"Life is nothing unless you are obsessed." -- John Waters
If the curve fits, wear it! -- Me
Friday, November 27, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Quietly We Stopped Poisoning You
Friday, November 14, 2014
US National Peak Oil Clobbered Tetraethyl Lead
The US CDC ATSDR states that 1970 was the peak year for tetraethyl lead in gasoline.
In Jan 1973 the EPA ruled that by 1974 unleaded gas was to be available. In Dec 1973 they ruled that lead had to start being phased down. This fails to account for lead levels falling from 1970 to 1973. The fact that tetraethyl lead usage did not increase in 1971, 1972 and 1973 must have had a cause since until then every year brought more cars and more gasoline.
This paragraph from the EPA shows the timeline for the phase down:
The third Middle East embargo came online in October 1973
Toxicological Profile for Lead - Section 8 Regulations and Advisories.
By 1988, the total lead usage in gasoline had been reduced to <1% of the amount of lead used in the peak year of 1970 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) (EPA 1996a).But the EPA etc. didn't do anything about reducing tetraethyl lead use in 1971. US National peak oil and the third Middle East oil embargo against the US did that.
In Jan 1973 the EPA ruled that by 1974 unleaded gas was to be available. In Dec 1973 they ruled that lead had to start being phased down. This fails to account for lead levels falling from 1970 to 1973. The fact that tetraethyl lead usage did not increase in 1971, 1972 and 1973 must have had a cause since until then every year brought more cars and more gasoline.
This paragraph from the EPA shows the timeline for the phase down:
US EPA Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical ProgramThat article quotes Federal Regulations (the ##FR#### codes) that can be seen here: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations - PART 80—REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES US National peak oil happened in December 1970, the most productive month of all time at 308,264,000 barrels/month. See US DOE EIA - U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil
... skip ...
6.2.1 Regulations Controlling Use
In the early 1970s, EPA issued two regulations under the statutory authority of the 1970 Clean Air Act (CAA). First, EPA required major gasoline retailers to begin selling one grade of unleaded gasoline by July 1, 1974. This mandate was primarily focused on preventing the deterioration, as a result of leaded gasoline, of emissions control systems (e.g., catalytic converters) in motor vehicles so equipped. In developing these regulations, EPA first established the working definition of "unleaded" gasoline as "gasoline containing not more than 0.05 gram of lead per gallon and not more than 0.005 gram of phosphorus per gallon" [38FR1255, January 10, 1973]. Second, EPA issued a regulation calling for the gradual phase-out of leaded gasoline. The schedule for reduction of lead content in automobile gasoline was 1.7 grams per gallon (g/gal) in 1975, to 1.4 g/gal in 1976, 1.0 g/gal in 1977, 0.8 g/gal in 1978, and 0.5 g/gal in 1979 [38FR33741, December 6, 1973]. Subsequent regulations reduced the allowable lead content to 0.1 g/gal in 1986 [50FR9397, March 7, 1985], and prohibited leaded gas use after 1995 [61FR3837, February 2, 1996].
The third Middle East embargo came online in October 1973
The Oil Weapon and American Foreign Policy - Dr. Joseph S. Szyliowicz Major Bard E. O’Neill
... the decision by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in October 1973 to decrease the production of crude oil and to embargo the U.S. ...
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Tetraethyl Lead Production in the 1930s at Frose (Saxon-Anhalt) and Gapel-Döberitz near Premnitz (Land Brandenburg)
U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: Oil Division, 2d ed. - United States. War Dept 1947
For 1943 total 5638 metric tonnes.
5638 * 2204.6226 = 12,429,662.2188 pounds.
CW DISPOSAL IN THE FORMER GDR p. 185
There were production facilities for the nerve agent lead tetraethyl (anti-knock) at Frose (Saxon-Anhalt) and Gapel-Döberitz near Premnitz (Land Brandenburg). These facilities were included in the munition disposal activities in the GDR owing to the fact that, in the 1930s, the British considered lead tetraethyl and other lead-organic compounds to be potential chemical warfare agents. The USSR demolished these two production plants in a crude fashion, leaving behind destroyed facilities contaminated with extremely toxic lead tetraethyl and equally toxic by-products13, but detailed information of these activities is not available. A 300-400 tonnes sludge residue, consisting of lead oxide and 1-5 per cent lead tetraethyl, is estimated to have remained.
