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FILE NAME: New York State & NY Times (NY) DATE: 1952 July DOC#: NY102 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NY Dept of Labor Monthly Review - Industrial Cancer of the Lungs [Continued from June Issue] The material on this page was copied from the collection of the National Library of Medicine by a third party and may be protected by U.S. Copyrigh New York State Department o f Labor MONTHLY REVIEW Voi. 31 JU LY , 1952 No. 7 HEALTH HAZARDS IN T H E PLATING ROOM AND TH EIR Sam uel M oskowitz, C h . E., P h . D. Chemical Unit CONTROL I ntroduction The electroplating industry can be, but need not be, a highly hazardous one. Although large quantities of toxic and corrosive substances are present and are handled in the usual plating room, the operations performed there can be so conducted as to make them safe and not hazardous to the health of the workers in the department. Hazards which arise from plating-room operations are usually due to improper use of the various toxic and corro sive substances commonly employed. In this article, an at tempt will be made to call attention to the sources of some of the more common hazards in the industry and the means which may be employed to reduce or eliminate these haz ards. There are three kinds of occupational injury which may occur in the electroplating industry, namely, 1. injury to internal organs of the body 2. dermatitis 3. injuries caused by mechanical accidents They will be considered separately as far as possible, but there will be some unavoidable overlapping as the various substances and operations are being discussed. Nonindustrial poisoning usually results from the inges tion of a toxic agent and only occasionally from inhalation of toxic gases and vapors, such as carbon monoxide, carbon tetrachloride from cleaning fluids, and benzol from cements. Occupational disease which results from the ab sorption of some toxic substance into the body is, on the contrary, most frequently caused by the inhalation of that toxic agent. T o x ic Substances Cyanides Cyanides are by far the most toxic chemicals used in the plating room. I t takes only about 50 mg of hydrocyanic acid or its equivalent of sodium cyanide absorbed in the body to produce almost instantaneous death, and yet there are very few deaths or illnesses from exposure to cyanides in this industry. Sodium cyanide is a salt of a strong base and a very weak acid. In aqueous solution it undergoes extensive hydrolysis resulting in the formation of the base, sodium hydroxide, and the acid, hydrocyanic acid. Unless a con siderable concentration of excess free alkali is added, the hydrocyanic acid in solution can and does evaporate from the solution. As the temperature is increased, the volatility of the hydrocyanic acid is increased. Zinc plating tanks are usually operated at room temper ature and with added sodium hydroxide in the electrolyte. The possibility of the evolution of hydrocyanic acid gas from such a bath is exceedingly low. Copper cyanide plat ing tanks operated at room temperature contain no added caustic in the electrolyte. The odor of hydrocyanic acid gas can always be detected above such tanks. However, that odor does not necessarily indicate a harmful concen tration of the gas in the atmosphere surrounding the plater or his helpers. Such factors as tank areas, room size, and general room ventilation will have an important bearing on the concentration of H C N in the air. The question of whether a harmful or potentially harmful concentration of H C N occurs near such tanks can be readily determined by tests which are not at all difficult to perform. When one deals, however, with strike or high-speed copper plating tanks operating at elevated temperatures, one should not depend on general ventilation to maintain the level of H C N in the air within safe limits. One should employ adequate local exhaust ventilation on such tanks. Cyanide plating tanks are usually operated at high cur rent efficiencies at both electrodes and with soluble anodes. This means that little, if any, gas is released at either electrode. However, should plating be performed with considerable gassing a mist of the electrolyte containing cyanides would be evolved from the tanks. Obviously, such operations would have to be performed with such ventila tion as would prevent the release of cyanide into the work room atmosphere in quantities that might tend to injure the health of the workers. Objects entering or being removed from cyanide baths should be rinsed twice, especially if an acid dip is involved, each time in running water. The effluent from rinse baths containing cyanides should not be allowed to run into waste lines containing acid rinse water. The addition of cyanides to tanks in the making up of electrolytes should be so performed as to protect the worker from dusts and splashes. Adequate personal