Document 993Y6ZeOOzpYwm8G9ymk8JpR5

FILE NAME Monsanto MON DATE 1937 April DOC MON003 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Trade Magazine Article - Prevention of Disease in Industry - The Industrial Chemist PEUU 7 T oe THE INDUSTRIAL CHEMIST and Chemical Manufacturer A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE PROGRESS OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Annual Subscription payable in advance and Postage free British Isles and elsewhere 12s Single Copies 1s CONTENTS Editorial ... wee ++ 131 Safety Precautions with Stills nt Tanks and Drums Comments of the Month ... 132 Part II 155 ht te hoa B. Prevention of Disease in Industry Driving Chemical Plant ... 158 fj by By Donald Hunter M.D. iaEnds F.R.C.P. ... a -- 134 Recent Patents Relating to b: Chemistry ... wes ... 162 Glycine By T. Tusting Cock- ing F.I.C. ... a + 137 Plant and Equipment .. 163 International Association for ne Testing Materials A Sum- Our Bookshelf aa ... 164 a mary of Papers to be Read _ at the International Congress London April 19-24 1937 139 Notes from the Foreign Press 165 The Exhibition of Testing Plant andApparatus ApparatAparatusus ... 144 Extensive Laboratories for Laporte Limited ... B. .- 147 Industrial Chemical Problems 166 Financial and Trade Notes ... 167 Monthly Market Report ... 170 33. TOTHILL ST WESTMINSTER LONDON S.W.1 Telegraphic Address Dustrikem Parl London Telephone Whitehall 9233 6 lines MANCHESTER Century House St. Peter's Square GLASGOW ~ . 87. Union Street Prevention of Disease in By Donald Hunter M.D. F.R.C.P. Industry At a meeting of the Institution of Chemical Engineers held on March 24 a paper with the above title was presented by Donald Hunter M.D. F.R.C.P. The following is an abstract of Dr. Hunter's remarks INDUSTRIAL medicine Dr. Hunter said is the practice of medical supervision preventive medicine and public health within the confines of an industry Its aim is to safeguard the health of the employee and to minimise time lost from work because of sickness or of accidents Though one of its functions is treatment it is mainly an advisory and preventive service The industrial medical officer has to operate with managers workers engineers chemists and architects He has to discover faults in the working environment and try to find remedies One of his most interesting duties is to bring into the effective service of industry the discoveries of the research worker It was possible to summarise the main principles underlying the prevention of disease in industry under a number ; of headings Protection of the workman by law this country the number of diseases notifiable under the Factory and Workshops Acts and subject to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts indicates the existence of an alert and enlightened legislature From 1878 onwards provisions were made to control dangerous trades by socalled special rules of the Home Office The early knowledge of industrial diseases was obtained by placing an obligation on the medical practitioner and employer to notify them to the Chief Inspector of Factories The scope of the Workmen's Compensation Acts is wider than that of the Factory Acts as they are intended to cover all cases of sickness of strictly occupational origin the individual being considered and not merely the conditions under which he works There are now some 38 scheduled diseases New occupational risks constantly arise ; asbestosis and dioxan poisoning can be quoted as dangers recently brought under control Sometimes great expansion will occur in one trade as was the case with the manufacture of accumulators from 1922 to 1924 Detection of Intoxication Medical inspection under State support this country medical examination of entrants into industry required by law and carried out by certifying surgeons is very limited in extent and applies only to young persons between the ages of 14 and 16 but it was undoubtedly the forerunner of the much more extensive voluntary medical examination now frequently undertaken An increasing number of employers are realising the advantages of some kind of medical service in the factory An additional measure of protection applied in many industries is the periodic medical examination of any workers exposed to known risks It is often possible in this manner to detect signs of intoxication before disability is produced Touching on the prevention of dust and fume Dr. Hunter said that wherever possible exhaust ventilation through hoods must be applied at the point of origin of the dust or fume It is in use in the manufacture of electric accumulators and of white lead in the manipulation of silica and asbestos and of carbon bisulphide and : benzene in indiarubber works In certain instances * general as opposed to local exhaust ventilation is applied A preventive method which has been widely applied in the mining metallurgical and ceramic industries is the substitution of wet methods for the original dry screening grinding milling and mining processes Education as to the nature of the danger factory physician should insist on the necessity of teaching the @ workman to take an interest in protecting himself He @ should be taught the importance of clean habits in lead works and should be made to understand such things as 4 the principles of dust suppression For example he should know that a vacuum cleaner is used to remove dust from a workshop for his protection and should therefore g never be employed with the motor reversed Cautionary } placards and illustrated notices should be used in the 3 rooms concerned so that the early lesions of the skin in anthrax and