[TheForge] ( bronze "silverware"

[James Binnion]

FWIW
Copper is an essential element for human health. Excessive amounts can  
cause problems but current thoughts on this are excessive amounts are  
in the 10-12 mg per day range. That is a lot of copper to get from  
cookware or utensils.  You would have to probably get a hold of copper  
sulfate or copper nitrate solutions and drink them to get that kind of  
dose. If you put the utensils in a strong acid for a while and drank  
the result you could dissolve enough to be a problem but weak acids  
like are found in food are just not going to dissolve enough to be a  
problem without really going out of your way to set up a toxic dose.

see http://www.copperinfo.co.uk/health/

James Binnion
jbin at well.com