Metals workers

Rasmussen K, Sabroe S, Wohlert M, et al. 1988. A genotoxic study of metal workers exposed to trichloroethylene Sperm parameters and chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 60 419-423. 

Araki S, Aono H, Yokoyama K, et al. 1986. Filterable plasma concentration, glomerular fdtration, tubular reabsorption and renal clearance of heavy metals and organic substances in metal workers. Arch Environ Health 41 216-221. 

Basic toxicity has been identified from careful observation and experimentation in the workplace and in the lab. Over the years, from the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and probably long before that, we have learned that exposure to certain substances can cause bodily harm. Hippocrates, the founder of medicine in Ancient Greece, described the occurrence of lead poisoning among lead miners and metal workers as long ago as 400 B.C. The Roman historian, Pliny, described in his encyclopedia in the second half of the first century A.D., the dangers of mercury poison-... 

Horowitz SF, Fischbein A, Matza D Evaluation of right and left ventricular function in hard metal workers. Br J Ind Med 45 742-746, 1988... 

Moulin JJ, Wild P, Romazini S, et al Lung cancer risk in hard metal workers. AmJ Epidemiol 148(3) 241-248, 1998... 

Hebrew metal workers recognized tin as a frequent adulterant of the noble metals And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin (Isa. 1, 25). Alex. R. Gordon interprets this to mean alloy instead of tin (19). Ezekiel s parable of the dross in the furnace also recognizes tin as a base metal (Ezek. 22, 18-22). 

The only experimental data available on human exposure to airborne diethanolamine come from clinical provocation tests. Diethanolamine-induced occupational asthma was diagnosed following specific bronchial provocation tests in an exposure chamber. The positive reaction was observed in a 39-year-old male metal worker after a 30-min or 45-min inhalation exposure to aerosols from a warmed cutting fluid (40 °C) containing 0.15% diethanolamine and 0.32% triethanolamine, as well as after a 15-min exposure to pure diethanolamine at aerosol concentrations of 0.75 and l.Omg/m (Piipari etal, 1998). 

Larger particles (several micrometers in size) are deposited in the ciliated portion and are cleared from the respiratory system by muco-ciliary action into the gastronomical tract, but may produce systemic toxic effects by absorption in body fluids. Finer particles reach the lower non-ciliated portion of the lungs, are cleared very slowly, and are responsible for diseases such as pneumoconiosis and lung cancer. Metallic lead (Pb), tellurium ( ), selenium (Se), and platinum (Pt) are known to cause both systemic and respiratory toxicity in laboratory animals and several cases of acute and chronic poisoning among metal workers have also been documented. 

Internal and external evidence are to the effect that the phase of chemical activity and interest which so long held the stage not only in Europe but in Arabia and Asia, spreading even to India and China, had its origin in the practices of the metal workers of Egypt and in the theories of matter and its possible changes as developed in the neoplatonic school of natural philosophy. 

By playing around with proportions, metal workers can readily modify the properties of an alloy. For example, in designing the Sacagawea dollar coin, shown in Figure 18.15, the U.S. Mint needed a metal that had a gold color—so that it would be popular—and also had the same electrical characteristics as the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin—so that the new coin could substitute for the Anthony coin in vending machines. 

Ss noted earlier, the prime component of slag is silicates, and as early as 500 B.C. metal workers noticed that solidified slag had properties not unlike those of the highly prized volcanic glass obsidian. This prompted people to heat all sorts of rocks in various combinations. Slags of many colors were pro-... 

Teraok H. 1981. Distribution of 24 elements in the internal organs of normal males and the metallic workers in Japan. Archives of Environmental Health 36 155-165. 

A number of factors have been shown to alter the rate of excretion of chromium in humans. Intravenous injection of calcium EDTA resulted in a rapid increase in the urinary excretion of chromium in metal workers (Sata et al. 1998). Both acute and chronic exercises have been shown to increase chromium excretion in the urine, though the increased excretion did not appear to be accompanied with decreased levels of total native chromium (Rubin et al. 1998). An increased rate of chromium excretion has been reported in women in the first 26 weeks of pregnancy (Morris et al. 1995b). Chromium supplementation did not appear to alter the rate of excretion into breast milk in postpartum women (Mohamedshah et al. 

Sata F, Araki S, Murata K, et al. 1998. Behavior of heavy metals in human urine and blood following calcium disodium ethylenedoamine tetraacetate injection Observations in metal workers. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health,Part A 54 167-178. 

All Occupations Farm Occupations Truck Drivers Electric Power Installers Roofers Construction Laborers Taxicab Drivers Structural Metal Workers Airplane Pilots Timber Cutters Fishers... 

Brass (copper + zinc) and bronze (copper + tin) are the most common and widely used alloys of copper. There are many different formulae for these alloys, and the percentages of each metal used varied according to the properties that were desired in the end product, and what was available to the metal workers in a given place. German silver is another copper-based alloy (Cu + Ni + Zn). Lattan is a copper-based alloy used for casting, but the ratios of its component metals are uncertain. 

Gallagher RP, Threlfall WJ. Cancer mortality in metal workers. CMAJ 1983 129 191. 

Pine, 1. M. et al. 2000. Characterization of clinical tolerance to inhaled zinc oxide in naive subjects and sheet metal workers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 42(11) 1085-1091. 

Baker EL, Dagg T, Greene RE. 1985. Respiratory illness in the construction trades. I. The significance of asbestos-associated pleural disease among sheet metal workers. J Occup Med 27 483-489. 

Glencross PM, Weinberg JM, Ibrahaim JG, et al. 1997. Loss of lung function among sheet metal workers Ten-year study. Am J Ind Med 32 460-466. 

Hunting KL, Welch LS. 1993. Occupational exposure to dust and lung disease among sheet metal workers. Br J Ind Med 50(5) 432-442. 

Selikoff IJ, Lilis R. 1991. Radiological abnormalities among sheet-metal workers in the construction industry in the United States and Canada Relationship to asbestos exposure. Arch Environ Health 46 30-36. 

Welch LS, Michaels D, Zoloth SR, et al. 1994. The national sheet metal workers asbestos disease screening program Radiologic findings. Am J Ind Med 25 536-648. 

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