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Metal in Pills/Tablets

Gaz_hmmmm

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Messages
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I know titanium oxide (Dioxide?) is sometimes added to some pills/tablets.

Anyway I was wondering, since there's lots of online pharmacys, can pills/tabs with such a small amount of metal in them be detected by metal detectors? :\

No, I'm not a drugs smugglers, I was just thinking about this the other day.

Another example, say you're anemic and have iron tablets, would they set off a metal detector? :\
 
the TiO2 (a white pigment) doesn't contain titanium in metallic form, so it won't set off a metal detector. Not sure about iron tablets though as I don't know what form the iron is in. I doubt it's just a chunk of solid metallic Fe so I'd guess no :)
 
^ Ferrous (iron II) sulphate - the body can't use iron in the ferric (iron III) form & swallowing iron filings isn't a good idea at all
 
hahahaaaaaaa f&B,your sense of humour is spot on !serious point ,is there certain metals which could be added to pills [illiegal]which have a negative impact on the body especially the liver&kidneys???Have been detected???
 
There's a shit load of toxic metals eg thallium as well as your more common or garden heavy metal toxins like lead. It doesn't even have to be put in deliberately... Should someone decide to (clandestinely) manufacture a drug, but want to avoid the common reducing agents in order to stay under the radar, they could end up using something like sodium amalgam (an alloy of sodium & mercury) for the purpose. Once you're doing something like that, there's always the possibility that your final product could be contaminated with a mercury containing compound...
 
fastandbulbous said:
^ Ferrous (iron II) sulphate - the body can't use iron in the ferric (iron III) form & swallowing iron filings isn't a good idea at all

A lot of breakfast cereals contain small particles of metallic iron - try crushing some up and running a magnet through it, you'll be surprised!

Maybe this is just an accident from adding whatever usable form of iron they add?
 
^ Well I think that'll be todays 'irritate the wife' project ('you can't have the Weetabix until I've checked it with a magnet'!)
 
Not sure if Weetabix has the iron. Try one of those that says "Fortified with vitamins and iron" on the box. Though it'll still be funny to crush up her Weetabix =D
 
i love weetabix, i just recently found a place that sells it here across the pond.
 
this should be moved to best of bluelight
this is one of those "can you fax acid"-like threads.
:):)
 
^ Eh? If you're a bit unsure about the chemistry involved, it's a valid question (though not exactly advanced!)
 
If you are looking for a cereal that will do the magic iron filings trick, cheerios work really well... and it is a bit wierd to crunch up a box and get enough of it out to make a nail, but it works.

I remember doing this as a kid in an elementary science class (demo regarding mixtures and solutions, homogenous/non, etc)
 
hahah i love how hes asking about pills and now were talking about cereal.
 
fastandbulbous said:
^ Eh? If you're a bit unsure about the chemistry involved, it's a valid question (though not exactly advanced!)

i didnt say its invalid or something, its just funny;)
 
Gaz_hmmmm said:
I know titanium oxide (Dioxide?) is sometimes added to some pills/tablets.

Anyway I was wondering, since there's lots of online pharmacys, can pills/tabs with such a small amount of metal in them be detected by metal detectors? :\

No, I'm not a drugs smugglers, I was just thinking about this the other day.

Another example, say you're anemic and have iron tablets, would they set off a metal detector? :\
The answer is NO.
 
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