The difficult and dangerous work of detoxification and removal was carried out by specially trained workers. Chemical breakdown of the contaminated matter in the drainage conduits, pipes, settling tanks and soil was achieved with a 1:1 mixture of sulphuryl chloride and kerosene. The resulting pasty sludges of lead oxide, lead sulphide and lead chloride were deposited in a landfill. One of these former production sites is again in operation producing leaded fuel compounds for civilian use.
4. Lohs, K. Synthetische Gifte [Synthetic poisons], 1st edn (Verlag des Ministeriums für Nationale Verteidigung: Berlin, 1958), 4th edn (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1974); Lohs, K. and Martinetz, D., Entgiftung und Vernichtung chemischer Kampfstoffe [Decontamination and destruction of chemical warfare agents] (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1983); Stöhr, R., Die chemischen Kampfstoffe [Chemical Warfare Agents] (Deutcher Militärverlag: Berlin 1961); and Chemische Kampfstoffe und Schutz vor chemischen Kampfstoffen [Chemcial warfare agents and protection against chemical warfare agents] (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1985).
13. Müller, K., 'Zur Kasuistik der Bleitetraethylvergiftung' [On the cause of tetraethyl poisoning], Zentralblatt für Arbeitsmedizin und Arbeitsschutz, vol. 3 (1974), p. 9. See also Lohs (note 4), pp. 179-84.
OK. 12.4 million pounds of tetraethyl lead, much of it burned in the engines of aircraft which spewed their exhaust like lead crop dusting all happening in a country maybe the size of Texas, not to mention storage and distribution done under desperate conditions. Did anybody get any lead poisoning from all of that mess?
Table A15
Tetraethyl Lead and Ethylene Dibromide Production Available to Germany (Approximate)
(Metric Tons per Month)
Tetraethyl Lead and Ethylene Dibromide Production Available to Germany (Approximate)
(Metric Tons per Month)
| Tetraethyl Lead | Ethylene Dibromide | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gapel* Germany | Frose# Germany | Paimboeuf France | Total | Tornesch Germany |
||
| Capacity production | 100 | 300 | 200 | 600 | 500** | |
| 1942 | December | 100 | 300 | 44 | 444 | 235 |
| 1943 | January | 100 | 300 | 42 | 442 | 362 |
| February | 100 | 300 | 53 | 453 | 406 | |
| March | 100 | 300 | 94 | 494 | 434 | |
| April | 100 | 300 | 76 | 476 | 167 | |
| May | 100 | 300 | 117 | 517 | 236 | |
| June | 100 | 300 | 54 | 454 | 278 | |
| July | 100 | 300 | 120 | 520 | 210 | |
| August | 100 | 300 | 36 | 436 | 30 | |
| September | 100 | 300 | 60 | 460 | 380 | |
| October | 100 | 300 | 61 | 461 | 0*** | |
| November | 100 | 300 | 38 | 438 | 0 | |
| December | 100 | 300 | 87 | 487 | 66 | |
For 1943 total 5638 metric tonnes.
5638 * 2204.6226 = 12,429,662.2188 pounds.
CW DISPOSAL IN THE FORMER GDR p. 185
There were production facilities for the nerve agent lead tetraethyl (anti-knock) at Frose (Saxon-Anhalt) and Gapel-Döberitz near Premnitz (Land Brandenburg). These facilities were included in the munition disposal activities in the GDR owing to the fact that, in the 1930s, the British considered lead tetraethyl and other lead-organic compounds to be potential chemical warfare agents. The USSR demolished these two production plants in a crude fashion, leaving behind destroyed facilities contaminated with extremely toxic lead tetraethyl and equally toxic by-products13, but detailed information of these activities is not available. A 300-400 tonnes sludge residue, consisting of lead oxide and 1-5 per cent lead tetraethyl, is estimated to have remained.