protective equipment is readily available for this purpose. It includes a U. S. Bureau of Mines-approved toxic-dust respirator, a face shield or goggles, rubber gloves, and similar apparel designed for such operations. Spilled material should be 25 arrested as they pass through the labyrinthian path, per mitting the gas to escape somewhat scrubbed of the chromic acid it contained as it first broke through the bath surface. The use of plastic chips should reduce the quantity of air required for the adequate ventilation of a chromium plat ing tank. Theoretically it does. However, in the State of New York, whereas the use of plastic chips is permitted, reducing the quantity of air which must be exhausted is not. Platers often find the use of chips objectionable since they must brush them aside to hang pieces to be plated into the tank. Such platers would not find it difficult to brush the chips aside permanently. There is also a tendency for these chips to stick to pieces being withdrawn from a tank. For maximum efficiency, the thickness of chips on the sur face of the tank must not be less than one inch. It is more difficult to regulate this than to maintain a ventilation sys tem at its initial efficiency. However, there is no doubt that the use of a plastic-chip covering for chromium plating solutions will save some electrolyte which would otherwise be drawn into the ventilation system. It has been reported that the use of balls, such as ping-pong balls, overcame some of the objections to chips, in that the balls do not stick to the work as it is withdrawn. The other development to which reference was made is the use of a material added to the electrolyte which will so alter its surface tension as to permit the accumulation of gas bubbles on the surface. If these remain unbroken until the mist can either settle or reach the bubble surface, the quantity of mist escaping from the tank will be re duced^ However, this type of control introduces another potential hazard. The bubbles which gather on the tank surface consist of hydrogen and oxygen. A spark from some electrical contact may set off an explosion which, in itself, may not be violent enough to cause any damage but still be violent enough to splash electrolyte about, possibly in juring personnel. At this point comment should be made on a piece of equipment which was recently tested by this Division. It is a unit mist separator which can be connected directly to a chromium plating tank or similar tank, or to any other process equipment releasing objectionable or toxic mists I he unit consists of a large metal cylinder with a concen tric air-inlet duct extending almost to the bottom and ter minating in an exhaust fan. A water nozzle is located at t e top of the duct, and a tangential air outlet is located near the top of the outer cylinder. The air inlet is con nected to the exhaust duct from the tank or operation to be ventilated. A water overflow is located near the bottom of the cylinder. In operation, the contaminated air enters the separator and comes in contact with a water spray. The air and water descend to the bottom of the inlet duct where the fan throws them against the inner walls of the cylinder. Impingement and centrifugal action separate most of the water from the air, and the latter is discharged through the tangential outlet. This discharge may be either into the workroom or to the outdoors, but prefer ably to the outdoors. This equipment has several advantages over the usual method for removing acid and other mists from workroom atmospheres. Should the air be recirculated, heat can be conserved in the winter; in the summer, spraying the re circulated air with cold water may reduce the temperature and humidity of the workroom. If the air is discharged to the outdoors after spraying with water, this air contains much less mist than before the waslv'ng. This may be an important consideration in some localities. The particular unit which was tested was oversized for tha chromium platng tank to which it was attached. The efficiency of chromic acid-mist removal was found to be high, but it could not be determined what it would have been had the separator been connected to the size plating tank for which it was rated. (Continued in the August 1952 issue) , INDUSTRIAL CANCER OF TH E LUNGS M ay R. M ayers, M .D . Chief, Medical Unit (Continued from the June 1952 issue) R esearch It is quite apparent that industrial lung cancer; indeed, the whole field of environmental cancer has been barely scratched, and that there is still a great deal of pure specu lation, current, despite all efforts to establish the facts. The difficulties which are hindering progress are not immediately apparent, but become quite clear as soon as intensive work is begun. Most important, perhaps, is the fact that a worker's occupation at the time he develops cancer, or dies of it, is rarely the etiological factor. The