Using Iodised Salt For Dptek

This page has been reviewed and passed by a member who is qualified to BS in Biochemistry, & student Ms in Pharmaceutical Science

Intro

For salt intended for human consumption, the presence and quantity of added iodine may depends geographically on the country of purchase, see Wiki page

If you're wondering if it's safe to use iodised salt for extractions the following represents the best information we currently have.

TLDR Summary

Iodine added to salt is not currently considered harmful or undesireable to the dptek process in any way.

Why is iodised salt not considered harmful?

In iodized salt, the iodine content is not in its elemental form, but rather exists as various salts, primarily potassium or sodium iodide. These salts are generally regarded as quite safe and are not considered acutely toxic
These salt forms of iodine are non-soluble in non-polar organic solvents such as naphtha/heptane/petroleum ether, and therefore would not be transferred to the end product crystals except in minute trace amounts
Even if the iodine salts were transferred to the end-product crystals, the boiling temperatures of these is typically well over 1000°C (the approximate melting point of mild steel), therefore it would be extremely unlikely to form any inhalable vapour. Any traces of iodine salts transferred to the end-product would simply remain as a residue. Concern of iodine vapour in our vapes is equivalent to worrying about chlorine gas originating from the sodium chloride of salt.
Iodine salts are considered essential for the diet, and are used in iodine dietry supplements and (at higher doses) for radiation treatment
For dptek1 using 200g of iodised salt, only ~9mg of this would typically be potassium iodide. For context, radiation treatment tablets typically contain ~130mg (adult dose) source, the minimum recommended daily intake for adults is 150µg source

Is Iodine Toxic?

Iodine toxicity is highly dependent upon the form of the iodine and dose.

Pure Elemental Iodine

Elemental Iodine may be harmful to humans in several ways

Vapour formed at a very low temperature (184°C)
The acute toxicity of iodine vapour by inhalation is high, and severely irritating to the irritating to the eyes, nose, and throat
Ingestion of 2 to 3 g of the elemental solid iodine may be fatal in humans (source), making it, by weight, far more toxic than the salt forms.

The main use for elemental iodine is in manufacturing other goods (pharmaceuticals, disinfectants, printing inks and dyes, catalysts, animal feed supplements, polarising filters for LCD displays) source. There is almost no domestic use for elemental iodine, it is not added to foodstuffs.

To Emphasise - elemental iodine is NOT added to salt, nor any other foodstuffs

Salt Forms Of Iodine

Properties

These are typically added to table salt for human consumption (source), and have very different properties to the elemental form. According to heathline, iodine is an essential component of our diet and adults should try to get at least 150μg and may consume upto 1.1mg daily without adverse affects. But this is not in elemental but salt forms. Iodine salts are also used in dietry supplements, typically potassium iodide or occasionally sodium iodide. A typical one-a-day of 400μg is shown in the pic.

Toxicity Of Iodine Salts

Oral acute toxicity of potassium iodide is low, reportedly over 3g/kilo bodyweight for a rat (source - section 11), with comparable figures applying to other common salt forms of iodine (potassium and sodium iodate, and sodium iodide). For potassium iodate where a human oral acute toxcity figure is estimated at 500.1 mg/kg, which equates to over 42g dosing for an 85kg adult.

Chemically, like most ionic compunds, iodine salts are soluble in water but non-soluble in the organic solvents specified for dptek (naphtha/heptane/petroleum-ether), so it's extremely unlikely that there would be any present in the end-product crystals except in minute trace quantities.

Iodine dietry supplement

But even if iodine salts did defy the impossible and end up in measureable quantities the end-product, it would be almost impossible for them to form vapour. Typical melting points of over 600°C and boiling points at way over 1000°C for iodine salts means that production of breathable vapour is extremely unlikely and for this to reach the lungs is practically impossible.

So if vapour from iodine salts is not an issue, then what about potentially harmful effects of absorption of iodine salts through the lungs and other tissues?

In USA, iodised salt contains 45μg of iodine per 1g of salt (source) salt. For dptek1 using ~200g of salt, this would typically translate to 45μg x 200 = 9mg of typically potassium iodide. As stated previously, owing to the insolubility in our solvents, only minute trace quantities would be present in our end-product crystals.

Taking Into Context

Imagine an hypothetical & impossible situation where ALL of the 9mg of iodide salt was transferred to our end-product, and (just as impossible) it ALL ended up in our lungs and was ALL absorbed into our bodies, even this only equates to 180μg of iodine salts for a 20mg vapourised dose of end-product crystals - which is coincidently very close to our minimum recommended daily amount of 150μg for a healthy diet.

The conclusion is that iodised salt is in no way harmful if used in a DpTek extraction.

Iodine tablets for radiation treatment