The difficult and dangerous work of detoxification and removal was carried out by specially trained workers. Chemical breakdown of the contaminated matter in the drainage conduits, pipes, settling tanks and soil was achieved with a 1:1 mixture of sulphuryl chloride and kerosene. The resulting pasty sludges of lead oxide, lead sulphide and lead chloride were deposited in a landfill. One of these former production sites is again in operation producing leaded fuel compounds for civilian use.
4. Lohs, K. Synthetische Gifte [Synthetic poisons], 1st edn (Verlag des Ministeriums für Nationale Verteidigung: Berlin, 1958), 4th edn (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1974); Lohs, K. and Martinetz, D., Entgiftung und Vernichtung chemischer Kampfstoffe [Decontamination and destruction of chemical warfare agents] (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1983); Stöhr, R., Die chemischen Kampfstoffe [Chemical Warfare Agents] (Deutcher Militärverlag: Berlin 1961); and Chemische Kampfstoffe und Schutz vor chemischen Kampfstoffen [Chemcial warfare agents and protection against chemical warfare agents] (Militärverlag der DDR: Berlin, 1985).
13. Müller, K., 'Zur Kasuistik der Bleitetraethylvergiftung' [On the cause of tetraethyl poisoning], Zentralblatt für Arbeitsmedizin und Arbeitsschutz, vol. 3 (1974), p. 9. See also Lohs (note 4), pp. 179-84.
OK. 12.4 million pounds of tetraethyl lead, much of it burned in the engines of aircraft which spewed their exhaust like lead crop dusting all happening in a country maybe the size of Texas, not to mention storage and distribution done under desperate conditions. Did anybody get any lead poisoning from all of that mess?
Monday, October 20, 2014
Early Tetraethyl Plant Demonstrates The Potential Dangers
TETRAETHYL LEAD FATAL TO MAKERS
An Industrial Peril
Which the Washington Inquiry Into Gasoline Does Not Cover.
8 DEAD, 300 ILL, IN
1 PLANT
Dangers in Producing
the Chemical Compound Shown in Record at Deep Water, N.J.
DEATHS SINCE PLANT
CLOSED
Illness Begins With
Hallucinations of Butterflies and Terminates in Violent Insanity and
Death.
Deaths
in Tetraethyl Gas Production at a Single Plant
-
Sept. 21, 1923--FRANK W. DURR, 37 years old, dye worker; died at Penns Grove, N.J.; attended by Dr. Raymond B. Jarratt.
-
July 30, 1924--JOSEPH CIANCI, 24 years old, dye works operator; died at Salem (N.J.) Memorial Hospital; attended by Dr. Harry W. Lee.
-
Aug. 12, 1924--FRAN HANLEY, 23 years old, dye worker; received at Salem Hospital with gastric ulcer and underwent operation but then went insane subsequently from tetraethyl lead poisoning; attended by Dr. F. H. Church.
-
Oct. 20 1924--SIM JONES, 47 years old, negro janitor at plant; died in Salem Hospital; attended by Dr. Lee.
-
Feb 13, 1925--FREDERICK W. DeFIEBRE, 21 years old, dye worker; died at Salem Hospital; attended by Dr. Lee.
-
Feb 16, 1924--ROBERT F. HUNTSINGER, 35 years old, dye worker; died at Cumberland County Hospital for the Insane at Bridgeton, N.J.; attended by Dr. E. C. Lyon.
-
Feb 28, 1925--LORING M. BOODY, 53 years old, carpenter; died at Carney's Point, N.J.; attended by Dr. Lee.
-
March 27, 1925--JAMES CONNELL, 49 years old, millwright; died at home in Wilmington, Del.; attended by Dr. James A. Draper
By SILAS BENT. [June
22, 1925]
Eight workers in the
du Pont tetraethyl gas plant at Deep Water, near Penns Grove, N. J.
have died in delirium from tetraethyl lead poisoning in eighteen
months and 300 others have been stricken, but not fatally. Whatever
the findings of Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming's committee on the
distribution and use of "antiknock" gasoline treated with
the compound, the full record of fatalities, now made public for the
first time, reveals afresh the hazards of its industrial production.
The plant has been closed since April [1925].
