Excerpt:

Summary

The authors record the results of their clinical examination of 78 workers engaged in the crushing and refining of cryolite. Beside silicosis — to as much as the second degree — which was present in 39, the following three diseases were found to be common in these workers:

1) a curious sclerotic affection of bones, ligaments, and muscular attachments, probably due to the deposition of calcium-fluoride in the bones The authors believe that the occurrence of this disease in man has not been described before. It was found in 30 of the workers examined.

2) an acutely arising and acutely revolving affection of the stomach, supposedly due to a slight corrosion of the mucous lining of that organ, owing to some of the fluorine contained in the swallowed cryolite-dust being changed by the hydrochloric-acid of the stomach into hydrofluorine.

3) a pronounced oligemia, found in 11 of the 30 workers in whom pathological changes in the bones were observed.

These changes in the bones are described in detail, and the causes of their occurrence, as well as that of the other symptoms, and the connection of these with the fluorine contained in the cryolite, are discussed.

The results of the investigation are compared with those of an investigation made of 21 other workers from industries where fluorine and materials containing fluorine are used. Also animal experiments with experimental feeding with cryolite are spoken of, but a more detailed description of these is reserved for a future communication.

Finally, the authors speak of experiments with a fluorine therapy for certain bone diseases, and suggestions for such a therapy; but also those experiments are in the nature of a preliminary communication.

Print PDF

• Related Studies :

  • Fluorosis by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, National Health, India.

    Introduction Fluorosis is a crippling disease resulted from deposition of fluorides in the hard and soft tissues of body. It is a public health problem caused by excess intake of fluoride through drinking water/food products/industrial pollutants over a long period. Ingestion of excess fluoride, most commonly in drinking-water affects the teeth

  • Health problems in fluoride endemic areas of Gaya District

    Fluoride (F) was estimated in the groundwater of six blocks (Bodh Gaya, Manpur, Wazirganj, Belaganj, Amas, and Bankebazar) of Gaya District, Bihar, for different physio-chemical properties e.g. pH, total dissolved solids(TDS), conductivity, turbidity, total hardness (TH), calcium, magnesium, iron and fluoride. Morever 93 blood samples from different age groups including

  • Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards.

    Excerpts: Summary Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to establish exposure standards for contaminants in public drinking-water systems that might cause any adverse effects on human health. These standards include the maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG), the maximum contaminant level (MCL), and the secondary

  • Epidemiologic health study of workers in an aluminum smelter in Kitimat, B.C. II. Effects on musculoskeletal and other systems

    A health study was carried out on 2066 workers in an aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia to study the effects of exposure to fluoride and other air contaminants encountered on the potlines on the musculoskeletal system, hemopoietic tissue, liver, and renal function. Three hundred seventy-two railway repair workers from

  • Clinical and hygienic evaluation of the combined effect of vibration and fluoride in humans

    By L. Ya. Tartatovskaya, G.N. Samokhvalova, A.G. Antropov Medical Science Centre of Prophylactics and Protection of the Health Workers in Industrial Enterprises, Ekaterinburg, Russia. The study of the combined action of vibration and intense noise, muscular loads and cooling has made it possible to assess the probability of the development of vibration

• Related FAN Content :

  • Gastrointestinal Problems Among Individuals with Skeletal Fluorosis

    Humans suffering from skeletal fluorosis are known to suffer from an increased occurrence of gastrointestinal disorders. When fluoride intake is reduced, these gastrointestinal problems are among the first symptoms to disappear. The following are some of the studies that have examined this issue: "It is clear from the observations presented in this article

  • "Pre-Skeletal" Fluorosis

    As demonstrated by the studies below, skeletal fluorosis may produce adverse symptoms, including arthritic pains, clinical osteoarthritis, gastrointestinal disturbances, and bone fragility, before the classic bone change of fluorosis (i.e., osteosclerosis in the spine and pelvis) is detectable by x-ray. Relying on x-rays, therefore, to diagnosis skeletal fluorosis will invariably fail to protect those individuals who are suffering from the pre-skeletal phase of the disease. Moreover, some individuals with clinical skeletal fluorosis will not develop an increase in bone density, let alone osteosclerosis, of the spine. Thus, relying on unusual increases in spinal bone density will under-detect the rate of skeletal fluoride poisoning in a population.

  • Fluoride & Osteoarthritis

    While the osteoarthritic effects that occurred from fluoride exposure were once considered to be limited to those with skeletal fluorosis, recent research shows that fluoride can cause osteoarthritis in the absence of traditionally defined fluorosis. Conventional methods used for detecting skeletal fluorosis, therefore, will fail to detect the full range of people suffering from fluoride-induced osteoarthritis.

  • Skeletal Fluorosis: The Misdiagnosis Problem

    It is a virtual certainty that there are individuals in the general population unknowingly suffering from some form of skeletal fluorosis as a result of a doctor's failure to consider fluoride as a cause of their symptoms. Proof that this is the case can be found in the following case reports of skeletal fluorosis written by doctors in the U.S. and other western countries. As can be seen, a consistent feature of these reports is that fluorosis patients--even those with crippling skeletal fluorosis--are misdiagnosed for years by multiple teams of doctors who routinely fail to consider fluoride as a possible cause of their disease.

  • Fluoride & Osteopetrosis

    One of the most common radiological findings in skeletal fluorosis is osteosclerosis - a hardening of bones with a blurring of the trabecular structure. In advanced cases, the osteosclerotic form of fluorosis may closely resemble the appearance of osteopetrosis, a "marble bone" disease in which the bones are dense, but fragile and prone to fracture.