Details - Public Health Image Library(PHIL)

ID#:

6810

Caption:

This historic image depicted two people, who were standing behind racks of drying felt hats inside a felt hat-making factory, where public health officials conducted numerous studies, which focused on the effects of mercury upon workers who are exposed to this heavy elemental metal during the hat-making process. See the complete series of these images, PHIL 6810 – 6813. In the 1930’s, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), and the Connecticut Department of Health found that 10% of these factory workers suffered from chronic, and debilitating mercurialism, due to their exposure to mercury in each step of the hat-making process. The study results, and photographs were published by the PHS, and were instrumental in the 1941 tripartite agreement between labor, the hat-making industry, and the government that banned the use of mercury from all hat-making processes.

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Content Provider(s):

CDC/ NIOSH

Creation Date:

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Categories:

CDC Organization