Four of the deaths
at Deep Water have occurred this year, three in a single month, while
State and Federal authorities were still investigating the disaster
of last October in the Standard Oil's Bayway plant near Elizabeth,
N.J., in which five lost their lives. The poisonings this year of du
Pont employees occurred in a new million-dollar plant, after two
years of experience in production and presumably after the
experimental stage had passed. The Federal committee of seven
appointed by Dr. Cummings, however, is not concerned with this
industrial phase. It is directed to report on the commercial phase
by Jan. 1. "if possible".
The first cases of
tetraethyl lead intoxication known to medical science developed in
September, 1923, at the du Pont plant, and baffled famous
neurologists who were consulted. One of the early symptoms is a
hallucination of winged insects. The victim pauses, perhaps while at
work or in a rational conversation, gazes intently at space, and
snatches at something not there. The employees at Deep Water have
ironically dubbed the plant "The House of the Butterflies."
The list of dead
presented herewith was officially verified at the du Pont
headquarters in Wilmington, Del., on Friday. Dr. A. K. Smith, chief
of the medical staff, says that the 300 cases mentioned do not
include those slightly affected. Some were merely hysterical from
anxiety. About 80 per cent of all who worked in "The House of
the Butterflies," or who went into it to make repairs, were
poisoned, some repeatedly.
One
Other Death in Doubt.
The du Pont
officials said that the list of eight which I resented was complete
and that there had been no other deaths from tetraethyl at Deep
Water. No report had been made to them, it was said, regarding John
Demesse, a plumber, who died last Sept. 11 at Delaware Hospital in
Wilmington after doing some work in the plant. The death certificate
gives typhoid as the cause.
Mrs. Mary Casey of
606 Spruce Street, Wilmington, a cousin of Demesse and his closest
relative in this country, told me of a conversation with Dr. Lawrence
J. Rigney, whom she called into the case.
"He said there
were typhoid germs in the body." she explained, "but that
John's lead poisoning didn't help him any."
Efforts to reach Dr.
Rigney were unsuccessful. Not he, but Dr. John R. Russo, a member of
the hospital staff, signed the death certificate. When asked about
the symptoms of the Demesse case he said he had no recollection of
it, and he reported several hours later that he could find no record
of it at the hospital. The death certificate gave no contributory
cause of death, nor was there any answer in the certificate to the
question: "Where was disease contracted if not at the place of
death?" This space was left blank.
Demesse was a
widower, 35 years old. At du Pont headquarters the point was
stressed that if poisoning had contributed to his death his relatives
would have demanded a settlement.
Death
After Three Attacks.
The first tetraethyl
poisoning of medical record was that of Harry A. Zanes, now 53 years
old, who lives at 97 I Street, in Carney's Point, an industrial town
owned by the du Ponts adjoining Deep Water. He became ill on Sept.
9, 1923, and went to the emergency hospital maintained by the du
Ponts on their reservation of six square miles across the Delaware
River from Wilmington, where the chemical and smokeless powder plants
are grouped. After treatment he went back to work, but a week later
had to go home. He couldn't eat, and on the rare occasions when he
slept he suffered from frightful nightmares. On Sept. 19 he became
violent and two trained nurses were assigned to care for him.
"The patient
has twitching muscular contractions," the nurses recorded:
"respiration rapid, pulse shallow," And a little later:
"Patient's head is thrown back rigidly: thinks some one is after
him to kill him." And the: "Patient's pupils dilated;
grinning and gritting teeth." A little later he was put into a
straitjacket after he became so violent he could not be held in bed.
Zanes was ill three
months and was under the care of Dr. A. R. Lynch, then a member of
the medical staff on the reservation. When Zanes was able to work
again he was assigned for a time to another plant, but returned to
tetraethyl production and was poisoned again. In September of last
year it happened a third time. These were much slighter attacks,
although the man became delirious.
"The last time
he didn't know it was lead he was working with." said Mrs.
Zanes, "and Dr. Lynch raised a stink about it at the plant."
The testimony of
nearly all the persons I saw, however, was that the du Ponts
exercised every precaution possible to safeguard their employees from
the deadly stuff they were handling.
First
Fatality of Old Employee.
Frank W. (Happy)
Durr, 37 years old, who had worked for the du Ponts since he was a
lad of 12, was the first employee to succumb. The was ill only a
short while and died in a straitjacket on Sept. 21 1923, at his home
in Penns Grove. There was no story about it in his home paper, and
none elsewhere, although the Penns Grove Record displayed in a
half-column account on the first page the facts about Otto J.
