Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-01-30
WHAT DUST DOES TO
YOUR LUNG TISSUE

Some mine dusts, notably thosl
from lead, mercury, zinc and arseni,
ores. are poisonous when they com.
in contact with the human bod,
states DR.. R. R. Sayers, chief surgeon
of the Bureau of Mines, Department
Of the Interior, in Serial 2660, recent.
ly issued. The more soluble dusts
from these ores are the more danger
Gus.
AS an example, men are otter
badly poisoned when mining carbon.
ate or oxide ores of lead, whereas
lead poisoning is rare among meu
mining only galena, or lead sulphide.
Another example is the mining and
smelling Of mercury, where the haz-
ard has long been recognized. When
the ore contains free mercury or the
more soluble salts, and when the
workings are underground and poorly
ventilated, some cases of poisoning
occur, but the number is far greater
among the employees about reduction
plants.
Poisonous dusts are rarely, if ever,
found in coal mines.
The preventive treatment in such
cases is much more important than
the curative treatment.
Some dusts, when breathed, irritate
the lungs and produce a disease
known by the general name Of "pneu-
nnoconiosis." This lung disease is
called "silicosis" when it is due to
breathing rock dust, especially fine
silica, "anthracosis," when due to
breathing coal dust, and "siderosis'
when due to breathing iron dust,
Anthracosis is sometimes called coal
miners phthisis or coal miners asth-
ma.
Silicosis is known to be present in
a great part of the handbook mining
districts of the world. In Australia
it is found in both the gold mines and
the lead-silver mines. It is found in
the gold mines of New Zealand and
the tin mines of Great Britain In Corn
wall, as well as among gold miners
of South Africa. 1t is found in many
of the mining districts of the United
States, as in Missouri, Oklahoma
Kansas, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and
California. It has also been found
among the granite workers Of Yer
mont.
In order to determine the suitability
of different kinds of dust for rock
busting in mines, in addition to chem
ical and Photographed examination
of dust, studies are being conducted
on animals at the Pittsburg expert.
ment station of the Bureau of Mines
Animals are exposed in chambers tt
a known concentration of dust. The
dust used as basis types are coal dust
as the type to which men will neces
sarily be exposed, and quartz dust, a.
the most dangerous type of dust thai
might be added for the prevention Of
explosions. Limestone dust, shale
and kaolin dust are also being tested
From these studies it is found that
limestone dust has no more effeci
than coal dust in the production Of
fibrous tissue, but the kaolin, or sill
cate dust, has an effect similar t.
that caused by quartz dust.
The Bureau of Mines directs at
tention to the fact that any dust i:
harmful, if breathed in high concen
tration. Coal miners phthisis, oil
miners asthma, is now comparatively
rare and is disappearing, due chiefly
to good ventilation in coal mines. Ii
some mines coal dust is produced il
large quantities by machine undercut.
ting, by blasting, and by loading. Use
of water on the cutterbar, and wet
ting down the face before blasting anC
the coal before loading will prevent
much of this dust from getting int
the air. This lessons the explosion
hazard in the mine as well as lessen
ing any possible health hazard.
There is one feature that reduces
materially any possible danger from
the use Of shale. This is the fact tina
men, with but few exceptions, will b,
exposed to such dust only for a linn
tied time each day. The bureaus
studies Of men suffering from the eff
fects of silicosis in metal mines show
that silicosis most frequently occurs
among the machine men and the SHOW
elers and muckers. Comparatively
few men have been found to be affect
ed among the trackmen, timbermen
or TRAINERS, unless these men have
previously worked at machines Of
shoveling. In the tentative specifica
tions, prepared by the bureau, atten
ton is directed to the fact that dust
from pure limestone, dolomite, gyp
sum, and anhydrite are preferable.
The dust from roof shale free from
gritty material is extensively used il
Great Britain, but not all roof shale'
are suitable; often they are too sandy
or contain too much combustible mat
ter. So far as the bureau has beer
able to find, limestone dust is the
safest physiologically for use in rocl
busting. Gypsum, or calcium sulphate
also seems to be harmless from &
health standpoint.
Copies Of Serial 1880 may be OBJ
tanned from the Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Mines, Washing
ton. ID. @.