anything may be possible.聽
There is one final connection with sculptured nails that merits discussion. The solvent used to remove them is usually acetonitrile. While it is safe if used properly, ingestion can be lethal. When it is metabolized in the body, cyanide is released. In one terrible incident, a sixteen-month-old child accidentally ingested about 15-30 mL of acetonitrile. His mother immediately called a poison control center but it seems there was a misunderstanding about the chemical involved. Somehow the information transmitted implied that nail polish remover, or acetone, had been swallowed. This is a less dangerous chemical and emergency measures were not taken. Unfortunately, the child was found dead in the morning, a victim of acetonitrile poisoning.
