Originally Posted by dabac

Where did you hear that?

Asked a biochemist friend. Said she’d never heard about it when used as a cleaner.
Oxalic acid - when consumed - can react with calcium ions in the blood and form calcium oxalate kidney stones. This can be bad news if you’re in the habit of bingeing on rhubarbs.
But even those are merely described as ”slow to dissolve”.
Looked up an industrial cleaner based on oxalic acid.
The Safety Data Sheet on that said explicitly that ”it degrades easily”, and ”bioaccumulation unlikely”.
While the SDS prescribed gloves for working with the industrial strength stuff, occasional exposure didn’t merit any sterner warning than ”wash hands prior to having a meal”.

Originally Posted by nlerner

Tom, I’m sure you were exposed to far more carcinogens living in New Jersey than from the consequence of a sniff of oxalic acid.