(Snapper) Barkdull who was accidentally killed by electricity in the
plant two days after Durr's death.
Thomas C. Sumerill,
editor of The Record, said he did not remember the circumstances. "I
guess the reason we didn't print anything about Durr's death was
because we couldn't get it." he explained. "They suppress
things about the lead plant at Deep Water. Whatever we print we pick
up from the workmen."
Durr's widow who
lives now with here mother at Woodstown, ten miles east of Penns
Grove, told me that Barkdull had worked at he plant only two months,
whereas Durr had been employed by the du Ponts for twenty-five years.
At that time the du
Ponts were producing tetraethyl lead in what has been a dye works.
In July 1924 there was a death from poisoning, another in August,
another in October. Work was already underway on a five-story brick
structure 85x150 feet in size, to be opened on Jan. 1 of this year.
Special
Care for the Afflicted.
All the men who died
and who were on the tetraethyl force were classified in the death
certificates as "dye workers" or "dye operators."
The reservation known as "the dye works" is in fact, aside
from the powder mills (where 25,00 men were employed at the peak
during the war in the production of smokeless powder) a congeries of
poison plants. Phosgene and chlorine gases as well as toxic benzol
series, are manufactured there.
In the old
tetraethyl plant there was a series of explosions and fires which
occurred from chemical reactions while the autoclaves, huge mixing
vats, were being emptied or cleaned. From these there were no
deaths, but there were many injuries. C. D. Porch, superintendent of
the plant, was himself badly burned and some of the chemists required
medical treatment. Arrangements were made with the Salem (N. J.)
Memorial Hospital, to which the du Ponts give annual contributions,
to care for patients from Deep Water, and such cases have been its
chief source of revenue. An executive of "the dye works"
is on the hospital's Board of Managers
All the men who died
in 1924, and one in 1925 were under treatment at this hospital. They
were hard to manage on account of their violence, and the du Ponts,
in addition to paying all medical expenses and providing for the
families, sent male nurses to attend and restrain the patients.
An official of the
hospital told me that Joseph Cianci, the victim in July, a man of
great strength, had actually by his insane violence overturned the
bed to which he was strapped; but Miss Hanna B. Harris,
Superintendent, denied this.
"I've seen him
actually lift the bed three or four inches off the floor by his
struggles," she said, "but I'm sure he was never as bad as
that."
Miss Harris did not
admit at first that Frank Hanley's death in August was due to
tetraethyl poisoning.
"He had an
ulcer of the stomach and underwent an operation." she
explained. But when she was told that the death certificate specified
"acute intoxication lead tetraethyl" she was silent but
later admitted it. As a fact the man escaped some time after the
operation form the hospital to the street and was caught there. At
du Pont headquarters it was admitted that this was a case of
poisoning.
Sim Jones, negro
janitor at "The House of the Butterflies." work old shoes
and absorbed the poison through his feet. It is fatal if inhaled or
taken through the skin in sufficient quantities. In all, Miss Harris
said, forty-eight cases were treated at Salem. Sim Jones was the
last to die there in 1924.
Thought Danger
Averted.
Jones died on Oct.
20, about the time the series of deaths in the Standard Oil plant at
Bayway centered public attention on the startling consequences of
tetraethyl poisoning An official of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation
said publicly that the du Ponts had been having trouble too; and
Irénée du Pont, President of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company,
issued on Oct. 30, ten days after Sim Jones died, the following
statement:
Tetraethyl lead, which the du Pont Company is manufacturing on a
commercial scale, and which is reported as the cause of the recent
unfortunate accident at the Bayway plant of the Standard Oil Company
should not be confused with ethyl gas, an improved motor fuel which
contains less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of tetraethyl lead.
Tetraethyl lead is poisonous, and its manufacture involves risk but
no more than many chemicals manufactured and used in enormously
greater amounts.
The du Pont Company, during the experimental period experienced much
trouble with men becoming poisoned even to the extent of fatalities.