cause is probably to be found in some previous occupation which he had some 10, 15 or 25 years earlier-- an occupa tion difficult to ascertain at the time of his present illness or death, and difficult to evaluate. Obviously, any inves tigation made at this later date, will almost inevitably re veal environmental conditions very different from those to which he had been exposed, so many years before. The further fact that rapid technological advances are the order of the day in industry; and that labor, in this coun try, is highly mobile, presents many serious stumbling blocks to the research worker, at every turn. 27 The New York State Occupational Cancer Committee tried to overcome these obstacles by interviewing some 4000 cancer patients at the Roswell Park Memorial Hos pital where accurate clinical and pathological diagnoses were available. In these interviews, a serious attempt was made to obtain a detailed occupational history, going back to the patient's first job. Each such occupation was then evaluated, by specialists in the field of industrial hygiene, in order to ascertain, 'as accurately and as completely as possible, all of the environmental factors to which each patient had been exposed in the course of his working life. Since each patient was 'found to have had about 4 or 5 different jobs, on an average; and numerous abnormal elements were involved in the working environment of each job, the number of variables which were inevitably introduced into the study was such as to make our statis ticians shudder. And yet, these variables are inherent in any effort to get at the facts and they cannot be ignored. There are a few industries, such as chromate ^manufac ture, for example, or the manufacture of aniline dyes, where one or more active carcinogenic agents so dominate the industrial environment as to highlight the fact of the high incidence of cancer among those workers. It is not to - oCoL to T03J O ' >o_ : q_ Q >s CO E CQ 03 Q_ p 03 o_>QH C0) a> o 03 -Q 0co3 03 s0z3 co OCl O in CO 5 CD 0CO3 CL in o &to E a? sents one of the more exceptional situations in industry. By and large, the environmental characteristics of a par ticular industry, a particular process or even a particular workroom are not necessarily, or even usually, pathog nomonic for that industry, process or workroom. Many of the same abnormal environmental factors, in different combinations, are to be found in a great variety of totally unrelated industries and occupations. For that reason, statistical correlations between a given primary cancer site and specific industries or occupations are not necessarily fr uitf ul. Until some practical method has been developed for the identification and isolation of these common de nominators in the industrial environment and statistical correlations prepared on the basis of these data, there is good reason to believe that the etiological components of this environment will very largely continue to elude the research worker. There is, however, one practical contribution which can be made by almost every practicing physician whether in his office, in the outpatient department or in the hospital; and that is to take a careful occupational history on all patients--whether they are suspected of having cancer or not-- and to record successive occupations on subsequent visits. More than that, social welfare services can con tribute by providing for a good occupational history on all Forms to be filled out on applicants. This would include applications for Workmen's Compensation, Unemploy ment Insurance, Placement, Sickness Insurance, and any other type of social security'. Labor Unions' sickness rec ords could similarly include this type of information. Aside from the fact that social security numbers on death certificates are now beginning to make it possible to go back and learn something of the cancer patient's previous work, records along the lines above indicated are nowheres to be found at the present time. If conscientiously com piled from now on, however, a vast source of information would become available during the next 15 or 20 years, as to the occupational exposures of persons who ultimately develop cancer. W hether this vision of future benefits is sufficiently inspiring to overcome natural resistance to undertaking additional work, in the present, is the big question mark. The great value and the limitations of research work with experimental laboratory animals, as a method of de veloping leads for the detection of carcinogenic agents in the industrial environment, are too well known to this audience to warrant more than passing mention. Summary & Conclusions There has been a striking increase in the incidence of lung cancer; and because this has largely coincided with advances in technological progress in this country, there is a very natural suspicion as to cause and effect. Of the many organic and inorganic chemical and