Turns Out, Yes!

Ok, obviously I’m not telling you to do that. I will take no responsibility when you eat said silica packets and choke on the wrapper. I will take no responsibility when they stop up your stool production. And I will take no responsibility when you turn out to be the .01% of earth’s population allergic to silica.

Because if people can be allergic to vibrations, sunlight, exercise, money, sex, computers and water, then the offhand silica reaction seems kinda bush-league.

But according to Will Oremus and Slate, those cute little preservative packages that come in everything from shoes to beef jerky are mostly harmless. “Silica gel is a form of the naturally occurring mineral silicon dioxide, better known in its granular form as sand or in crystals as quartz.”

Yawn.

So it’s probably not surprising that a substance most known for it porousness – silica gel can “absorb up to 40% of its weight in water” – isn’t the handle-with-tongs poison you might have imagined. However, Oremus does note that some varieties of silica come covered in cobalt chloride which actually is toxic.

Again, just because this post is categorized under Food, Bittel Me This does not recommend ingesting silica gel. Desperate for diet advice? Here’s an oldie but a goodie: 

Silica gel image via http://www.alibaba.com