Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Legal

Many people in the test areas asked if it was possible to look for health effects in people who might have been exposed during testing. However, several problems make such studies impossible. Diseases reported by people at public gatherings are common in the human population and it is very difficult to determine the exact cause of these diseases. After 30 to 40 years, it would be very difficult to identify exposed or affected individuals and determine their previous exposures to zinc-cadmium sulphide. Even if exposed individuals could be identified, even a large epidemiological study would not distinguish the health effects of zinc-cadmium sulphide from those associated with other factors, such as inhalation of cadmium .dem typical urban air for a few weeks. Zinc-cadmium sulphide is not a biological weapon per se, but it has been used as a tracer to simulate the proliferation of biological weapons in different environments. It is an inorganic compound composed of the elements zinc, cadmium and sulfur. It glows bright yellow or green when placed under ultraviolet light, so it can be easily detected. At the time of testing, zinc cadmium sulphide was considered non-toxic to humans, animals and plants. The subcommittee reviewed zinc cadmium sulphide exposure data from military records.

The highest estimated potential doses of exposure to individuals were reported in Minneapolis (44 μg), Winnipeg, Canada (93 μg), St. Louis, Missouri (156 μg) and Biltmore Beach, Florida (2,500 μg). A microgram (μg) is one millionth of a gram; One gram corresponds to one hundred and forty-four (1/444) pound. Since cadmium accounts for 15.6% by weight of zinc-cadmium sulphide, multiplying the potential doses of zinc-cadmium sulphide by 0.156 gives the corresponding doses of cadmium from military tests. Thus, the corresponding highest estimated potential doses for cadmium were 6.8 μg, 14.5 μg, 24.4 μg and 390 μg, respectively. Most people were exposed to much lower doses. The frequency of exposure to zinc cadmium sulphide varied from place to place. Some areas have been searched one or more times; Other sites were exposed up to 35 times over a two-year period. For more information on possible doses of zinc sulphide and cadmium at other test sites, see Appendix B of the Sub-Committee`s technical report.

Cadmium is a natural component of the earth`s crust. All soils and rocks, including coal, contain cadmium. Humans are naturally exposed to cadmium through water, air, food, soil and household dust. Cadmium is released into the air by the combustion of coal and household waste. In the United States, average concentrations of cadmium in ambient air range from less than 0.001 μg/m3 in remote areas to 0.005-0.04 μg/m3 in urban areas. Atmospheric cadmium concentrations are generally highest near cadmium-emitting industries such as smelters, municipal incinerators or fossil fuel incinerators. Atmospheric cadmium measurements of up to 7 μg/m3 have been reported in these industrial areas in the United States. Airborne cadmium uptake is estimated to be 0.1 to 0.8 μg per day in typical American cities and less than 0.02 μg per day in rural areas. A few months later, unaware of the existence of students, teachers, and their families at Clinton Elementary School, machines mounted in trucks and roofs began systematically spraying zinc-cadmium sulfide into the school district`s air, and about 80 collection boxes on the school grounds recorded residue levels.

Food is the largest potential source of cadmium exposure for the general population. Daily dietary intake of cadmium in the United States ranges from 10 to 60 μg. The Sub-Committee prepared this brief summary report and a detailed technical report entitled Toxicological Assessment of the Army`s Zinc-cadmium Sulfur Dispersion Tests, which assesses whether exposure to zinc-cadmium sulphide has adverse health effects on exposed persons. Millions of Americans who escaped these experiments were exposed to zinc-cadmium sulfide in 1957-58 as the military dispersed the chemical from a cargo plane flying from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border at high altitude. In all these tests, the military kept the purpose of the studies secret. In the quantities of test documents that have surfaced in declassified documents since the 1990s, military experimenters express no concern about the wisdom of exposing countless people to zinc-cadmium sulfide. Despite this, military personnel conducting the tests in Minneapolis wore protective clothing. A local resident who lived in the test area in 1953 recalls workers dispersing the chemical outside late at night. “They wore masks and operated what looked like a big fog machine,” he said. “I asked them what they were doing, and they said they would spray insects. It was blowing everywhere, and there was a residue on the cars. The output image has a diameter between 25 and 35 mm approximately.

It consists of a thin layer of phosphorus, usually zinc-cadmium sulfide (ZnCdS:Ag), to convert the pattern of electronic intensities into light. It does not have to be more than a few micrometers thick, due to the very limited range of electrons; Because it is so thin, there is very little light distribution on the screen. Since the screen emits light in all directions, including the back, the inner part of the screen must be covered. If this were not the case, the light from the screen would be detected by the photocathode, resulting in an electron emission cascade that would completely block the image. The screen is covered with a thin layer of aluminum (about 0.5 μm) to prevent this. This layer of aluminum also acts as an anode. 5. How can zinc-cadmium sulfide enter and leave my body? The IARC assessment concluded that there is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of cadmium compounds in humans and experimental animals, with limited evidence of carcinogenicity of cadmium metal in experimental animals. The working group reviewed the evidence that cadmium ion causes genotoxic effects in various types of eukaryotic cells, including human cells. Overall, cadmium and cadmium compounds are considered carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). Toxicity and exposure data for zinc-cadmium sulphide, cadmium and cadmium compounds from the open scientific literature and other technical reports.

During the public meetings, the subcommittee heard from people with many different views on military distraction testing. Many people were outraged that they had been exposed to a chemical by the government without their knowledge. They wanted to ensure that the tests would never be repeated without the subjects` informed consent. Several people said that an open and thorough investigation into these issues could help restore confidence in the government. Many people have attributed the diseases to the resulting exposures to zinc-cadmium sulfide, including cancer, reproductive disorders, birth defects, lung disease, thyroid disease, immunological diseases, joint pain, infections, and skin problems. Others said they did not know if zinc-cadmium sulphide had caused their health problems, but they wanted the subcommittee to have all the information available. Some people involved in carrying out the propagation tests provided information about how the tests were carried out or the samples were taken. Zinc-cadmium sulphide tests remained secret until the end of the Cold War. When testing became common knowledge in the early 1990s, residents of the towns and villages where the tests had taken place began to wonder if a variety of health problems they or others had experienced — including cancer and infertility — were related to exposure to zinc-cadmium sulfide.