Evening journal., 1917-02-19
POISON PERIL FOR
MUNITIONS WORKERS
Fumes OF Chemicals Attack
Employees OF Plants With
Little Warning
DUPONT COMPANY
HASN'T MANY CASES

ALAA1AN = NAAAAN VIM ~
WASHINGTON. d. c., Feb. 10
Thousands OF persons hav, been sori-
ously and hundreds fatally poisoned
IN American munitions plants while
making war explosives, according 20
an investigation made by agents OF the
Department Of Labor. This is perm
Of which the public has heard prac-
tically nothing, the general notion be-
ing that explosions in such plants
constitute the only menace IN the IN
dustry.
The inquiry was made among forty
explosives factories employing 10000
men in Delaware. New Jersey and
other States About 10000 of the
workmon Dr. Alice Hamilton report
cd TO Secretary OF Labor Wilson,
we're actually exposed to poisons.
There is no way of knowing she
said. how much illness and death re-
sultd from the mad rush, during the
first year OF the war, TO get out ex
plosives in a shorter time than they
could properly be made"
1T is not possible" she reported
"tO discover how much occupations
disease has been caused by work ~
this industry since the war broke out
The information simply Is not OBJ
tainahlo. Some plants, not many, fur.
nish no medical service TO their men,
Listed 1854 Cases Of Poisoning.
with all these drawbacks Or. Ham
ilton and her Investigators learned OF
2.504 instances Of poisoning IN Is
plants in a year. Of which 75 were
women They also learned Of 5t
| fatal cases. two OF them women
Nitrogen oxides and nitric acid caused
$3.50 poisonings and IS deaths, II. n
r. caused 70i poisoninEs and I.
deaths anitin 205 poisonings, fulmi
nate Of mercury II poisonings anC
sulphuric ether 80 poisonings and one
death. Bcnzine and toluene caused
five deaths I'm IL poisonings. phena
one death IN two posonings, sulph
uric acid one death I'm four poisoning
and two poisonings from mixed acid
| resulted In one death.
These 25O4 verified poisonings.
said Dr.. Hamilton. wary in severit
y from a case OF rapidly fatal conges
ton Of the lungs from nitrous fume
TO case OF eczema from filling cap
with illuminate There were min
other fatal cases all men, six frOI
triton and three from nitrous fume
which were reported 10 us either b
men who were not physicians, or
Nsecond hand by physicians who ha
only heard OF the occurrences an
, had not themselves seen the men.
: has seemed best to not include the'
: in our enumeration, although some
= them had every mark Of authentlcit
@ Little Poisoning in DUPONT Plants.
r. In discussing Or. Hamilton's repo
] on poisoning among munitions worI
D ors, Dr. w. G.. Hudson. medical d
rector of the dupont Company. sa
today:
There has boon very little poison
ing in our plants. The treatment I
these 20 sons mas not been now
us. We mad been studying and treai
ing them for several years before IN
war and we have a large and tho
oughly trained medical stan TO car
for the health OF our workers. w
make microscopic examination {
the blood OF the workers and this eI
ables us TO detect the first sign {
, any poisoning and treat the mon b.
2 fore the cases become serious"
s Or. Hudson discussed this subje
, at length recently in a paper printC
e in the Medical Record. After descril
v ing accidents from inhaling nitrol
p. fumes he said of the preventi'
q measures
"a III there ever was place where a
a ounce OF prevention is worth pour
q OF cure it Is IN this condition. VIII,
M all workmon engaged IN handlii
A. nitric acid come to fully realize q
nj deadly character OF tho nitrous FUN
m there will be fewer fatalities from
se haling them; and. indeed, the greS
or ~ reduced number of such Rccider
IN IN the DUPONT Company would sec
et TO indicate that our own men q
3y needing the warning. We are c.
We tainly doing out part toward prevel
We ing such accidents. we are repeated
We warning our employees of tho dang'
and by providing various protect
r. devices. such as oxygen and
nd helmets. ammonium carbonate spr'
We for neutralizlng the fumes. and OIL
on oXpedieuts Il is hoped that future
lot casions where men may through
,e- cident ne exposed to inhaling 81
n gases will be very few indeed"
lie The freedom from fatalities Of
mt dupont workers is explained by DIR. D
ur son in the paper in this way;
OF "Owing 10 the haste with which M
G. of the now factories have been cree
n and their tmfamiliarity with the nc
e, sary precautions, it is not surprisin,
81 me that numerous fatal cases have
reported from other countries. We
"a not had anything except minor deg
Ia Of poisoning thus far, and this I at
y, ute largely 20 the early recognition
,a | tho dangers involved, their deta
IN study. and the institution Of The
IN cautionary measures just outlined"
es PICkET THE WHITE HOUSE.