User blog comment:Deafro/Theory on Dust Manufacturing/@comment-4773581-20140112153919/@comment-16763585-20140112183347

I don't see how "relative stalemate" comes close to describing the current stand off between the Grimm and humans. From what we have seen the Grimm are worse than worthless against even the least experienced Hunters. As we saw with Juane you don't even need Dust, you can just cleave their head off with one good swing of a sword.

I wasn't saying either that the Dust is completely inert nor is it immune to cross contamination. I'm saying that like gunpowder it doesn't explode when left to the outside air, or left a few feet from the fireplace. It is still somewhat safe, at least safe enough to trust the average consumer with the stuff. The worst it might do in controlled doses is start a fire or cause a minor shock.

Dust only gets seriously dangerous when used in large quantities relative to the area its used in. Guns for example might use heat Dust to generate a large amount of heat into a small chamber of air, so as to push a metal bullet with enough velocity to travel large distances. As for testing the explosive capabilities, it is possible to trigger the substance from a distance, as we saw with Cinder in the first episode, and stay out of the blast range.