Sulfuric acid injury

Of the overall chemical bum patients, the most common sites involved were the face, neck, and upper body (87%), and the eyes or eyelids were involved in 19% of overall cases [28]. In deliberate chemical assault victims, the face and neck were commonly injured, but the genital area was also involved in many victims. Acids, such as sulfuric acid, can be obtained at low cost in Jamaica. These authors note that many of the chemical assault injuries were devastating with facial destruction and blindness. Less than half of the victims decontaminated tliemselves with copious water inigation before presenting to hospital [28]. 

Another more common example of a momentum break is the use of flange guards placed around flange joints in piping systems handling sulfuric acid or strong caustic. They knock down the liquid spray from a small leak, to prevent personnel injury, and also change color to indicate the leak location. 

Fasteners Vendor-supplied wrong grade (SAE J429) bonnet bolts in a valve Valve bolts failed catastrophically releasing sulfuric acid resulting in personal injury Ensure suppliers of components that contain embedded critical materials have adequate control of their supply chains... 

Bacteria of all kinds are much more sensitive to the effects of sulfurous acid than are yeasts. If used, therefore, in properly regulated amounts it can be made a very efficient means of preventing bacterial action and thus indirectly of aiding the work of the yeast. It has also the very valuable property of preventing the injurious action of the oxydase produced by Botrytis and other molds. Finally, it is necessary in most cases to prevent the too rapid or overoxidation of the wine during aging. 

In Walker v. Stauffer Chemical Corporation, the defendant manufactured bulk sulfuric acid. After that product left the defendant it was compoimded into a product by a customer, packaged and subsequently sold, through distributors, to a manufacturer of drain cleaning compounds. The compounding process involved a change in the chemical composition of the bulk acid the acid was substantially altered not only as to its chemical composition but also as to the containers in which it was distributed. In this case the ultimate product was in no way considered to be the one in the same sulfuric acid which was distributed by Stauffer. The case arose as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion of the drain cleaner. The question before the court was whether Stauffer, the manufacturer of bulk sulphuric acid, was required to transmit warnings of the explosion potential of the cleaning compounds. The court in this case said ... 

We do not believe it realistically feasible or necessary to the protection of the public to require the manufacturer and supplier of a standard chemical ingredient such as bulk sulfuric acid, not having control over the subsequent compounding, packaging or marketing of an item eventually causing injury to the ultimate consumer, to bear the responsibility for that injury. The manufacturer or seller of the product causing the injury is so situated as to afford the necessary protection. ... 

The amino acid taurine has been suggested as a marker of hepatotoxicity because it is involved in the conjugation of bile acids to bile acids, the conjugation of xenobiot-ics, and the detoxification of reactive metabolites. Taurine is a product of sulfur acid metabolism and may reflect protein synthesis. The measurement of urinary taurine in models of hepatotoxicity has been described (Sanins et al. 1990 Waterfield et al. 1993a, 1993b, 1993c Timbrell, Seabra, and Waterfield 1995 Waterfield, Asker, and Timbrell 1996), but the measurement is reported to show diurnal variation, wide intraanimal variability, and less success at minor levels of hepatic injury (Maxuitenko, North, and Roebuck 1997). 

Symptoms of acute sulfuric acid aerosol injury. Typical symptoms of short te m, single exposure sulfuric acid aerosol injury (about 100 mg m x 8 hours) is very similar to that caused by gaseous fluoride on broad leafed plants and consists of marginal and tip necrosis (Figures lA and IB). All plant species examined developed similar symptoms and they appeared to vary, only in degree, based upon species and plant sensitivity. Microscopic injury from sulfuric acid aerosol was found t be similar to that caused by simulated acidic precipitation. Guard cells and epidermal cells appeared shrunken and collapsed. 

Symptoms of Chronic Sulfuric Acid Aerosol Injury... 

Figure 1. Symptoms of acute injury caused by sub-micron sulfuric acid aerosols. A - Unexposed (left) and exposed (right) leaves of Bountiful bean. - A leaf of hybrid poplar exposed to the aerosol.

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