physical agents which are suspect, and under investigation at the present time however only a few have been definitely implicated as causative agents in the production of industrial lung can cer: The chromates, nickel carbonyl in English nickel fac tories, radioactive substances, and probably asbestos. An effort was made to evaluate the role of both chronic and acute irritation of the respiratory tract due to air con taminants in the workroom, in the production of industrial lung cancer, by reviewing what is known of some of the more familiar occupational diseases which are character ized by chronic and acute pathology of the upper respira tory passages and the lungs. No necessary relationship could be demonstrated. However, a final determination 28 must await tne development or tar more precise and com plete data than are now at hand. Attention was directed to the difficulties confronting the research worker in this field because of the complexities of the industrial environment, the mobility of labor and the time lag between environmental exposure and the de velopment or diagnosis of the cancer. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baetjer, A. M .: Pulmonary Carcinoma in Chromate Workers, Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, 2:11, 487-516, Nov. 1950. Chief Inspector of Factories, Annual Report 1947: Medical Sec tion, London, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1947, p. 15; p. 93 ; Annual Report, 1949. Guyer, M. F., and Claus, P. E .: Tumor of the Lung in Rats Following Injections of Urethane (Ethyl Carbamate), Can cer Research 7:342, 1947. Hartwell, J. L.: Survey of Compounds Which Have Been Test ed for Carcinogenic Activity, Federal Security Agency, U. S. P. H. S., 1941. Heller, J. R., Jr. M.D.: Chemical Carcinogens, Archives of In dustrial Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, 1950. Henshaw, P. S.: Minimal Number of Anesthetic Treatments with Urethane Required to Induce Pulmonary Tumors, J. Nat'l. Cancer Inst., 4:523, 1944. Hoagland, M. B.; Grier, R. S. and Hood, M. B.: Beryllium and Growth, I. Beryllium-Induced Osteogenic Sarcomata, Cancer Research, Oct. 1950. Hueper, Wr C., M.D.: Environmental Lung Cancer, Industrial Medicine and Surgery, 20:2, 40-63, Feb. 1951. Hueper, W. C., M.D.: Occupational Tumors and Allied Dis eases, Charles C. Thomas, 1942, Springfield, Illinois. J. A. M. A.: Incidence of Pulmonary Cancer, August 18, 1951. Larsen, C. D. and Heston, W. E .: Induction of Pulmonary T u mors in Mice By Anesthetic Agents, Cancer Research 5:592, 1945. Levin, M. L .; Goldstein, H.; and Gerhardt, P. R .: Cancer and Tobacco Smoking, J. A. M. A. 143:5, 336-8, May 27, 1950. Lisco, H., and Finkel, M. P .: Observations on Lung Pathology Following the Inhalation of Radioactive Cerium, Federation Proc. 8:360, 1949. Lorenz, E .: Radioactivity and Lung Cancer, J. Nat'l. Cancer Inst. 5:1, 1944. Machle, W. and Gregorius, J.: Cancer of the Respiratory Sys tem in the United States Chromate-Producing, Industry Public Health Reports, 63:114, 1948. Mancuso, T. F., M.D., Hueper, W. C., M.D.: Lung Cancers in Chromate Workers, Industrial Medicine and Surgery 20:8, 358-363, Aug. 1951. Mayers, M. R., M.D.: Occupational Causes of Cancer, Compen sation Medicine, March 1950. Nettleship, A., and Henshaw, P. S.: Pulmonary Tumor Induction with Ethyl Carbamate, J. Nat'l. Cancer Inst. 4:309, 1943. New York State Occupational Cancer Committee, Occupational Cancer, A Challenge to the Physician, 1949. Nordmann, M., and Sorge, A.: Lungenkrebs durch Asbeststaub im Tierversuch, Ztschr. f. Krebsforsch, 51:168, 1941. Pirchan, H., and Sikl, H.: Cancer of the Lung in Miners of Joachimsthal, Am. J. Cancer 16:681, 1932. Snegireff, Leonid S., M.D.; and Lombard, Olive M., S. M.: Arsenic and Cancer: Observations in the Metallurgical Industry. Steiner, P. E ,; Butt, E. M. and Edmondson, H. A.: Pulmonary Carcinoma Revealed at Necropsy, with Reference to In creasing Incidence in the Los Angeles County Hospital, J. Nat'l.-Cancer Inst. 11:497, 1950. Steiner, P. E.: Incidence of Primary Carcinoma of the Lung, with Special Reference to Its Increase, Arch. Path. 37:185, 1944. Teleky, L.: Occupational Cancer of the Lung, J. Indust. Hyg & Toxicol. 19:73, 1937. U. S. Navy: Talc Granuloma, Medical Newsletter, 16:11 Dec 1950. Watson, W. L., M.D.: Cancer of the Lung, Medical Progress June 20, 1950. ' Wedler, H. W.: Asbestose un Lungenkrebs. Deutsche med. Wchnschr. 