in chrome ulceration are familiar to all j The factory physician must never agree to a scheme where the workmen are kept ignorant of the poisonous nature of substances handled In the War American workmen were told that trinitrotoluene might indeed explode but was 4 otherwise harmless This attitude was a distressing 4 obstacle to those who tried to introduce into American 3 plants the safeguards which had been successfully adopted in this country Importance of Cleanliness Cleanliness of work places some dangerous trades constant vigilance by a staff of good foremen is necessary In the manufacture of trinitrotoluene absorption through the skin cannot be prevented unless benches tools floors and walls are kept spotlessly clean Where it is impracticable to use a wet process as for example in the manufacture of litharge the foremen must see that no dust is raised in shovelling Bodily cleanliness Cloakrooms washing rooms mess rooms baths nailbrushes towels and soap must be provided by the employers and used in their time Where absorption is known to occur through the skin as in the use of aniline nitrobenzene and trinitrotoluene appropriate protective clothing must be worn If direct contact with the poison cannot be avoided every means must be adopted to protect the skin The surface which is necessarily exposed may be covered with a bland ointment dusted with powder or washed frequently There is a risk in too much washing of the skin and care must be taken in such cases to use the least irritating cleansers to avoid scrubbing and to replace the lost oils of the skin by inunction with an animal fat General hygiene are certain principles which apply to all trades but are of greater importance in the dangerous trades because to neglect them may increase the susceptibility of the worker to the poisons concerned Measures must be taken to prevent long hours of work the employment of boys and girls undue heat from furnaces and steam from tanks and the use of underground workshops and bad lighting and ventilation During the War it was realised that hygienic surroundings good ventilation and lighting facilities for obtaining food at a reasonable cost and opportunity for rest and recreation were not only good for the worker but to the advantage of the employer The benefits derived from such improvements The Industrial Chemist April 1937 have served to stimulate the provision of further facilities for workers to enjoy a healthy life Except in the special rooms set aside for the purpose smoking eating and drinking must be forbidden in certain works for example lead works Otherwise a man might carry a compound of lead on his fingers to his cigarette and perhaps inhale a dangerous amount The simplest method of preventing an industrial disease is to prohibit the use of the toxic substance which causes it The possibility of such prohibition depends on the finding of an innocuous substance competent to replace the noxious one A low solubility glaze has been produced which protects the potter from the dust of white lead and in a similar way paint technologists have protected the painter of metals by the invention of a setting red lead The use of plastic rubber that is rubber in which litharge has been incorporated in a mother batch to the extent of 90 per cent will abolish the production of lead dust in certain processes in the rubber industry Extraction with sulphuric acid or oxidation will reduce or com- pletely remove the carcinogenic activity of a mineral oil such as that used in cotton mule spinning must be found for toxic solvents Substitutes Reduction of Manual Operations Wherever possible mechanical means should be substi- tuted for hand carriage Examples of this are seen in the use of cranes rails hoists travelling belts covered conveyers and hoppers and automatic packing machinery The abolition of hand filling of shells the substitution of blasting for blasting and of stainless steel for chromium plating and the use of a closed film steam evaporator in the manufacture of silver nitrate are further examples An outstanding contribution to the reduction of the risk of lead poisoning was the invention of the wet pulping method in the manufacture of white lead Glass workers cataract has been minimised by the invention of the glass making machine Knowledge as to portals of Where it is known by what respiratory alimentary or cutaneous poison is absorbed the physician can in consultation with the employer indicate on what principles the methods of protection should be based In the majority of industries absorption through the respiratory tract is of overwhelming . importance Except very rarely lead poisoning is not due to eating with unwashed hands In a few industries absorption through the skin takes place for example in the handling of aniline nitrobenzene trinitrotoluene nicotine and lead ethyl In certain dangerous processes it must be forbidden for men to stay for long periods at any one job In lead smelting and in processes involving exposure to carbon bisulphide benzene and trinitrotoluene short shifts must be enforced Employment of women and of all persons under 18 in certain lead trades must be forbidden In gas works and middle on blast furnaces where there is a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning it is better to employ men who are partially protected by their lesser physical activity and slower respiration The selection and employ- ment of immune persons only is an ideal the attainment of which must wait on better knowledge . It would be idle to suppose that our knowledge of industrial diseases is a finished chapter Many diseases of