SILVER RECOVERY- AN UNRECOGNISED SOURCE OF GLUTARALDEHYDE EXPOSURE
One possibly unique case involves a white male radiographer who was in contact with X-ray Chemistry from 1949 until 1993. In the 1950's he developed dermatitis on his hands due to Metol and other constituents in the developer in the days of 'hand processing'. In the late 1980's or early 1990's he started to have breathing problems and this was confirmed as asthma in 1992 by the University Hospital Senior Chest Consultant (who was also his employer). As Radiology Services Manager with limited contact with the clinical departments, his post carried district-wide administrative responsibilities. However, his lifelong interest was in Bulk Silver Recovery in which he was recognised as an authority and it was through this activity that he had contact with chemicals.
; When he retired in 1993 he was asked by the University Asthma Research Unit to be a volunteer for the testing of drugs for asthma treatment. They jointly became convinced that he had a work related problem. All the film processors were regularly monitored and there were no problems in that area. So he started to try to establish whether the Silver Recovery facility was the cause of his illness. Ultimately he acquired information from an internal photographic company document that 7-9% of developer containing glutaraldehyde was carried over into the fixer under certain conditions. The Research Unit reluctantly agreed to a glutaraldehyde challenge test. His peak flow (PF) was 49% of predicted value at that time but the challenge was positive. He was assessed at 30% disability. (Personal communication, October 1, 2000.)