69:575, 1943. Wynder, Ernest L., M.D. and Graham, Evarts A., M.D.: Etio- logic Factors in Bronchiogenic Carcinoma, with Special Reference to Industrial Exposures: Reports of Eight Hun dred Fifty-Seven Proved Cases. The material on this page was copied from the collection of the National Library of Medicine by a third party and may be protected by U S Copyrigb The material on this page was copied from the collection of the National Library of Medicine by a third party and may be protected by U.S. Copyrightjaw. It is a familiar phenomenon in the occupational diseases Soot has always been of special interest because it was and in environmental cancer. Among persons doing essen responsible for the classical scrotal cancer of chimney tially the same work, some, apparently, get lead poisoning sweeps. However, these boys must have also inhaled con or develop cancer while their co-workers do not. siderable soot in the course of their work; and yet, no Age and sex differentials are not well understood, in suggestion has come down to us to the effect that they general. But in the field of lung cancer, there are indica also developed lung cancer. Perhaps the diagnostic tech tions that there may be significant shifts both in age and niques of those days were too inadequate. This historical sex incidence when, exogenous carcinogens are responsible. background lends special interest to a statistical study made Thus, while the incidence of lung cancer is higher for men by Dr. Dorn of the relation of lung cancer to atmospheric than for women, in the general population, this relative soot from domestic and industrial sources. In this study sex incidence may apparently be significantly altered in he found the incidence to be low in Pittsburgh as compared situations where women have the same occupational ex with five other large cities. posures as the men. Similarly, the incidence of occupa Commercial soots prepared from natural gas and oil tional lung cancer appears to affect a somewhat younger residues are also under investigation. The carbon black age group than that characteristic for the population as a industry is now supporting experimental research in this whole. field and further data of interest may be forthcoming in *Safe Dosage and Prevention-- Since toxicity is, in gen the near future. eral, a function of dosage -- where dosage is measured in Exhaust gases from diesel and gasoline engines have terms of intensity and duration of exposure -- the occu very naturally come under suspicion. But here again, in pational diseases are amenable to control by well estab vestigations as to the incidence of lung cancer among per lished industrial hygiene techniques. For that reason, it sons heavily exposed, such as policemen, street cleaners, has been useful to develop safe standards for exposure to garage mechanics and automobile drivers, have all been potentially toxic substances in industry. These are known negative. as Maximum Allowable Concentrations (M . A. C .). Crude mineral oil and tar are still in the doubtful cate While allergy, synergism arid some other matters, which gory. Inhalation of aerosols of processed mineral oil and we need not go into here, present complications, these shale oil; fumes from creosote and anthracene oil (3, 4 standards have proved invaluable for the prevention of benzpyrene) and particularly crude paraffin oils or the occupational diseases. They are constantly being improved heavier fuel oils are all under suspicion at present. They and extended as new scientific data become available. are being investigated, but no conclusive data are available It is unfortunate, therefore, that equally convenient and thus far. Special attention is being given to tar fumes in simple relationships between dosage, toxicity and carcino tobacco smoke. Isopropyl oil, inhaled as a vapor, in con genicity do not seem to exist in the field of environmental nection with the manufacture of isopropyl alcohol, is the cancer. It is not helpful to know that a chemical substance only chemical in the aliphatic group that is now suspect is toxic because this does not apparently indicate anything as a cause of lung cancer. as to its carcinogenicity and vice versa. Lead has already 2. Inorganic Chemicals been cited as a toxic chemical which is not carcinogenic. Beta naphthylamine, conversely, is carcinogenic but has never been known to produce systemic poisoning. And so, the maintenance in a factory workroom of Maximum Al lowable Concentrations will not necessarily insure safe working conditions, if a potential carcinogen happens to be present. It has recently been suggested that there is a critical dose for each carcinogen of exogenous origin; and that cancer will ultimately develop once this dose has been reached, whether as a result of a single exposure or cumulative ab sorption over a period of time. But even could such dosage be accurately determined one would still, for purposes of prevention, face the formidable problems created by the fact that cancer may take a great many years to develop; that it may also develop after a relatively short exposure; and that there may be a lag of many years between the pertinent exposure and the development of the cancer. Asbestos -- The relation of asbestos to lung cancer, long suspectedj. has received new confirmation from the 1949 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Inspector of