The world of metals has me pulling my hair from its roots. There are so many different alloys, mixtures, strengths, purities, properties, and toxicity variables that choosing the 'right' one is a painstaking and convoluted endeavor.
Recently looking into platinum, after foraging through hundreds of pages of journals, reports, tests, articles, and personal experiences, I thought I had stumbled upon a good safe alloy in 95% Platinum 5% Ruthenium mix, only to find an obscure article by Jurgen Maerz (the godfather of platinum-smithing), which I am sure 99.999999% of jewelers don't even know exists, where he states that when exposed to the oxygen during heating will form Ruthenium Oxide which is not only toxic to humans, it creates a mutagen that will attack and change the DNA structure of our cells! Ruthenium in the blood stream mimics Iron, and our bodies will naturally bond it to our cells, and most prominently in our bones and bone marrow where it will remain for the remainder of our lifetimes.
'All ruthenium compounds should be regarded as highly toxic and as carcinogenic. Compounds of ruthenium stain the skin very strongly. It seems that ingested ruthenium is retained strongly in bones. Ruthenium oxide, RuO4, is highly toxic and volatile, and to be avoided.' http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/ru.htm)
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