Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is a salt with many varied uses. It is a single atom of calcium bonded to two chlorine atoms. Calcium chloride is not dangerous if ingested or injected properly; however, if it is utilized improperly it may become dangerous.
Common Uses
Calcium chloride can be utilized for a wide variety of functions such as melting ice, a cold weather concrete additive, highway stabilization, treating waste water and even for making cheese, beer and the brining process. As a food additive, calcium chloride is used as a firming agent, stabilizer, and thickener. Despite calcium chloride's many non-food uses it is still on the FDA's list of food additives that are "Generally Recognized as Safe," abbreviated as the GRAS list.
Safe as a Food Additive and If Injected Properly
Calcium chloride is recognized as safe by the FDA in quantities present in foods such as pickles, processed fruit, and cheese. Health care professionals may also utilize a 10 percent calcium chloride injection in the treatment of hypocalcemia, low serum levels of calcium in the blood, if a quick increase in plasma calcium is necessary. However, coming in contact with larger quantities of calcium chloride may become dangerous.
Contact with Calcium Chloride
The Material Safety Data Sheet, or MSDS, for calcium chloride details all the dangers associated with it. Contact with skin may cause irritation, which is more severe if the skin is wet, and possibly burns. Contact with the eyes may cause severe irritation and can cause transient corneal injury and burns. Inhaling calcium chloride can cause irritation, pain, inflammation and burns; while ingestion may cause digestive tract irritation, nausea, vomiting, and burns.
More Serious Dangers
Calcium chloride may damage the cardiovascular system by causing cardiac disturbances or a slow heartbeat. It may also affect behavior by causing seizures, as well as affecting metabolism, the blood, the brain and respiration. Damage to these organ systems may be delayed. Furthermore, if calcium chloride is improperly injected it may cause soft tissue and skin necrosis, or tissue death.
References
- Morris Chemicals INC.: Markets and Uses for Calcium Chloride
- FDA List of Food Additives that are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS); Sequestrants and Miscellaneous
- FAO/WHO Food Standards, CODEX alimentarius; GSFA Online, GSFA Provisions for Calcium chloride
- Material Safety Data Sheet; Calcium chloride, Anhydrous MSDS
- Drugs.com; Calcium Chloride
- "Surgery Today"; Skin necrosis after intravenous calcium chloride administration as a complication of parathyroidectomy for secondary hyperparathyroidism: report of four cases; Lin CY, et al.; 2007
Member Comments