Document zzB5QK7xnxwK47mQmp26gLzXg

Industrial Hygiene Digest JDecember. I9tt 1 1*v urine lAilyilt tor total (free plus conjugated) i-fiaphchol When ibiofbed into the body, Sevin ii metabolised and excreted* at leaat partially* a* l-naphtboi. Relatively large am ount# of 1-naphtho) acre excreted by employee# exposed to air concentration# of Sevin rang, ing from 0.2) to 31 mg. of dust per cubic meter of air. Blood cbollne#teraoe level# In ex- poaed employee# were mostlywithin the normal range and only occasionally slightly depre#e<t. In no Instance was there clinical or subjective evidence of Increased acetylcholine activity among these employees. -- Cond. from authors* summary * II 1154 Methoxychlor In Eggs and Chicken Tissues. C. E. Olney* W, E. Donaldson and T. W. Ko,n J. Ecotu Entomol. 55* 477-479 (Aug. 1962). Both laying hens.and growing chicks were fed 2, 4* 8, 10* 100* and 1*000 ppm of methoxychtor In their daily diet, the hens for 85 daya and the chicks for 56 days* without ad. verse effect on egg production* feed utilisation* maintenance of body weight or mortality. The Insecticide waa not detectable in the eggs at the lower feeding levels* but was readily found at the 100 and t, 000 ppm diets from the eighth day onward* It could no longer be de tected in the eggs 14 and 26 days, respectively, after hens on the 100 and J* 000 ppm diets were returned to the control diet. Methoxychlor appeared in the fat and skin at tbs lower feeding levels and in the heart* gixsard, leg* liver and breast, as well at the higher diet levels. Cessation of feeding of methoxychlor roeulted in a relatively rapid decline of the insecticide In all tissues except the akin and fat. In these two tissues the level dropped to ;* less than 0,05 ppm after 63 days. -- Public Health Eng. Abiti. 1155 Accidental Poisoning from Agricultural Pesticides. A. A man. Bull. World health Organisation 26. 109*120 (1962). 11! This report* based on a dissertation for the London DPH* describes with many de- taila the result of introducing economically valuable but otherwise dangerous materials into a relatively primitive community. The author is Medical Officer of Health for Beersheba, I! Israel. In a period of 12 month, 21 eases of poisoning from parathion with 7 deaths were re corded among a population of only 60*000* and of these 19 were in children under 15 yesrs y of age* indicating that the main hatard from a substance like parathion Uea not In the field fi but in and around the home. Control measures taken are briefly described. The organi sation of facilities for diagnoses and treatment is given as well as details of tbe results of treatment of parathion poisoning with atropine and pyridine-2-aldoxime-methiodlde which wit II made available after the first cases had been reported. In the account of the accidents at tention is drawn to the presence of thallium DDT* dieldrln and other preparations "stored on helves chee by jowl with food articles." Bull, Hyg. i! 1J56 Effects of Hyoscine and Meclosine on Vigilance ind Short-Term Memory. W. P. Colquhouo. Brit. J. Ind. Med. 19. 287-296 (Oct. 1962). i An investigation was made of the effects of 1 mg. hyoscine hydrobromide and of SO mg. meclosine hydrochloride on the performance of tasks of vigilance and short-term memory. In further trials the effect# of these drugs were measured after ingestion of 32 g. $ "5 ethyl alcohol. Efficiency was impaired by hyoscine taken alone* but meclosine alone had no significant effect. The effect of hyoscine was substantially increased by the pretence of alco hol and under these conditions the effect of meclosine was equally great. The vUigance task appeared to be more sensitive to the ciiccts of thu drugs than the memory task, and possible reasons for this are considered in the discussion. -- Author's abst.