[meteorite-list] Can Meteors Make You Ill?

From: Matthias Bärmann <majbaermann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:15:53 +0200
Message-ID: <000901c7fb1b$68967c90$0200a8c0_at_ibmtp23>

To cause this effect, please allow me to ask you, Kelly: how large is your
collection-piece of Murchison? And how do you keep it: in a containment, or
simply so? How would you characterize the smell exactly? Did the intensity
of smell depend on any other parameters such as temperature, humidity etc.?

My very best,

Matthias Baermann


----- Original Message -----
From: "fausta" <fausta at pacbell.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:46 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Can Meteors Make You Ill?


> 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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>
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Received on Wed 19 Sep 2007 08:15:53 PM PDT