[meteorite-list] Can Meteors Make You Ill?

From: fausta <fausta_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:46:39 -0800
Message-ID: <46F1C2EF.1020800_at_pacbell.net>

On a similar note I have a rather large piece of the Murchison
meteorite. It has some interesting qualities and a smell to it as well.
When I bought it some years ago my wife came into my office and asked me
what it was and if I would take it out of the house. I complied and
things were fine. Some months later I brought back in from work to my
home office and stuck in the safe. That night when she came home she
came in and asked me if I had brought that rock back into the house and
if I would please take it away. The stone really bothered her for some
reason and I am not kidding. I am not making any insinuations, just
saying it is strange.
Kelly

lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu wrote:
> Based on my vast experience, they can spawn zombies (and other similar
> things), carry invaders, and produce singing plants. I can always check my
> collection of bad and not so bad movies. Oh, you can also become a
> superhero, but if it is green, superheros need to beware.
>
> Larry
>
> On Wed, September 19, 2007 8:47 am, Ron Baalke wrote:
>
>
>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7002506.stm
>>
>>
>> BBC News
>> September 19, 2007
>>
>>
>> Q&A: Do meteors make you ill?
>> Hundreds of people in Peru have needed treatment after visiting the site
>> of what they believe is a meteorite crash. BBC News looks at the health
>> issues.
>>
>> What are the complaints?
>>
>>
>> The symptoms are varied - ranging from eye irritation to headaches,
>> dizziness and nausea. Several police officers who visited the site had to
>> be taken to hospital afterwards, and even a scientist wearing a mask at
>> the scene declared the fumes were so strong his throat and nose flared up.
>>
>>
>> What does a meteorite emit?
>>
>>
>> Meteorites do not in themselves let off any dangerous fumes. They can
>> however expose rotting organic matter, and the air can be filled with
>> methane, hydrogen sulphite and carbon dioxide.
>>
>> But there is some debate as to whether this is a meteorite - or indeed
>> an object from space - in the first place.
>>
>> Some scientists are suggesting that people may have witnessed a
>> fireball, set off to investigate, and found a lake of sedimentary deposit
>> that was already there. The biological process here could mean that the
>> kind of fumes listed above are also emitted.
>>
>> Can these really make people feel so ill?
>>
>>
>> Intense smells, even those that are not particularly toxic, can make
>> people feel poorly, while high levels of carbon dioxide mean people at the
>> site may not be getting enough oxygen.
>>
>> At a purely physiological level, walking some way with some trepidation
>> as to what one might find could well have an impact on the body and produce
>> feelings of nausea and dizziness, sensations which may be compounded by
>> the fact that other people say they are suffering from the same complaint.
>>
>>
>> So could mass hysteria play a role?
>>
>>
>> Symptoms could well be caused in part by what is known as a Mass
>> Sociogenic Illness (MSI).
>>
>>
>> There are countless examples of this through history and up to the
>> present day.
>>
>> Amid fears of a gas leak late last year for instance, dozens of British
>> pupils were taken to hospital with nausea and other symptoms. However no
>> gas or environmental cause was found, and doctors could establish nothing
>> wrong with the children. It was ascribed to mass hysteria.
>>
>> Meanwhile, the Belgian Coke scare of 1999 - when many said they fell
>> sick after drinking contaminated cans - was also said to be an example of
>> MSI when laboratory analysis showed levels of contamination were not
>> high enough to cause any of the illnesses reported.
>>
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>>
>
>
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Received on Wed 19 Sep 2007 08:46:39 PM PDT