Talcum Powder is Poisoness?!

During our lecture on drugs I discovered something very worrying!

One of the guys in the group made a comment along the lines of, "drugs are not even that dangerous, its mostly what they are cut with that are dangerous, like...talcum powder"

Immediately i turned to the person next to me and frantically asked, "Is talc poisoness?", but they didn't understand me. Maybe i was talking too fast!

When i was much younger I ATE TALCUM POWDER :-(

I remember being about three or four years old and for some unknown reason eating talcum powder. The third occasion i tasted talc it had an unpleasant perfumed taste, kind of like when you accidentally get hairspray in your mouth (!!!! that's surely ridiculously bad for me too!) THANK GOD FOR WHO EVER INVENTED PERFUMED TALC! I could still be eating it today.

After researching all the possible damage i caused myself (ovarian cancer, respiratory difficulties) I had to see if there was anybody else who had tried talc before. Little did i know that there is a whole community out there and even a name for their condition. It's called 'Pica', coming from the latin word for magpie - a bird that has a reputation for eating anything. http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/3432

So why did i eat it? I don't know! Apparently it is due to your body craving nutrients it is lacking, in particular iron, which in my case would make sense. It is embarrassing, i may have to take down the picture from my profile haha.

Not only has this class opened my eyes to the amount of bad people in the world doing 'bad' things, it has also taught me that talcum powder is likened to asbestos. I feel like i may as well go do a load of crack and try some of that stuff Gerry was talking about, because I have probably done more damage as a curious three year old than any of the above!