Factories in England. During the period from 1924 to 1946 inclusive, 235 deaths were reported either caused by asbestosis or in which asbestosis had been established at necropsy. Cancer of the lungs or pleura was found in 31 of these cases or 13.2 per cent. This is very high compared with a general incidence of 1 per cent for cancer of the lungs among all adults examined at necropsy in England. Moreover, the sex distribution seemed also to suggest the presence of an occupational carcinogen. The histologic character of the cancers--squamous cell, instead of adeno carcinoma-- and their histogenetic derivation, in that the bronchial mucosa was involved rather than the alveolar epithelium, was interpreted to indicate the presence of a specific exogenous carcinogenic agent as the etiological factor; in this instance, inhalation of asbestos dust. K nown and Suspected Carcinogens The development of cancer of the lungs is believed to be Let us, now, turn to a consideration of specific factors more directly related to asbestosis, the disease, than to the in the industrial environment which are known to produce inhalation of asbestos dust per se. Differential diagnosis by lung cancer, or which are suspect and under investigation. X-ray between asbestosis and lung cancer presents all of 1. Organic Chemicals the difficulties one would anticipate. It has been suggested Among the organic chemicals, none, thus far, has been that cytological examination of the bronchial secretions definitely shown to be capable of producing lung cancer. might well be made in workers exposed to asbestos dust, Many are still under investigation, but the data now avail whenever clinical or X-ray evidence suggests the possibility able are inconclusive and contradictory. of a pre-cancerous lesion. Careful histological studies of The products of incomplete combustion of coal have lung tissue, postmortem, in all such cases would also pro been studied, as well as its various distillation and frac vide valuable data. tionation products. These studies have included such sub It has been estimated that approximately 20,000 work stances as tar, asphalt, pitch, oil, lamp blacks, carbon ers are now employed in asbestos-producing industries in balllacckasseasnhdavveariboeuesn teyiptheserofnesgoaotti.veTohrusincfaorn,cltuhseivreesiunlstos fainr thiNs iccokuenltrCyaarnbdonCyal--naEdax.posure to nickel carbonyl in the f1i! as cancer of the respiratory tract is concerned. nickel works in England has also been the subject of spe- 23 I cial investigation and report by the Chief Medical Inspec tor of Factories. In a review of the incidence of nose and ' lung cancer between the years 1923 and 1948, inclusive, he found 47 cases of cancer of the nose, and 82 cases of cancer of the lungs among these workers. The average duration of exposure before the development of cancer was 23 years for the nose cases, and 25 years for the lung cases. The average length of time between diagnosis and death was short; and by the end of 1948, 46 of the nasal and 72 of the lung cases had died. The precise causative agent has not yet been identified and the matter continues to be under active investigation. There is no comparable experience in this country. The Chromates-- The etiological role of the chromates in the production of lung cancer has been pretty well estab lished in this country in the last few years; and these findings have confirmed previous European experience. In 1948, at the request of the chromium-producing in dustry, Drs. Machle and Gregorius made a study of deaths from cancer of the respiratory tract from 1937-1947, in five chromium-producing plants. Dr. Mancuso, the year following, examined the records of all employees who had worked one year or more between 1931 and 1949 in a chromate-producing plant in Ohio. Dr. Baetjer then reviewed all of the European and American experience, and reported on a study of her own in which she analyzed the records of two hospitals in Baltimore located near a chromate-producing plant. In each of these studies the incidence of lung cancer among the chrome workers was significantly high. A total of 122 case reports, were thus collected, of can cer of the' respiratory tract among workers exposed to chrome. O f these, 109 worked in the chromate-producing industries; 11 in the manufacture of chrome pigments; 2 in other industries. Sixty-three of the cases occurred in Germany, 57 in the United States, and 1 each in Switzer land and England. The chemical substances believed to be responsible are the hexavalent chromium compounds, par ticularly N a and K monochromate or dichromate; and zinc chromate, inhaled as dusts. W hile the mechanismsyare not known, certain observa tions were made which are of interest: 1) Most cases were found to be primary bronchiogemc carcinomas. In a few instances, the upper respiratory tract or the oral region were involved. The incidence of cancer in other tissues was not high. 2) In some cases, an exposure of four years appeared to be sufficient. In most cases, however, a great many years of exposure were necessary. In some instances there was a latent period of variable duration between leaving the exposure and the development of the cancer. 