Am I being paranoid or not?

[kannik]

I am not normally a worrier, because I KNOW that worrying never
changes the outcome of a situation.  However, thinking and writing
about this one MIGHT change something.  On this subject, I am
beginning to worry and I wondered what others thought.  This may
take several paragraphs.

When we started collecting stamps as a kid, we probably mostly
used DennisOn hinges, but didn`t stick in more than a few stamps
a day.  Now, however, we are using DennisOn and other hinges
and transferring large numbers of stamps from old crowded albums
(albi? - who ever used to have more than one anyway? to newer,
spacier Steiner or other albums.  All I`m saying is, we lick a LOT more
hinges than we used to, and some of the glue is old.

On two occasions this week, after licking 30-40 hinges the night
before, I have woken up in the morning with my tongue and lips feeling
and tasting "stampy" or minty on the left side only (I place hinges with
my right hand, so probably lick more to the left!).  I clean my teeth
thoroughly every night, so this mystifies me.  Now I have turned the art
of growing cysts and other things inside my body into a fine art, but
luckily they have been non-cancerous so far.  But I`ve had a tumor
removed from my left foot and now have nodules on a goiter on my
thyroid that I believe is making me cough explosively and embarrass-
ingly 10-12 times a day.  I haven`t yet researched what is IN these
nodules and cysts, but I suspect it is accumulated toxins I have absorbed.

Two Stamp Bears members have reported health problems that seemed
to be cancer and one was not cancer.  We all absorb lots of other 
toxins these days, and we are all exposed to different ones.  Recently
I read in a 1999 stamp forum that was still out there that the reason 
"they" have not replicated DennisOn stamp hinges (everyone seems to
agree that they are the best ever!) is because of U.S.Environmental
Protection Agency rules, which makes me wonder exactly what we have
been licking all these years.

For what it`s worth, I`m just advising you that I intend to find or get one
of those spongy things in a cup and let IT "lick" my hinges (whatever
brand they be, from now on!  Does anybody else have any ideas on 
this subject?  I didn`t like that residual feeling and taste in my mouth,
and suspect that it`s not doing me any good.  It`s still there an hour 
after waking up!

[Butterfly]

A wet Q tip is a method some people use, though I haven't tried it yet.
As for toxins in hinge glue, likely we will never know the full story.

[Philatarium]

I've heard about the wet Q-tip trick, and it seems like a good one. (A lot of people use too much moisture when affixing a mount or a hinge anyway, so this could help with that.)

I've also heard about the environmental reasons, too. I think it has more to do with how the gum was manufactured (I think it had to do with horses), rather than it being ingested by a consumer, but, still, it's probably better to err on the side of caution and use a damp Q-tip or even a slightly damp paper towel or sponge. You never know what you might be sensitive to.

(I have a friend who several years ago started losing motor control and becoming paralyzed. Long story short, after several years of suffering through this and with incorrect diagnoses, it turns out he had a sensitivity to a metal that was used for a tooth repair. The metal is considered safe by the FDA, etc., but he apparently has an allergy to it. It took a long time to figure this out, but, once the metal was removed from his mouth, he started getting better, and ended up making a full recovery. ... So you never know.)

-- Dave

[khj]

You're not paranoid, just appropriately cautious.

But in general, don't worry about licking hinges.  We'd have to eat about 10 bowls of Dennison hinges every day for 5 years before it would cause us any physical health problems.  That being said, I probably would not even eat one bowl of hinges if they were manufactured in Asia (I don't know of any).  If licking the hinges is leaving a residual taste in your mouth, I would suggest either gargling with warm salt water or drinking a carbonated beverage (e.g., cola) afterwards.  It is not beyond the realm of reality that your tongue or mouth cells are sensitive to something in the gum formula.  I know my tongue gets tingly after eating certain foods such as chocolate if I don't drink milk while or after eating the chocolate.

As far as I know, there is no truth to the statement regarding EPA rules foiling the attempt to recreate Dennison hinges.  I had followed the attempt by Mel fairly closely.  The original formula and original machine were used, but the results (Dennis's hinges) were nowhere as good as the original Dennison hinges.  The first run was fairly decent, and I was encouraged by the results to buy another batch later.  But the 2nd batch was not good, and my understanding was that it all went downhill after that.  It was clearly a manufacturing issue, not a formula issue.  It has been suggested that the problem was related to the thickness and application of the gum (based on studies of other brand hinges and their "removability". But the machine has been mothballed with no plans to try again, so I guess we won't know until Admin Bear buys the machine and gets it up and running again!

  k

[khj]

I think it has more to do with how the gum was manufactured (I think it had to do with horses), rather than it being ingested by a consumer

Yes, that has been the issue in the past. As well as allergy issues you mentioned.

Although most (not all) modern adhesives are now synthetic, in the not too distant past, glues were essentially protein colloid glues. And yeah, protein colloid glues are made from animals. Now you know where the phrase "send the old horse to the glue factory" came about.

Sorry if I ruined anybody's day. But from a chemical perspective, the protein colloid glues are probably a lot safer than the synthetic glues -- if you ignore the ick factor.

[JanetC]

I have been licking hinges as long as I can remember. Just since Christmas I have gone through almost 4000 and am buying several more packs today. I'm sure if they weren't safe to lick there would be a warning statement such as the one on my cigarettes, alcohol, etc. I use Supersafe which are tasteless but every once in a while after a full day of putting stamps in the albums I will notice a little tingling on my tongue but I just chalk it up to being TOO stampy.