During the past year of production, when more than 100 men have been
employed continuously, the difficulty has diminished steadily. In
the past several months, under full production, only slight
difficulties have been encountered. Experience has taught the
necessary protection, both in plant and medical care.
We find that workmen
cumulatively poisoned by this material invariably indicate it in the
incipient stages, before any harm is done, by a marked symptom.
Doctors in the employ of the company continually make tests on
workers engaged in this process.
Later
Precautions Futile.
In "the past
several months" to which Mr. du Point referred as causing
"slight difficulties," there had been three deaths. There
were no more fatalities until the following February, after work had
begun in the new plant, where special precautions had been taken. In
that month three workers died.
A change was made in
the process of manufacture. Prior to this the ethyl for the compound
had been introduced in the form of ethyl bromide; but the bromine
required for this ingredient is costly to manufacture and difficult
to procure in quantities sufficient for such commercial operations as
the du Ponts had in view. The chemists decided to try ethyl chloride
instead. Chlorine, a greenish-yellow and extremely poisonous gas,
can be manufactured in huge quantities.
Frederick W.
DeFiebre, a worker, 21 years old, was the first to die on Feb. 21,
from poisoning in the new plant. To the Salem Hospital this is an
ambulance run of but twenty minutes, and Dr. Harry W. Lee, chief
surgeon of the du Pont staff at Deep Water, rushed the patient
thither for treatment.
Even before this
death Robert F. Huntsinger, 35 years old, had become ill and had
insisted on going to his home .... nty miles away in ... He lived
there at ... When he became violently insane Dr. E. C. Lyon who was
treating him and who is the county physician took him to the
Bridgeton Hospital where it was found that the patient's condition
was such he would not be cared for. Then he was taken to the
Cumberland County Hospital for the Insane where six men were required
at times to restrain him. He died there Feb. 16 two days later. Dr.
Lee went from Deep Water to help Dr. Lyon attend the patient.
A reporter for a
Bridgeton newspaper asked the county physician whether he would ask
for an inquest. "No," said Dr. Lyon, "it was not an
accident. It was an occupational disease, and there is no occasion
to call in the Coroner."
Plant
Closed Soon Afterward.
Dr. Lyon, who
repeated this statement to me, was warm in his praise of the du Ponts
for the care they exercised in behalf of their employees. The facts
about the death were printed in the Bridgeton newspapers, and the
inquiries were made regarding it at du Pont headquarters. A
statement was issued by the publicity department in which after
giving the facts of his illness, it was said:
"Meanwhile the
company, because of his illness and the illness of Fred W. Fiebre
[DeFiebre], a laborer who later died, has shut down the plain to make
modifications to insure greater manufacturing safety. * * * The du
Pont Company experienced trouble with men becoming poisoned in the
early stages of the manufacture of this chemical, but for a year
difficulties have diminished steadily and for the past several
months, under full production, only slight trouble had been
encountered until these recent fatal illnesses occurred."
The plant had, as a
fact, been closed by order of Dr. Andrew F. McBride of Paterson,
chief of the New Jersey State Labor Commission. Dr. McBride had been
conducting a State-wide inquiry into the manufacture, use and
transportation of tetraethyl lead. In the latter part of November he
reported to Governor Silzer that no more of the poison should be
manufactured.
The plant was closed
five weeks before Dr. McBride gave permission to reopen it. Meanwhile
the du Ponts spent $60,000 making mechanical adjustments and
installing a new ventilating system, whereby warmed and moistened air
within the plant is changed every forty seconds in order to reduce
the danger.
Two
Deaths After Plant Closed.
The last fatalities
were of a millwright and his helper, who were poisoned while making
some repairs and died after the plant was closed. These were James
Connell, who died at his home in Wilmington, and Loring M. Boody, who
died at Carney's Point, on the du Pont reservation.
Boody, the helper,
was attended by Dr. Lee of the du Pont staff, and the death was
attributed in part to uremic poisoning. The day before Boody's death
Connell went home ill, and died on March 27. In regard to both these
cases the du Pont Publicity Bureau gave out items to the Wilmington
daily newspapers which are owned by the du Ponts.
Regarding the four
deaths which have occurred this year, therefore, there has been
scattering publicity. The fact of Huntsinger's death at Bridgeton
was reported in the New York newspapers. But even before these
deaths occurred there were persistent rumors of trouble at Deep
Water; and last November it was reported and printed that there had
been nine deaths, although at that time there had been but four.
