El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-19

Many Families Keep Dan
gerous Disinfectants on
the Medicine Shelf.
DEADLY DRUGS ARE
USED INNOCENTLY
-ASHINGTON. d. G.. July -

w country was shocked by the
! tragic death of B Sanders walker, a
young banker Of Macon, Georgia. who
| swallowed a tablet of bichIOride Of
mercury in the belief that it was a
| tablet Of aspirin Since pubic inter
| est was fastened on that particular
] case, scores of cases have been re-
ported of poisoning by the same meth
/ Cd, some Of them accidental as in the
/ case of the Georgia banker and many
| Of them Intentional The fact that BIZ
| chloride of mercury tablets are in COM
mon use as dlslnteetants, ana that they
may be procured by any body without
any difficulty, has caused an inquiry
TO De made into the dangers 10 Whlcn
families are exposed in the homes by
reason Of the careless handling Of
| poisonous disinfectants
POisOns on Medicine Shelves
= Few families are without one OF more
| disinfectants or germicides upon the
and their use ranges from the destruc-
ton Of various kinds of bacteria to
| that OF larger insect pests such as
IIeas, lice, bedDuSs and ticks, the latter
occurring chiefly upon domestic ami
mails and cattle Many OF these prepa-
ratfons are sold under various names
and the hOusekeeper has no means OF
knowing the extent OF risk she IS run
ming by their careless use.
Most of the disinfectants in popular
use have one Of the coal tar products
as a basis and many OF them are sup
posed TO be harmless. The increasing
number Of deaths and poisoning cases
1 from the use Of disinfectants led to a
series Of Investigations upon the tOxi-
/ city Of the coal tar disinfectants by
the hygienic laboratory connected vita
1 the United States public health ser
vice This investigation is still con-
tinuing although a bulletin regarding
certain results OF the tests made upon
well known proprietary disinfectantS
has Just been published for public dis
tribUtion-
RbenOI OF CarbOIIe Acid.
CarbOHc acid, which is one Of the
/ first and more important Of the coal
tar products. is used IN germieides by
I its more technical term phenol, which
for some reason is less deadly in sound
than carbOlic acid, and therefore eX-
I cites less caution in its use. The house
wife who would be alarmed at the
| careless handling Of carbOnc acid is
! frequently Indifferent to the word phe-
mol even If IT appears in the formula
! OF a purchased dlSInfectant- Yet phe-
mol is the term applied to the first and
most deadly form Of carbolic acid
{ One of the series of experiments made
at the hygienic laboratory for the pur-
I pose Of ascertaihing the poisonous
qualities of commercial dsSinfectants
most frequently seen upon the market
and marked as nOn-pOisOnOus- and adj
m1niStering them IN more or less min
ute doses TO mice, cats, guinea pigs and
other small animals and noting the
effect Their JoxIclty was sufficient TO
cause deaIn DOIh when administered
through the stomach or by injection
beneath the skin
value Overestimated.
The sanitary .-aIue OF the use Of dis
infectants is greatly Overestimated by
the average hOusekeeper who in too
many cases trusts to the dIsinfectant
to cover the lack Of cleanliness in her
home In many instances q lack OF
applied soap and water is being COW
cred up Dy a strong smelnng 0Isln-
fectant and the health Of the family is
not by any means insured By the sub
Stitution-
A few years ago, the smell OF car
bolic acids and similar substances in
dlcated sanitation to the popular mind
rms 1dea snou1q oe overcome as, IN
many Instances, 1t IS simply the using
of one bad smell to cover up another
and If perfect cleanliness prevailed
there would De no baC OdOr TO be con-
/ lied disinfectants are being called for,
but these are not by any means lack
carefully handled even than those
which are accompanied by strong
Odor which in itself is a warning.
Labels Are Misleading.
The tests made in the hygienic labo-
ratOry have established several facts
which should continually be kept in
mind One is that any diSinfectant
which is in any degree effective must
be more or less poisonous in its com
nOn-pOisOnOus may prove to be mis-
leading IN several cases where a large
percentage OF toxicity was found IN
proprietary germIclde labeled harmless.
the firm manufacturing 1t answered the
request of the laboratory Investigators
for an explanation by saying that the
solution Of the strength Indicated upon
the bottle The label harmless" is so
misleading, however, that little atten-
ton IS paid to the finely printed d1rec-
tons and cases Of poisoning have re-
Because of the difficulty IN know
s. ing the qualities Of a disinfectant sold
without a formula the scientists con-
Quoting the experiments strongly -ad-
vOcate the securing Of a prescription
from a reputable physician when the
need of q germicide is felt IN the home,
and the rigid following OF the direc-
lions for its use, which viii accom-
Three Varieties Of KresoIs.
The deadliness of carbohc acid IS
we'll understood and about a quarter OF
a century ago the kresOl products be-
gan to be distilled from coal tar and
sold for disinfectant purposes as a
substitute for carbOnc acid upon the
ground that it was less poisonous in its
quality The kresOls are Of three varie-
ties, the peculiar properties of each OF
which are only recognizable to the
scientific chemist, but il has now been
demonstrated that all are quite equal
to carbOIc acid in their tOXlClty. The
kresols are. usually mixed with soap
or some alkah when used for dlsln-
fecting purposes
Another coal tar product used large
I " as a protection from insect life. as
well as germicide and disinfectant, IS
napthallne, one form OF which IS large
[ " used in the composition Of moIn
/ balls. Napthallne comes IN crystals
which are easily compressed into balls.
1t has a strong Odor resembling creo-
I sote, camphor and carbOlic acid blended
/ Consequently. in addition to its pri-
mary uses of preserving clothing from
moth ravageS. the napthali1e bali IS
frequently thrown into a sink or drain
under the mistaken impression that
deOdorant is a disinfectant-
Moth Balls Dangerous
In a small city in Indiana a Few
years ago, there still prevailed the
primitive custom of permitting farm
/ ers TO call at the house for waste 1000
products which were thrown into q
swill pail and used by the farmer 20
feed his hogs. In warm weather TINS
poorly cleaned swim bucket which
stood in every back yard, became most
offensive in CdOr, so an uptodate noIse1
wife one day threw into il hanulu
of the mothballs she had remalnll7ls
after packing away her winter ware.
robe & few DAYS later an enraged
farmer came in to see her He ehaFgeq
her with the death ot five Of his pest
hogs. as a local veterinary surgeon mad
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