I would suggest that if you don't feel safe licking them, then use the damp sponge or q-tip methods mentioned above.

[khj]

If you use the sponge or Q-tip method, make sure you let the hinge "air-dry" for about 5s. Over-wetting hinges is not an unusual problem, especially if you are not using thick album pages. Overwet your hinges, and your album pages may start getting a little wavy locally (I sometimes see this problem on home-made album pages), and you also run the risk of getting your unused stamps stuck down.

Also, dab -- don't wipe, when you wet the hinges. I do a lot of mailings, and one of the problems I've had training coworkers is that some of them like to wipe the envelope flaps with a cloth/sponge instead of dabbing. The envelope flaps start popping loose after a day because they wiped off half the gum with the sponge and I have to redo that batch personally.

[Philatarium]

May 29, 2014 11:02:07 GMT -5 khj said:

Although most (not all) modern adhesives are now synthetic, in the not too distant past, glues were essentially protein colloid glues. And yeah, protein colloid glues are made from animals. Now you know where the phrase "send the old horse to the glue factory" came about.

Sorry if I ruined anybody's day. But from a chemical perspective, the protein colloid glues are probably a lot safer than the synthetic glues -- if you ignore the ick factor.

And, as unpleasant a thought as that is, if anyone eats Jello, marshmallows, gummi bears, etc., then it's extremely likely they're consuming that kind of animal protein as well.  

Which is why vegans vegetarians won't consume those products, and why there's kosher gelatin available for sale, [edited to add:] so that the consumer can be assured that the animal protein is not derived from pigs (and presumably so that the animal's demise was performed according to kosher standards).

-- Dave

[Philatarium]

May 29, 2014 10:52:00 GMT -5 khj said:

As far as I know, there is no truth to the statement regarding EPA rules foiling the attempt to recreate Dennison hinges.

That may very well be true, k.  Because it seems like the gelatin manufacturing process would be impacted the same way.  (I know there is an ISO standard for gelatine manufacturing.)

[Gordon Lee]

Greetings Ms. kannik
.
If you have a problem licking hinges, yes, do use a swab or sponge. There's no need for a hobby to inversely affect one's health.
.
I've often pondered the other health related spectrum of hinges. I bet I have soaked off twenty pounds of those things from old stamps during my young life. I wonder what kind of germs are floating in the water while soaking stamps. There is no telling what kind of disease that a person could have had when they licked that hinge (or the glue on a stamp).
.
Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

[Craig]

I have no problem licking hinges and will continue to do so ... that is, until it starts worrying me. But it doesn't, so to each his own. I doubt I'll use a sponge or a Q-tip or a swab. It's just too messy for me, and I can't really control the moisture.

[kannik]

I`ve been using the sponge-in-a-bowl thingy -
my nearest dollar store actually HAD one!) today
and actually found that my stamp mounting
went FASTER than trying to use my fumble-fingers
for everything! I`ll try the Q-tips too, because
I have some, and you`re right about not getting
homemade pages too wet, though mine seem to dry
quite well.

Thanks for all your replies, Stamp Bears - we got
quite a discussion going there! Maybe there`ll
be some more, though we seem to have covered quite
a few bases including the most recent history of
DennisOn hinges! I have a line on some Supersafe
hinges through cbavier and will use those when
they come, but probably with the sponge or Q-tip
method.

Mister Lee, I trained at McGill as a librarian, and
while doing so had my hands on cuneiform tablets, ancient
manuscripts, dusty and probably disease-ridden tomes
from the 17th century - in fact, I own one of them.
So far, I haven`t gotten the Plague or any of the
diseases that attacked the Egyptians, so I think I`m
less concerned about them than I am about that glue!
I can STILL taste the stuff, and it`s a whole DAY
later!

By the way, my favourite discovery in the Rare Books
Department was a huge and beautiful book printed in
1493 (Liber Cronicarum, or Book of Chronicles, which
is a sort of history of the world from Biblical times
up to the end of the 15th century with all kinds of
woodcuts in it. There is a handwritten notation on
one page that says, "there are SOME people who believe
that the world is round!") I have spent many happy
hours with it - there are 15 copies in the U.S.A. I
believe, so there might be one near you! By the way,
it is in PERFECT condition, `way way better than some
of our books printed in the 1960s!

[kacyds]

Okay, after reading this thread, I see most members are concerned about the health affects of licking stamps, the animal protein vs. glue, the germs from soaking stamps and to either dab or swipe hinges.

Im personally not concern with any of that, I keep my refrigerator stocked with beer and make sure to drink a couple while hinging my stamps. By doing this, I will never have any issues with the above, hmmm maybe with the germs from soaking stamps.

But I have a solution for that, soak your stamps in beer.....

[darkormex]

kacyds, I agree with you...I prefer local brews to dip my hinges in.

[kannik]

That was a fun and informative discussion, fellow Stamp Bears!
However, I am, for the time being anyway, not either soaking
stamps or licking hinges as a new hobby has gripped me with
a different kind of glue - it is Doodling and Zentangle. I`m
having great fun learning new doodling patterns (some are quite
difficult) and creating new small works of art. I wish I could
show you some, but I never did get the hang of mounting photos
here on this site. There are a few on my Facebook wall, and they
are ALL OVER the Internet. P.S. My name is Rosemary Turpin if
you want to see them. BTW, if you do, please stop there and
say "hi" so that I know you`ve been! Thanks!