C. K. Weston, who is
at the head of the du Pont Publicity Bureau, said that the earlier
deaths were not treated as news because, until after the Bayway
tragedy, there was no public interest in such occurrences.
Dangers
Soon Revealed.
"The complete
list of deaths from the Deep Water plant is now in the hands of Dr.
McBride," he added. "We have told the facts and it is
absurd to say that the du Ponts have suppressed anything, or that
they subsidize hospitals. As a matter of custom they contribute
small sums to all the hospitals which are near their plants and which
are likely to be asked to treat patients. The contribution this year
to Salem Hospital was only $500; but, of course, in addition to that
the company pays, and pays well, for the treatment of its patients.
"Our people
themselves did not know about this disease at first, but the
physicians quickly learned to cope with it. We began manufacturing
tetraethyl lead about three years ago, and one of the doctors said to
me once that he had never known an industrial malady which flew the
red flag so quickly.
"The du Ponts
are well known for their interest in their employees. They spare no
expense to protect the health and lives of their men, and when one is
hurt or loses his life, the company pays, in New Jersey and every
other State where it has properties, higher compensation and pension
rates than the law requires. It is a fact that we have a great deal
of trouble inducing the men to be cautious. We have to protect them
against themselves."
Mr. Weston had heard
of the workers' name for the plant.
"Some of them
drew pictures of butterflies on the walls of the plant." he
said. "This disease is somewhat like delirium tremens. Instead
of seeing snakes the men see butterflies."
Danger
in Gas, Not Gasoline.
Since production
began 300,000,000 gallons of ethyl gasoline have been distributed in
twenty-eight States, from 12,000 filling stations with no record of
poisoning or ill-health from its use, according to Mr. Weston. The
name "looney gas" is deceptive, in his view, in that it may
apply to the ethyl gasoline instead of the fumes from tetraethyl
lead.
Dr. Lynch, former
chief surgeon at Deep Water, is now practicing medicine at Wilmington
and occasionally has tetraethyl cases, He was reluctant to discuss
the disease because he is no longer associated with the du Ponts, and
said he had refrained from publishing a paper dealing with his year's
experience in their service for the same reason.
"In several
hundred cases which I treated during that first year," he said,
"I did not lose one. Durr, who died while I was there, was
under the care of his family physician. I had the first cases of the
disease ever known. Although it is nervous and mental, neurologists
had no clinical background for it. It was a brand new challenge to
medical skill.
"We found that
nightmares were the first symptom and that these were followed by
insomnia. Then came restlessness and inability to eat. Sometimes a
patient lost as much as thirty pounds in a few weeks. The blood
pressure fell. Frequently they were nauseated. Then came
hallucinations. There was no 'wrist drop,' none of the symptoms of
the well-known industrial lead poisoning. In the later stages some of
the men because suicidal and had to be prevented from destroying
themselves."
Charles Hendricks,
employed as a painter in the tetraethyl plant, was one worker who
tried to kill himself. He jumped from a ferry between Penns Grove
and Wilmington last April. He was delirious, and his weight had gone
down from 180 pounds to 135. Harry Baker, who was confined at the
Salem Hospital, jumped from a window while his male nurse was out of
the room, but was caught and returned to his bed. This incident came
to public attention and the patient was removed to a private
sanitarium at Gladwyn, Pa., where the du Ponts are paying his bills
in addition to a bi-weekly allowance to his wife. He is still under
treatment.
Precautions
in Distribution.
At first tetraethyl
lead was shipped
Monday, December 26, 2011
You Live In Your Own World and That's A Good Thing
My Dearest Child of Mother Earth,
I'm reading the introduction to Carl Jung's book Psychology of the unconscious: a study of the transformations and symbolisms of the libido, a contribution to the history of the evolution of thought. The introduction is written by Beatrice M. Hinkle perhaps in 1914 or 1915 but no later than 1916. In it is contained:
One of the most active and important forms of childish libido occupation is in phantasy making. The child's world is one of imagery and make believe where s/he can create for himself that satisfaction and enjoyment which the world of reality so often denies. As the child grows and real demands of life are made upon her/him it becomes increasingly necessary that her/his libido be taken away from her/his phantastic world and used for the required adaptation to reality needed by her/his age and condition until finally for the adult the freedom of the whole libido is necessary to meet the biological and cultural demands of life.
