Document YG524E0mnO1DeDEyEVGO6mjEK

FILE NAME: National Safety Council (NSC) DATE: 1929 DOC#: NSC182 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Transactions of the NSC - 2 Pgs Only r ///} f L $ A r r 1 t 0 i//wc tL n 572 Eighteenth Annual Safety Congress Inhalation of Dusts ' J: On the dusty lung hazard, I suspect this section is not particularly interested, - Other industries have the chief exposure to it. The specialists give it a variety of " names; silicosis, anthracosis, siderosis, asbestosis and pneumonoconiosis. The "ow* f mean the insurance company has to pay for it. I have been learning this, howevei ` that we cannot depend on the chemist alone to tell us whether or not any particulsr dust is or is not dangerous. We have to hire another specialist that calls himself ; a petrographer. You see our lung specialist says the most dangerous dust is frt silica, not combined silicates, and straight chemical analysis does not make tfm " distinction. It makes a microscopic optical examination necessary. It was at our Rochester mid-year meeting that I got the straight dope on this free silica ides from Dr. Russell of the Public Health Service. The finerparticles of free sili (only a few microns in length) are breathed right into the air sacs of the lungj. Particles of other substances are similarly deposited but are then gobbled up by certain white cells and carried away. The free silica is not. but stays there and it walled up by tissue. Some years later the silica becomes colloided, breaks through the wall and presents a nice culture medium of devitalized tissue for tuberculoiii germs to breed in and there you are. So watch out for free silica dust or silicon, Another test for the dangerousness of dusts was given me by Dr. Sayres of the Bureau of Mines. He has to approve the kind of rock that can be used for rock dusting of coal mines. He injects a sample of the dust into the peritoneal cavity of a guinea pig and in a week or so examines the peritoneum for fibrosis; if any. the dust is unsafe; if none, it is O. K. which reminds me that one specialist asserted we could get a fibrosis in the lungs merely from swallowing sand. Except for the next specialist I met scoffing at his idea. 1 was all set to cut spinach off of my menu. Lapse in Industrial Poison Data Sheets Some inquiry has been made in this Section as to why your Industrial Poison Committee has quit on the job of getting out Industrial Poisons Data Sheets. Whilr officially connected with these flyers of which the chief merit was brevity I hardly dared to mention them,--they so quickly became obsolete under the onset of new ideas from the real specialists. Logically, I am now' dropping myself out of thii activity (being Chairman of your Nominating Committee) and leave the issuance of further sheets in the capable hands of your retiring sectional Chairman, Dr Greenburg. Of course, also, there is now a Health Section of the Council and Dr. Sappington is going to press every month or so with up-to-date articles A the same general type. I might mention the subject that finally stalled us two year ago on the run of data sheets: chlorine. The Poisons Committee could not agree as to whether chlorine was a poison or was not. The toxicologists said it wa. the manufacturers said it was not.' The real answer probably was a quanti tative one, as Dr. Nfacht lias just pointed out to you in discussing drugs in general. The manufacturers finally said that their case was proved by the fact that President Coolidge cured his cold by inhaling chlorine. Ever since we have been waiting to hear from President Hoover. If the toxicologists win out, the country will have to go into mourning. New Treatment for Nitrous Fumes I do want to trespass a bit more upon your time to mention nitrous fumes. Th* air seems to be clearing on this subject. I do not recall how many expert chemuti /> in your industry have tried to persuade me that this hazard was exaggerated, th* process were the reajiy toxic fumes generated,--some higher oxide iike N>Gi wf "ordinary" nitrous fumes were harmless, that only in the rare disorder of a nitratiol HQ 7 6S-Z. ,*/s- Chemical Section 573 tlW f Yet we have been getting such cases every now and then with fatal outWe even had such a fatal case in an ordinary shop exposure,--a man fining a casting in a pail of nitric acid and outdoors at that. Now comes the Cleveland Ginic disaster and focuses attention again on this nitrous fume question. |$g-immediate deaths are assigned to high concentrations of carbon monoxide, the j^yed deaths to nitrous fumes from the decomposing him. The Chemical W ar fare Service seems competent to speak from both chemical and toxicological standM&ts- They tell us the fumes involved were nitrogen dioxide, NO;, and nitrogen fatroxide, N-.O, both present in a reversible reaction in proportions depending on ('temperature. The originally generated fume is nitric oxide, NO. (The harmfry nitrous oxide, NsO, is generated in negligible amounts.) On exposure to moist |jr, the nitric oxide is immediately oxidized to the dioxide or tetroxide and I do got *ee how a workman is likely to breathe the nitric oxide before it has been ex- yosed to the air. "| hesitate about going into the details of this new therapy for nitrous fume poilOOhig. Your doctors should themselves study the medical literature on the sub l e t As Mr. Armstrong has mentioned, our section has just issued a Chemical Safe practices Pamphlet on "Nitrous Fumes." This includes the new hospital treatment and you will note that the old passive method is replaced by a new ag gressive treatment. As before, and this is within the safety man's functions, all doubtful cases must be followed up over night because of the delayed onset of the really serious symptoms. It is safest to allow no exercise at all and to send the Cate in an ambulance to a hospital for observation. Absolute rest and warmth are called for with prompt study of the blood (hourly hemoglobin estimations I to detect any increase in concentration. At the lirst hint that the blood is thickening, radical steps to hold it down are advised by the spe cialists. There are two ways to accomplish this and present authorities appear to differ slightly as to priority between them. The one is water or saline solution intake of from four to eight liters per day, intravenously if necessary. The other b venesection or bleeding to the extent of 350 to 800 cubic centimeters, depending Oft the severity of the case (and also, I suppose, on the heft of the individual in volved). Now our pamphlet mi the subject and also, I understand. Ur. Underhill, placed fluid intake ahead of blood discharge, whereas the Chemical W arfare Service Rport on the Cleveland Hospital Disaster gives priority to bleeding "for incipient Of advanced" cases of this type of edema from gassing. The Warfare Service feels that the blood remaining after venesection will then withdraw fluid from the tissues to restore the whole volume to normal. If this means a reduction in lung fluid, it Would seem to the layman an important distinction, especially since in critical cases Oxygen administration is advised. ' Perhaps this question of sequence is not of importance since both treatments follow each other closely or are even given at the same time. Ii a certain sequence h important, however, I hope our specialists will advise us definitely as soon as Ihoy can, because we all want to conquer this fume hazard if possible. * Of course, the question as to quantity inhaled still remains a factor in determinfog the damage done. It is stated by Henderson that nitrous fumes do not cause P tpasm of the glottis (as strong chlorine does) and no particular pain accompanies jheir deep inhalation. This makes them all the more dangerous. Shallow breathJflg as a protection is talked about by practical men but I would be more inclined 5 ^ *ra'n the workmen, in case of a spill or fume off, to hold their breath and beat t-any direct handling of the exposed nitrating liquid should always include adeT*te respiratory' protection, whether you think there is any danger or whether you for the great oniu o o rs. All necessary repair w ork in vats, on pipelines, etc..