occupational origin remain unknown for years notable instances being asbestosis and Weil's disease Clearly there must be others still eluding our search Recently fluorosis of bones a new horror of industrial medicine was unearthed Is this condition widespread among cryolite crushers elsewhere than in Denmark Do bath enamellers suffer from it What if any will be the 135 ultimate consequences to bone and bone marrow of the deposition of calcium fluoride in the skeleton Is the high incidence of malignant disease of the nasal sinuses in workers in nickel related to substances used in their work and is there also a high incidence of lung carcinoma among them Will the chemist find a suitable substitute for nitrate of mercury in the felting of fur Will the bacterio- ? logist succeed in producing effective inoculation against Weil's disease These and many other problems await solution We are on the right path but we have a long way to go Discussion THE PRESIDENT referring to silicosis in the Rand on mines said that whereas at the beginning of the century it had caused great loss of life he had the authority of Dr. Irvine a known pathologist there to that since certain measures say were adopted some 13 years ago there had been no fresh cases of silicosis the Rand Notwithstanding that fact compensation to those who were formerly employed in the mines and in whom the a disease had developed to certain stage would be payable to the extent of a million pounds per annum for the next 10 or 12 years The measures taken were that all drilling in the mines was being done wet instead of dry ; blasting was done when the workmen were out of the mines ; an immense volume of air was passed through the mine workings in order to clear out the dust and no one was employed in the industry unless he passed a very severe medical test and unless his family medical history was satisfactory industry DR G. ROCHE LYNCH discussing lead in tissues and bone said that anything up to 150 parts per million had been found in people who were normal in the sense that so far as could be ascertained from their medical histories they had never been in contact with lead in He had never found in the bones of people who had died of lead poisoning proportions so high as the highest found in normal cases MR C. S. ROBINSON commented on the vastly increased responsibilities thrown upon those managing chemical works and the like during the last 25 years Most of the works of his firm had had a medical service for some years and they regarded the dental service as an extremely important part of the general medical service There seemed to be still a strong feeling on the part of the workers against medical examination presumably by reason of a feeling that the relatively unfit would be denied employment They had still to be educated to the view that the medical examination of all workers entering industry was to their benefit MR W. H. CADMAN referred to the dermatitis which had been common among paraffin shed workers in con- nection with petroleum refining and said the precau- tionary measures were regular medical inspection baths in connection with which a great deal of attention had susceptible been paid to the use of irritating soap and the rubbing of prophylactic ointment on exposed places before the men commenced work the ointment being made up of olive oil and lanoline and the removal of the men to other duties temporarily in slight cases or permanently in more severe cases Special precautions were necessary in the handling of ethyl spirit by reason of the toxicity of ethyl compounds Only selected men were employed in the distribution of it and they were regularly medically examined The blending apparatus was kept out of doors in open sheds and in the course of blending neither ethyl nor ethyl spirit came into contact with the blenders skin Under rigorously hygienic conditions it should be considered that no major reason could be offered against the use of ethyl lead until a replacement pivuutt was uuu which to the same detonant qualities added the advantage of less toxicity Mr. Cad- drawing up a pamphlet of simple precautions for users of chemical solvents which precautions the Home Office man added that efforts were being made with considerable success to find a substitute " " Poly dope was coming into Inspectors would try to impress upon users With regard to the education of chemists in the the picture ; the polymerisation of the refinery gases the making he said the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers higher hydrocarbons such as propane butane and so had a set of model safety rules for use in chemical works forth into motor spirit which had very high knock drawn up in conjunction with the Factory Department of properties was being developed and the day was not far the Home Office ; there was also a set of safety circulars and distant when every refinery throughout the world would a safety summary which collected monthly and quarterly refinery have a polymerisation plant as part of its normal items of interest from the technical point of view in connec- equipment to convert what were hitherto more or less tion with chemical processes accidents & They were ee ethyl useless gases into very suitable substitutes for available to chemical teaching establishments on special : lead terms Prevention of Disease ee MR W. CARROTT referred to a hygienic and cheap respirator which had been developed by the lead industry ee and which was effective and easy to wear It consisted of a plain piece of muslin tied across the face with tapes there being inside the muslin a piece of covered Over