murray@src.dec.com (Hal Murray) (04/05/91)
An article I just read that described a high power hermetic package says that they didn't want to use Beryllium Odide because it is prohibited in some countries. Anybody know where or why? I know that Beryllium dust is very toxic, but I thought the oxide was safe.
mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (04/07/91)
RCA isolated-stud power SCR's include a beryllium oxide insulator, and the data sheet says these parts must be disposed of by burial. So it seems that someone thinks they're not nice to have around. The main hazard of beryllium is inhalation -- it causes a long and agonizing death as it eats away your lungs. This once gave me an idea for causing a drug scandal --> 1. Find an RCA SCR or a TriQuint logic chip or something else with BeO in it, 2. Remove the BeO and crush it to a fine white powder, 3. Buy a gram powder cocaine and mix the two together, and 4. Mail the mixture to the police and newspapers, along with an anonymous announcement that I'm a major cocaine dealer who has decided to leave the business and decided to kill off all the witnesses to cover my tracks, but now has had second thoughts and wants to warn everyone not to use that last kilo of coke I sold. Think of the turmoil that could cause! Coke addicts are paranoid enough to begin with, without the added burden of thinking they might have a 5-year time bomb in their lungs. The two big drawbacks to this plan are a) it might be hard to harvest the BeO and powder it in a totally safe manner and 2) it might be hard to prepare the mailings to the cops and media without leaving some sort of evidence like fingerprints. The clever part is that the media is perfectly primed to propagate a false story like this one. It dovetails perfectly with the War on Drugs mood afoot these days. I bet it would circulate in the press for months! All it needs as a final touch is some sort of link with Satanism!
onymouse@netcom.COM (John Debert) (04/07/91)
From article <1991Apr4.233623.27242@src.dec.com>, by murray@src.dec.com (Hal Murray): > > An article I just read that described a high power hermetic package > says that they didn't want to use Beryllium Odide because it is > prohibited in some countries. > > Anybody know where or why? > > I know that Beryllium dust is very toxic, but I thought the oxide was > safe. Beryllium ceramics (oxides) are very toxic and carcinogenic. They should never be ground or sanded and contact with the dust should be avoided. I've known people who have tried to grind beryllium ceramics (they are extremely hard) and have ended up in hospital for serious respiratory disorders soon afterward but I have heard of no deaths from it. However, the material available indicates that the dust is highly toxic. As far as where it is prohibited, I do not know. -- jd onymouse@netcom.COM