Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-28
OCCUPAYIONAL DISEASES
W.-Painters and Lead
Poisoning.
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

No skilled workman is better known to
the general public than the painter. Dff-
flcult, indeed it would be to find a single
village which does not have its painter.
so important is his place in commercial
affairs. But not even the United States
government knows to certainty how
many painters suffer from lead poisoning,
although no other trade risks greater ex-
posture to it. No nationwide survey OF
the ravages of lead poisoning in the ranks
OF painters has been made in this country.
However, from data collected for the
United States bureau Of labor last year
by DR.. Alice Hamilton, the Hull House
social worker in Chicago, and from in
vestigations by the states of Ohio and
Illinois and the Prudential Life Insurance
Company, it appears that one out Of every
five painters becomes victim, and that
another one-dfth are eventually attacked
by three of its principal offshoots-stom-
ach trouble, kidney trouble and rheuma-
tism- There are about 100000 painters,
slazieSs and varnishers in this country.
They are enumerated In one group by the
federal census, and as the glaciers and
varnishers are not exposed to lead pol
soning. It is practically impossible to say
just what proportion of the group comes
properly within the purview of this sum-
mary.
There are several kinds of painters,
and the curve of lead poisoning among
them varies according to the CLASH
ncations There are house painters, sign
painters. those who work out of doors
or who are engaged in interior decora-
ton, wagon. carriage and automobile
painters, painters of machinery and ship
painters Exposure to the disease de-
Ponds not only upon ventilation. climate,
conditions Of employment, but also upon
the compositions in the paints and var
nishes themselves. The ship painters
suffer more than all other branches of
the calling.
1t is a firmly established fact that
white lead is a very aggravatins factor
in inducing lead
Factors Found poisoning, but
in Lead Poisoning. p PANT Is a com,
may contain other ingredients fully as
dangerous. Consequently. the recent cru
sads against white lead which has re-
suited in a great diminution of its use,
sometimes overlooks other harmful fac
tors. The three constituents of paint are
the basic pigment. oil and volatiles. One.
be poisonous Nor does price make
much difference in this regard. The
higher-priced paints usually consist of
white lead. linseed oil and turpentine.
Only the linseed oil is nOn-poisonous. On
the other hand, cheap paints may have no
white lead whatever in them The pig
Inent, which generally forms 30 or 90
per cent of the whole composition. may
be innocuous chalk or barytes, but the
ha off in, no.
troleum products as to provoke acute
cases of poisoning. When such COM
position is used in stuffy apartments.
small Easements and like spots. its evil
effects on the men are painfully notice
able within a few hours.
Turpentine is not. the only harmful
volatile in paints. Others are petroleum.
benzine, naphtha. benzole. amyl acetate
carbon disulphide. Another dangerous
combination of ingredients is the So
called bituminous paint. 1t consists Of
petroleum coal tar. rosin and asphalt.
tanks and ship bottoms. 1t must be
applied hot and gives off thick fumes
which are very irritating to the throat
and the eyes, causing nausea and head
similar to the effects Of alcoholic intoxi-
cafion. Painters complain strongly
against the use of this PAINT. as it even
tu2lly brings on ulcers and skin diseases.
fdandllnS paints IN winch more DenZfne
and naphtha than the safe proportion of
from to per cent has been mixed may
be followed by serious consequences.
Some cheap paints contain as high as 40
per cent, and their use in poorly vent-
lated or cramped Quarters induces auto
intoxication. clouding Of the memory.
sometimes Inconsistencies and even con-
WILSON'S What follows? Indigestion,
chronic bronchitis, extreme nervousness.
weakness and occasionally grave impair
rnent of the intellect. And yet many
painters consider the aforementioned BIZ
luminous composition more disagreeable
than naphtha and benzine. Corrosive poi
sons in the form Of strong bleaching
fluids made up largely of carbolic acid
and oxalic acids and potash were once
but an additional bane to the painters
existence, but strong and protracted OBJ
jections have resulted in an abandonment
of 1t by the trade that is almost COM
plete.
Several brands Of hat-fnish paints have
worked into general favor of late, par
ucularly for in
Flat Finish Paint terror work A
Comes Into Favor, erea' oeai