I've used pencils (a soft leaded pencil as the harder ones are too light for me), crayons, black fountain pen ink, and now Sharpies. I'm sure someone can find something wrong with any of those but they have all worked for me. That's just the nature of any forum, someone can always find fault.
You can find about anything you want on the internet. Sometimes it is legitimate, sometimes not. This note came up from a search of Sharpie ink ingredients.
Ingredients
While most washable inks are water based and designed to break down easily, Sharpies use water-insoluble ink that contains Permachrome, a pigment used in ink for ink-jet printers, and xylene and toluene as binding agents to give the ink longevity. Xylene is a clear solvent used in paints and varnishes, and toluene is typically found in crude oil and gasoline. The chemicals are relatively safe in the small amounts used in Sharpie markers but can be toxic if inhaled in larger amounts.
Xylene and toluene are nasty ingredients but they do not concern me in this use. It's because of dosage. With practically anything (even arsenic to mention a commonly known poison) you have to have a minimum dosage for it to be a problem.
When you paint a room with a product containing xylene it can smell a lot. You may even get concentrations in the air that could be dangerous, especially with long term exposure. But when the paint dries and the room is aired out it is perfectly safe. Otherwise we would not paint rooms with paint containing this ingredient.
When you mark an egg with a Sharpie the ink very quickly dries. The volatile products quickly evaporate and go away. It's possible (I try to never say never or that anything is impossible) but I'd consider the amounts of the volatile materials that could penetrate into the egg whites and be absorbed by the developing embryo to be miniscule. I can't envision how a dosage that small could ever be a problem.
But that is just my opinion. If you are at all uncomfortable with using a Sharpie use something else. There is no need for you to be uncomfortable when you have options.
Good luck!
You can find about anything you want on the internet. Sometimes it is legitimate, sometimes not. This note came up from a search of Sharpie ink ingredients.
Ingredients
While most washable inks are water based and designed to break down easily, Sharpies use water-insoluble ink that contains Permachrome, a pigment used in ink for ink-jet printers, and xylene and toluene as binding agents to give the ink longevity. Xylene is a clear solvent used in paints and varnishes, and toluene is typically found in crude oil and gasoline. The chemicals are relatively safe in the small amounts used in Sharpie markers but can be toxic if inhaled in larger amounts.
Xylene and toluene are nasty ingredients but they do not concern me in this use. It's because of dosage. With practically anything (even arsenic to mention a commonly known poison) you have to have a minimum dosage for it to be a problem.
When you paint a room with a product containing xylene it can smell a lot. You may even get concentrations in the air that could be dangerous, especially with long term exposure. But when the paint dries and the room is aired out it is perfectly safe. Otherwise we would not paint rooms with paint containing this ingredient.
When you mark an egg with a Sharpie the ink very quickly dries. The volatile products quickly evaporate and go away. It's possible (I try to never say never or that anything is impossible) but I'd consider the amounts of the volatile materials that could penetrate into the egg whites and be absorbed by the developing embryo to be miniscule. I can't envision how a dosage that small could ever be a problem.
But that is just my opinion. If you are at all uncomfortable with using a Sharpie use something else. There is no need for you to be uncomfortable when you have options.
Good luck!
