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So after getting a face full of static grass I began to wonder. Should I be inhaling this?

A general internet search also revealed little. I found one page where someone else asked if it was dangerous and just had a string of people saying "don't snort it" and another was just about how someone was wiring his home made static grass applicator wrong. Just about all other pages were sites selling the blasted stuff.


Any help Dakka?

Well, as a general rule you shouldn't be inhaling anything other than air.. I don't imagine you're going to be throwing fistfuls of it into your face on a daily basis, so I'd say just try not to do it again and don't worry about one time...

I'm sure nothing in static grass is toxic. However, particles of anything is very bad for your lungs. But by very bad, I mean you shouldn't be inhaling it for months or years at a time. One incident isn't a huge concern.

Should breathe in static grass? No.

That said the cilia in your lungs should pull any of that forward and you’ll spit it out or swallow it. Stuff like resin dust is a much bigger concern because the particles are so small they get deep enough into your lungs that the natural action of the cilia won’t pull it out. The tiniest passages of your lungs are where oxygen is transferred to red blood cells and CO2 is absorbed so you absolutely don’t want stuff down there to block that action.

Isn't static grass similar to glass fiber strands?

Even if they are synthetic they will still harm your lungs

 Grey Templar wrote:
I'm sure nothing in static grass is toxic. However, particles of anything is very bad for your lungs. But by very bad, I mean you shouldn't be inhaling it for months or years at a time. One incident isn't a huge concern.

Unless it is asbestos. Never feth around with asbestos


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Snrub wrote:
So after getting a face full of static grass I began to wonder. Should I be inhaling this?

A general internet search also revealed little. I found one page where someone else asked if it was dangerous and just had a string of people saying "don't snort it" and another was just about how someone was wiring his home made static grass applicator wrong. Just about all other pages were sites selling the blasted stuff.


Any help Dakka?

You'll most likely be perfectly fine, though may end up having a bonding moment with cats if you start coughing up grassy hairballs

You could google the material your grass is made of. If it’s actual plant fibres, you’re just taking a bit of dye into your system, you’ll be fine.

Same with a polyester fibre... chances are if you wear clothes, then at some point you’ve inhaled trace amounts of polyester fibres.

I believe that at one point, maybe even still, cigarette filters were basically compressed fibreglass. So, that wouldn’t be *good* for you, but you probably won’t have any actual harm from it, even if the static grass is made from glass fibre... which I would very strongly doubt.

Overall, unless you start coughing up blood, you’re probably ok.

 greatbigtree wrote:
You could google the material your grass is made of. If it’s actual plant fibres, you’re just taking a bit of dye into your system, you’ll be fine.

Same with a polyester fibre... chances are if you wear clothes, then at some point you’ve inhaled trace amounts of polyester fibres.

A quick google seemed to indicate that static grass is often polyester, nylon and/or rayon. So, manmade fibres which can hold a static charge.

Yeah, I had a feeling. I wouldn't be concerned, OP. Our clothes-dryer has a removeable lint trap, and I probably suck in as much fibres as you did every time I do the laundry... which is quite a bit as we have a small washer... and I do the laundry for 4 people.

I *rarely* cough up blood (probably more fair to say I can't recall ever coughing up blood). And I weld, smoke, breath dust, and do laundry.

No, it’s the wrong type of grass to be inhaling

Dice4thedicegod wrote:
No, it’s the wrong type of grass to be inhaling

Touche.

Thank you everyone for the replies!

Just for the record, I was/am aware that a lung full of foreign debris of any sort isn't good for the lungs. It was more a case of I wasn't sure if it was like a resin dust situation, were you really don't want to be sucking it in and should probably be wearing a mask of some sort.
My thoughts were that it may have been made of fibreglass particles rather then something like nylon/rayon/etc. (Which thanks to Malus for confirming that)

It's a little frustrating to work with though. As soon as you go to to pull some out of the tub it just starts to billow everywhere. After ten minutes of working with it i've got great clouds of the stuff enveloping me. Might just set up a fan to blow it straight out the window in the future.