Document Yg8Bjy71xwNOyoLVQ9vrqorE

548 Twentieth Congress--National Safely Council Accounts oi the effects of the newly developed and the more widely advertised solvents are undoubtedly the ones which have the greatest interest for the marrutacturer. Thus far. practically no cases of ill health due to these substances have lieen reported in the literature. Whether this is due to the ltatmlessness of these compounds, or to the greater care exercised in their use, is not known. Whatever the cause, this apparent immunity should not lead to relaxed vigilance. In discussing petroleum distillates in one of the German medical journals. Floret reported two unusual cases. One was tltat of a girl who suffered from epileptiform convulsions for a year after an acute poisoning from benzine fumes. The other case was that of a man who. while filling cans with benzine, lost consciousness. He developed high fever and became acutely ill. Later, sores appeared on his body and in his mouth and throat which, IHoret believes, were caused by the excretion of ihe benzine through the skin and the mucous membranes. The man died five weeks after the accident. # Another autW. Stiefler. described the case of a man twenty-one years of age who fell unconscious after emptying a can of benzine. He was treated in a hospital and was discharged as recovered after ten days. Later he also developed convulsions which recurred even* four or five months and were epileptic in character. It w<iu'H seem tliat the great amount of publicity given to benzol and its physi ologic?* effects should insure adequate protection in its use. However, cases of llne?s continue to lie reported. Among those from Germany was that of a workman whr entered an empty vessel which had contained benzol. The vessel had previously bn washed out with water six times. Nevertheless, the man lost consciousness shortly alter entering it and all efforts to revive him failed. As several plumbers had worked in the same vessel it was thought that benzol could not to the cause of death, hm at autopsy considerable amounts of benzol were found in the brain md other organs, so this case must be regarded as one of unusual susceptibility. A report irom \ ienna gives details regarding a gToup of cases of benzene poisoning occurring in Central Europe. Fifty cases appeared among the women workers in u rubber-goods factory within a few weeks after beginning employment. Seven of these cases resulted in death. It would be oi great interest to leant the exact competition of the comtK>und used In* these women. Unfortunately that was not published in the report, lienzcne, evidently one of the ingredients, being re garded as the toxic agent. Carl>on disulphide lias been held responsible by certain French observers ior a ca>e oi neuritis in which the muscles of the legs and the arms were affected. This man had lieai employed ior five months in the making of mustard plasters by spread ing on paper a mixture c<mj>osed of rubber, benzine, and carbon disulphide. Injurious effects arising irom the use of the chlor compounds continue to be reported. The German factory jns]H.*ctors` report for 1927 carried accounts of several cases oi ixiisonmg irom trichlorethylcnc. most of them being merely loss ot consciousness with no lasting effects, although two important cases were included, one of very serious eve injury and one of death. A report irom Paris descrito? two cases of jxiisaning from carbon tetrachloride. The first case was tliat of a man who. on showing slight symptoms, stopped work and recovered in a few days. The second case was of greater severity. This man had been using carton tetrachloride in a small, poorly ventilated room in a cleaning establishment. At the end oi his second days work he became acutely ill, developing vomiting, headache, dizziness, uMorniual pain, and a temperature slightly above 102 degrees F. He tocame unconscious and was removed to a hospital for treatment. His symptoms indicated involvement of the liver, spleen, and kidneys but he was discitarged from the hospital after two months, very much improved in health. A physical cxamiiution one year later showed him to to completely recovered. The recent controversy on the permissible uses of methanol apparently quieted down following the publication <i the agreement between the manufacturers of methanol and the United Slates Public Health Service, which agreement went into Chemical Section 549 effect July first of this year. While a large number of deaths and some cases of blindness have been reported as being caused by the drinking oi methanol, no recent fatalities have been rejiorted from its industrial use. At tto present time several investigations are being carried on in well-known latoratorics for the purpose of increasing our knowledge as to the toxicity of this compound both by inhalation and by skin absorption. With additional data on these two points methanol should assume its proper place in industry. Certainly with wliat is known of its physi ological action at the present time, it should not to used as a solvent for general purposes. In the preparation of this paper assistance was solicited from a number of com panies manufacturing or using volatile solvents in large quantities. The questions asked referred exclusively to the kind of protection used by these companies for conserving the health of their workers. The replies brought out little that is new. The points emphasized were those which have many times been presented at meetings similar to this one: the handling of volatile solvents in closed systems; the use oi jmsitive pressure helmets or hose masks, with an adequate supply of fresh air, by persons cleaning tanks or repairing leaks in valves or pipe lines, (tJiis type oi work never to to done by one man atone) and, in the case of a tank, only after it lias liccn thoroughly steamed or washed out; adequate ventilation oi workrooms: alternation of jobs for workers cxjxised to volatile solvents with jobs in winch there is no such cxjKisnrc: periodic physical examination of workmen; and substitution of nontoxic, or at least less toxic materials, for toxic compounds. As exhaust ventilation at the point of evaluation of a solvent is the procedure usually recommended, it was a surprise to learn that three large companies, when using benzol as a solvent, are depending upon general room ventilation alone. Two of these companies si>ccificd that this ventilation was by means oi blowers at the floor level oi the room. One company stores most oi the volatile materials which arc kept within the plant, in underground tanks, or. in the case of especially volatile materials, in re frigerators. The latter procedure seems to to an admirable method ior conserving materia! and also for eliminating a health and a fire luzard. Another company, which has as a special hazard carton disulphide, conducts its process almost entirely under water seals. In cases where escape of this vapor is Inevitable it is ignited and burned to sulphur dioxide. Education of the worker? concerning the potential health hazards of the materials they are handling is most important. Such education gives them a definite reason as to whv certain rules have been formulated and why they must to obeyed. . One company emphasizes the imi>onance of constant and close supervision by technically trained men. This is regarded as particularly necessary in the case oi operators who use piping, pumps, etc and are inclined to apply personal ideas which might prove dangerous. , At intervals during the past two years "The Rubber Age lias pubhslied a senes of most interesting and instructive articles by Dr. P. A. Davis. Assistant Medical Director of the Goodvcar Tire and Rubber Company, dealing with toxic substances in the rubber industry. Many of these articles carry a section whieh should to of great help to the plant physician and the personnel department in the selection and placement of workers. In discussing the subject of physical examinations Dr. Davis specifies in detail the kind of person who should not be employed when such em ployment involves exposure to the particular substances under consideration. The volatile solvents on which these details arc given arc carbon tetrachloride, carton disulphide, antvl acetate and other amyl compounds, and acetone. In conclusion, I should like to make a pica for the reporting of cases oi ill health caused, or suspected of being caused, by volatile solvents. 1 am sure tliat the files of the medical departments of many companies contain records that should have