Fumigation of ships

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is a colorless gas that is extremely poisonous. It has the odor of bitter almond, and its presence normally goes unnoticed. Hydrogen cyanide is used for rodent control, fumigation of ships for pest control, and... 

Countless publications elaborated the topic further. Practical experiments were also conducted to increase man s understanding of means for the successful control of the cause. For example, Dr. G. Peters reports in his work Blausdure zur Schadlingsbekampfung 11 about the fumigation of ships with hydrogen cyanide, done in the United States as early as 1910, and about tunnel facilities which entire railway trains could drive into to be disinfested. Thus it is no surprise that Peters also mentions the quantity of hydrogen cyanide that is lethal when absorbed by humans, and therefore, Pres-sac s claim12 that the lethal dose was not known is completely false. It was also already a known fact in those days that HCN could be absorbed via the skin. 

Free hydrogen cyanide occurs only rarely in nature because of its high reactivity. The gas is sometimes found in the atmosphere, however, as a result of emissions from the petrochemical industry, malfunctioning catalytic converters on automobiles, fumigation of ships and warehouses, incomplete combustion of nitrogen-containing materials, and... 

There is evidence of tires contributing to the presence of mosquito-transmitted diseases. The main solution that has been offered is tire shredding. This guarantees that no water will be held for breeding sites. Further preventive measures could include requiring all shipped tires and all stockpiles to be fumigated. Other solutions sometimes suggested to the mosquito problem in tire stockpiles... 

Alumtnum phosphide, hke aluminum nitride, reacts with moisture but in this case the gaseous product is phosphine, PH3, a very toxic gas. For this reason, AlP is used as a fumigant to control insects in stored products such as raw agricultural products, animal feeds, processed foods (for example, flour and sugar), tobacco, wood, paper, leather, hair, and feathers. It is also used for control of rodents such as rats, mice, squirrels, and gophers in and around mills, food processing plants, warehouses and silos, and in rail cars, ships, and shipping containers. 

The means of fumigating infected chambers, etc. In The Family and Ship Medicine Chest Companion Being a Compendium of Domestic Medicine. .. Philadelphia, 1851. 

USE Extracting gold and silver from ores electroplating baths fumigating citrus and other fruit trees, ships, railway cars, warehouses, etc. manuf hydrocyanic acid and many other cyanides case hardening of steel. Caution See Hy. drogen Cyanide. 

During World War II, the Nazis employed hydrocyanic acid adsorbed onto a dispersible pharmaceutical base (Zyklon B) to exterminate millions of civilians and enemy soldiers in the death camps.3 4 Zyklon B was a fumigant and rodenticide. One of its uses in the United States and other countries was to rid ships of rodents. 

The Chemical Warfare Service, in addition to conducting research and development on various aspects of chemical warfare, co-operated with other branches of the Army, with the U.S. Public Health Service, and with the Navy on projects of a quasi-public-health nature. In 1920 the service was directed to co-operate with the Medical Department and the Quartermaster Corps on the extermination of rodents and vermin. Later the CWS worked on methods of exterminating the boll weevil and on improved methods for fumigating ships. ... 

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