Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,
Brand new to aquaponics. I bought my media from the local Lowes. Its a big bag of Pea Gravel.
I was reading the warning labels on the bag:
"may cause cancer"
"keep away from children"
"contains crystalline sillica"

The may cause cancer part worried me. Is this something to worry about?

Cheers,
Tim

Crystalline sillica is pretty common dust/airbourne product with a range of rock metarials. The warning will be refering to silicosis which is the result of inhaling silica dust. Its common in the mining industry and in very advanced cases there is the possibility of lung cancer although it is quite rare.

Wet down the media and you will be safe.

Agreed with charlie, this also applies to a lot of potting mixes as well. Best thing is when it comes to dust, use a dust mask and/or wet the product down and you should be safe.

Awesome, thanks guys.

I have thought about moving out of California because everything causes cancer here... It does not seem to be a problem in Nevada, Arizona, Washington... On a serious note, there are soo many warning labels here that it becomes easy to ignore them. How can we rationally gauge the risk when literally everything other than GMO crops have warning labels on them?

Surprised it didn't also say may contain peanuts and don't put the bag it comes in over over your head.

Contains small parts, keep away from children.

Do not use bag as a child storage device.

Excuse me? Where else are you supposed to store children?

In a cupboard... under the stairs...

Do not eat the gravel LOL

Unless of course you have a gizzard, then go ahead and eat the gravel...