and over again in the past accidents had occurred because people had plunged into new processes without a knowledge of the properties of the materials they used and without making any attempt to find out He urged that those who were adopting new processes and using new materials should make some attempt to consult the litera- ture or perhaps better still to consult men such as a 1 cotton wool in to thrown in thick which acted as a perfect filter The gauze was thrown away and replaced by another every time a man took his respirator off so that it was hygienic and did not become receptacle for germs or dusts On the principle that difficulties which arose in works should be published so that others might avoid them Mr. Carrott mentioned an occasion on which dust from a refining pot containing metallic oxides was watered down in compliance with the Factory Acts and arseniuretted hydrogen was produced which had affected two men Probably at that time nobody had suspected the presence of arsenic in the material and even if they had they would probably not have thought that it would decompose and produce arseniuretted hydrogen by reason of the water used Means had been provided to overcome the trouble of course Dr. Hunter or Dr. Collier of Birmingham to find out what was known about those materials If that course had been adopted dioxan poisoning would probably not have arisen Books on Industrial Toxicology DR HUNTER replying to the discussion said there were some medical books containing extensive bibliographies which might be of considerable help to those in industry who were safeguarding health One of the best books on industrial toxicology was written by Prof. Alice Hamilton of Harvard University published by Messrs MacMillan Sir Thomas Legge had written a book on Industrial Maladies but it had not a very big bibliography Dr. Hunter added that some of his own lectures on the subject had been reprinted under the title " Occupational Diseases which contained a very extensive Finally Mr. Carrott emphasised that although some industrialists regarded factory inspectors as people who should be kept off the premises as much as possible his own experience had been that it was best to ask the advice of an inspector if trouble occurred MR E. EVANS JONES said he had watched the dis- appearance of one or two of the diseases which had been bibliography Replying to the President he said the effects of picric acid were local picric acid did not attack the tissues of the body and had not caused toxic jaundice In reply to Dr. Roche Lynch he said that the creosote which had been referred to as having given rise to cancer in a man who was continually using it was coal tar creosote and not wood creosote common in the oil refining industry in earlier days One of those was the troublesome dermatitis known as paraffin plux among operators in the paraffin sheds and the only cure for it was personal cleanliness In modern refineries in this country bathing facilities were splendid Palm oil and lanoline was being used and the men changed their underclothes and top clothes frequently He had found when dealing with certain oils that it was difficult to remove carcinogeneity as indicated by specific refraction by treatment with sulphuric acid and solvent extraction as indicated by specific refraction appeared to be a more efficient method of removing carcinogeneity He asked whether there were statistics indicating whether cancer had been reduced in cotton spinning MR ALLAN J. HOLDEN pointed out that chemical manufacturers were generally aware of the toxic properties of their products and they took reasonable precautions but considerable difficulties sometimes arose from the attitude of the users The main trouble arose with the small user rather than the large user Sometimes small . users would not take precautions with regard to solvents for instance and the problem of imposing regulations concerning their use had been considered seriously The manufacturers were trying to educate users therefore by Whilst he had referred in print to the marvellous work of the Home Office Inspectors it was unfortunate that as Civil Servants their lips were sealed it was absurd They ought to go to medical schools and meetings and say what they knew ; they were full of knowledge of the subject With regard to dusts he said that the cleaning of carding machines in the cotton industry resulted in asthma Bone meal grinding could not cause silicosis but it might cause asthma One could not but regard silicates and silica as absolutely deadly as compared with calcium rocks and organic dusts from animals and plants So far doctors could not select men who would be susceptible to lead poisoning & but they felt that research would at some time enable them to do so the ability to do that would be a great boon Wrist drop was due to lead being inhaled and getting into the blood stream carcinogenic The trouble with cancer was that there was latent period of 10 12 15 or perhaps 20 or 25 years and substances might not have obvious effect until such a period had elapsed their use He counselled the greatest care in Finally Dr. Hunter emphasised the necessity for publishing facts with regard to industrial diseases and the steps that might be taken to avoid them The Industrial Chemist April 1937 XXXII XXXII PLASTICIZERS CHEMICALS PLASTICIZERS PLASTICIZERS PLASTICIZERS PLASTICIZERS PLASTICIZERS PLASTICIZERS can be offered PLASTICIZERS stock ogre a 8 Re' MONSANTO BeMAVIs, MONSANTO CHEMICALS LIMITED VICTORIA ST STATION ATION NORTHERN SALES HOUSE VICTORIA OFFICE KING'S HOUSE KING STREET LONDON STREET W. MANCHESTER S.W.1