In safety training at a university, we were instructed that if we were exposed to aqueous HF, we were to immediately slather on calcium gluconate on the burn area, grab an HF MSDS, and demand that the ambulance take us to a specific Level 1 trauma center and insist that the physicians understand that we were exposed to HF and not some generic acid.
I don't know the precise mechanism for toxicity (I thought it was hypocalcemia), but if the tradionally safety-lax academia takes HF that seriously, you know it's the real deal.
Yep, I got the same lecture, I was specifically asking about mechanism because the explanation we were given was "eats your bones" which is patently ridiculous.
Your bones are constantly remodeled, as part of calcium regulation in the body. HF, interfering with that remodeling, may give the appearance of it "eating your bones".
As a mechanism for chronic toxicity? Sure. As a mechanism for acute toxicity? Not a chance.
The "slap on some calgonate and rush to the hospital" protocol (of which you were quick to remind us) was justified by way of the acute toxicity (to me, anyway), not prevention of chronic toxicity, so my remark stands.
I don't know the precise mechanism for toxicity (I thought it was hypocalcemia), but if the tradionally safety-lax academia takes HF that seriously, you know it's the real deal.