3) The intensity of exposure could not be evaluated in these cases. Presumably, however, in years gone by, this type of work was very dusty. 4) Lung cancer in these workers showed a somewhat younger age distribution than that for non-occupational lung cancer. 5) There was no indication that persons exposed to chromates in other occupations were more than normally liable to cancer of the respiratory tract. In New York State there is exposure to chrome and its compounds in a variety of industries; In the mining and extraction of chrome ore, which is ferrous chromite; in the manufacture of chrome pigments, including zinc and lead chromates; in chrome-plating operations, where there is exposure to chromic acid and chromic acid mist; in the leather industry where chromium sulphate and sodium bichromate are used in tanning. Photo-engravers are ex posed to ammonium bichromate and also to asphalt. Since both of these substances are under suspicion, the Division of Industrial Hygiene decided to make a special study of photo-engravers. In photo-engraving, the copper plates are coated with a thin light-sensitive film of gelatin and ammonium bi chromate, and the plate is then exposed to light behind a negative. The penetration of light through the transparent areas of the negative, causes the formation of a water insoluable chromium-gelatin film, which is resistant to acid. The parts not exposed to light remain soluble and are washed off. Prior to etching all large surfaces, which are gelatin-free and which would ordinarily have to be eaten away, are coated with an asphalt paint, which is resistant to acid. After the plates have been etched in a ferric chlor ide solution, these areas are reamed out with the aid of rotary electric cutting tools. An unselected series of 684 photo-engravers were X-ray ed in cooperation with the chest clinic of the New York City Department of Health. No pulmonary neoplasms were found. At the same time a preliminary examination was made, under Dr. Hueper's direction, of the health records of the Photoengraver's Union at its central head quarters in St. Louis. The results are inconclusive, thus far, however, and further study is necessary. 3. Radiation Exposure, to radiation is on the increase not only in in dustry but in hospitals and in research laboratories every where. Radium dial painting is booming again as a re sult of industrial expansion for defense. The examination of metal castings for flaws by the use of radium and X-ray has become routine in foundry operations. Radioactive co balt is being used increasingly for this purpose at present. The fluoroscope has not only made its way into retail shoe stores, but is used in many industries as an inspection de vice --. {or the detection of misplaced nails in shoe manu facture; for examination of metal inserts in plastics; for the detection of foreign bodies in packaged foods, and so on. Radioactive static eliminators are utilized to prevent fires in dozens of industries and operations. These include publishing houses, plastic fabric manufacture, teletype machine installations, etc. Radioactive isotopes are step ping out of the expert hands of technical personnel, in research laboratories, and are now finding their way into the hands of lay workers, not at all familiar with the po tential hazards to health which are involved; or with the precautionary measures which are essential for safety. Wherever there is radioactive dust in the workroom air __however invisible to the naked eye--one is presented with a known etiological agent in the production of lung cancer. There is, as yet, very little information as to what constitutes a "safe" dust count; or how much radioactive dust one might, in general, anticipate in specific operations. Too few dust counts have, as yet, been made to provide this basic experience. However, standards for radon gas in the air of the workroom, emanating from radioactive ma terials present there, have been established; also for radon in the expired air of individual workers. Taking of the air samples is not too difficult. But these samples must be sent to highly specialized radiation laboratories for an alysis, and this is fairly expensive. 1 In such plants there is usually simultaneous exposure to various types of external radiation. This type of exposure will not produce lung cancer; but adequate lead shielding and-other control measures are nevertheless essential for the prevention of cancer elsewhere in the body. (Continued in the July, 1952 issue) 24 j5o 2 U CD OC l O co ZD "O o 01 Q_ jGQ> >CDs E "Oc: CD CD CL _2Q C"( D o "CD -o CD QOO 0) CD CD C l. O *CD CL? 03 E CD