Lead poisoning and lead absorption

by Sir Thomas Morison Legge; Kenneth Weldon Goadby

Table VII.—Attack Rate from Lead Poisoning in the Year 1910 in Certain Industries.

Industry.	Number of Exami- nations.	Probable Number of Persons employed.	Number of Reported Cases.	Attack Rate per Thousand.
White lead	77,752	1,495	34	22
Red lead	8,096	675	10	15
Vitreous enamelling	3,064	766	17	22
Tinning of metals	1,475	492	17	34
Electric accumulators	13,065	1,089	31	28
Paints and colours	19,081	1,590	17	11
Earthenware and china	78,560	6,547	77	12

As has been mentioned above, the accurate information we have of the numbers employed in the several processes in the earthenware and china industry enable us to use the figures for that industry to illustrate, what is certainly true of all other lead industries also, the fact of the relative greater degree of risk in one process than another.

The fall in the number of fatal cases attributed to lead poisoning, as is perhaps to be expected, seeing that the great majority are deaths from chronic lead poisoning, does not run parallel with the diminution in the number of cases. Thus, in the five years 1905 to 1909 the deaths numbered 144, as compared with 131 in the previous five years, although the cases fell from 3,761 to 3,001. We believe this is due to an increasing inclination to attribute chronic nephritis, and even (without sufficient justification in our opinion) phthisis and pneumonia, to lead poisoning on the death certificates of lead workers. Copies of all death certificates on which lead poisoning is entered as directly or indirectly a cause are received by the Chief Inspector of Factories. All of industrial origin are included in the return. Of a total of 264 which could be followed up, encephalopathic symptoms appeared on the death certificate in 38 (10·6 per cent.); Bright’s disease, cerebral hæmorrhage, paralysis, or chronic lead poisoning either alone or as a combination of symptoms closely connected, in 188 (71·2 per cent.); phthisis in 13 (5·0 per cent.); and other diseases, such as pneumonia, etc., in 25 (9·4 per cent.). [Table IX.] brings out the relative frequency in the several groups of industries, and, as is to be anticipated, the different average age at death when due to acute and chronic lead poisoning.

TABLE VIII.—LEAD POISONING IN EARTHENWARE AND CHINA WORKS

(China, Earthenware, Tiles, Majolica, Jet and Rockingham, China Furniture and Electrical Fittings, Sanitary Ware).

Processes.				Persons employed in 1907.	Cases Reported: Average per Year.			Attack-Rate per Thousand employed: Average per Year.
					1907- 1910.	1903- 1906.	1899- 1902.	1907- 1910.[A]	1903- 1906.[B]	1899- 1902.[C]
In dipping-house:
Dippers	-		M.	786	17	18	26	22	23	34
			F.	150	6	4	7	40	30	68
Dippers’ assistants	-		M.	463	3	3	7	7	7	15
			F.	397	13	18	17	33	46	45
Ware-cleaners	-		M.	115	1	2	3	9	20	30
			F.	461	15	18	30	33	41	65
Total	-		M.	1,346	21	23	36	15	17	27
			F.	1,008	34	40	54	34	42	58
Glost-placers	-		M.	2,291	16	12	33	7	5	14
			F.	120	1	1	1	8	10	14
Majolica-painters	-		M.	28	—	—	—	—	—	—
			F.	358	6	8	10	13	14	20
Ground-layers	-		M.	58	1	—	1	17	—	17
			F.	157	1	1	4	6	5	13
Colour and litho dusters	-		M.	14	—	—	—	—	—	—
			F.	143	—	1	4	—	7	33
Enamel colour and glaze blowers	-		M.	51	—	—	1	—	—	36
			F.	288	3	3	2	10	14	12
Colour-makers and millers and mixers of glaze or colour	-		M.	371	5	5	6	13	13	17
			F.	55	1	1	1	18	48	114
Other persons in contact with lead	-		M.	327	2	1	2	6	5	11
			F.	132	1	2	4	8	21	75
Grand total	-		M.	4,504	44	41	80	10	9	19
			F.	2,361	45	57	80	19	25	37
			(M. and F.)	6,865	89	98	160	13	15	25

[A] Calculated on return of employment for 1907.

[B] Calculated on return of employment for 1904.

[C] Calculated on return of employment for 1900.