"Canary" women in Arms Factory

[PFF]

Is it true that women who worked in Arms factory's WWI had exposed skin stained yellow from sulpher poisioning and were called "Canaries"?

Also -would excessive sulphur poisioning expose cause damage to liver and nerve system damage and early death?

Any available stastics on women death caused by working in arms factorys?

[Boreenatra]

In the BBC's The Great War series there was a section concerning women workers and the Canaries were part of that. Because the work was dangerous the women who did that job were paid more money and were often ostracised because of it. As you can imagine they were fairly easy to recognise. According to the BBC's website about 400 women died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/hum...allery_09.shtml

Regards Steve.

[Max Poilu]

I do not think it was sulphur, rather the HE they filled the shells with. Even now if you rinse out a Stokes or similar shell the water will run yellow from the Picric acid for a very long time.

[gem22]

PFF

The problem of yellowing of the skin was not due to Sulphur but to the use of another chemical called Picric Acid. This had, and still has, many useful properties. I use an extremely weak version of this every day in a hospital laboratory. But amongst it's 'less useful' properties is that it can be used as an explosive and forms the basis of many explosives.

In some forms it could be confused with sulphur because it is yellow in colour.

Garth

[Guest]

But amongst it's 'less useful' properties is that it can be used as an explosive and forms the basis of many explosives.

In some forms it could be confused with sulphur because it is yellow in colour.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It was still used in some compounds in 1967 when I worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley and it caused some yellow staining of my hands. I only carried out the particular task which caused it for a short while and when I moved on the staining disappeared in a couple of weeks.

[Terry Carter]

Am I right in saying the term "Blonde Bombshell" originated from the women ammunition workers during WW1 as their hair also turned yellow.

Regards

Terry

[bernardmcilwaine]

no terry,the word blonde bombshell originates from my wife and her family,they were all blonde but more dangerous than any shell, bernard

[spike10764]

In the BBC's The Great War series there was a section concerning women workers and the Canaries were part of that. Because the work was dangerous the women who did that job were paid more money and were often ostracised because of it. As you can imagine they were fairly easy to recognise. According to the BBC's website about 400 women died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/hum...allery_09.shtml

Regards Steve.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The series had a quote attributed to a doctor examining the Canaries and claiming they would never have children. I wonder if this was true????

Also, it said some of the workers, depending on theor skin and hair colouring originally, tended to have a greenish tinge to them