I find it fascinating that she wrote it that way. Specifically the line "for the adult the freedom of the whole libido is necessary". It sounds more appropriate and natural to me if she had written "for the adult the enslavement of the whole libido is necessary" there.
Instead of thus employing the libido in the real world however certain people never relinquish the seeking for satisfaction in the shadowy world of phantasy and even though they make certain attempts at adaptation they are halted and discouraged by every difficulty and obstacle in the path of life and are easily pulled back into their inner psychic world. This condition is called a state of introversion.
Carl Jung invented the term "introvert" and here Beatrice demonstrates its purest meaning since she was in contact with the one who originated the term at a time when it was freshly minted. The idea that an introvert is shy or something else is not part of the original concept which she states there.
Jung also has particular meanings for the term libido. Beatrice writes:
Jung also has particular meanings for the term libido. Beatrice writes:
Beginning with the conception of libido itself as a term used to connote sexual hunger and craving, albeit the meaning of the word sexual was extended by Freud to embrace a much wider significance than common usage has assigned it, Jung was unable to confine himself to this limitation. He conceived this longing, this urge or push of life as something extending beyond sexuality even in its wider sense. He saw in the term libido a concept of unknown nature, comparable to Bergson's élan vital, a hypothetical energy of life, which occupies itself not only in sexuality but in various physiological and psychological manifestations such as growth, development, hunger, and all the human activities and interests. This cosmic energy or urge manifested in the human being he calls libido and compares it with the energy of physics. Although recognizing, in common with Freud as well as with many others, the primal instinct of reproduction as the basis of many functions and present-day activities of mankind no longer sexual in character he repudiates the idea of still calling them sexual even though their development was a growth originally out of the sexual. Sexuality and its various manifestations Jung sees as most important channels occupied by libido, but not the exclusive ones through which libido flows.
This is an energic concept of life; and from this viewpoint this hypothetical energy of life or libido is a living power used instinctively by persons in all the automatic processes of their functioning; such very processes being but different manifestations of this energy. By virtue of its quality of mobility and change people, through their understanding and intelligence, have the power consciously to direct and use their libido in definite and desired ways. In this conception of Jung will be seen an analogy to Bergson who speaks of "this change, this movement and becoming, this self-creation, call it what you will, as the very stuff and reality of our being."
In developing the energic conception of libido and separating it from Freud's sexual definition Jung makes possible the explanation of interest in general and provides a working concept by which not only the specifically sexual but the general activities and reactions of man can be understood. If a person complains of no longer having interest in his work or of losing interest in his surroundings then one understands that his libido is withdrawn from this object and that in consequence the object itself seems no longer attractive whereas as a matter of fact the object itself is exactly the same as formerly In other words it is the libido that we bestow upon an object that makes it attractive and interesting.
Please note that the spellings of "phantasy" and "energic" are the ones that Beatrice really uses in the book. I did take some liberties in adjusting pronoun and other genders in the quoted text.This is an energic concept of life; and from this viewpoint this hypothetical energy of life or libido is a living power used instinctively by persons in all the automatic processes of their functioning; such very processes being but different manifestations of this energy. By virtue of its quality of mobility and change people, through their understanding and intelligence, have the power consciously to direct and use their libido in definite and desired ways. In this conception of Jung will be seen an analogy to Bergson who speaks of "this change, this movement and becoming, this self-creation, call it what you will, as the very stuff and reality of our being."
In developing the energic conception of libido and separating it from Freud's sexual definition Jung makes possible the explanation of interest in general and provides a working concept by which not only the specifically sexual but the general activities and reactions of man can be understood. If a person complains of no longer having interest in his work or of losing interest in his surroundings then one understands that his libido is withdrawn from this object and that in consequence the object itself seems no longer attractive whereas as a matter of fact the object itself is exactly the same as formerly In other words it is the libido that we bestow upon an object that makes it attractive and interesting.
Love,
Metta
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