Kontakt 2005, 7(1-2):128-132 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2005.025

Chlorine terrifies us too frequentlyBiomedicine

Jiří Patočka^1,2,*, Vladimír Měrka¹

¹ Univerzita obrany v Hradci Králové, Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví

² Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta

Under conditions of normal temperature and pressure, chlorine is yellow-green, strongly irritating gas, heavier than the air. It is employed for the chlorination of drinking water and disinfection of waste waters. It is an important industrial chemical substance used in the manufacture of pesticides, disinfecting, bleaching and cleaning agents, products for swimming-pool chemistry, PVC-based plastic materials and synthetic rubbers and a great variety of chlorinated compounds. Gaseous chlorine exerts irritating and corrosive effects on the respiratory tract, eyes and skin. Its effect depends on its concentration and exposure period. The exposure to low concentrations of gaseous chlorine (1 to 10 ppm) results in sore throat, cough and irritation of the eyes and skin. The exposure to higher doses induces burning of the eyes and skin, accelerated breathing, narrowing of bronchi, wheezing, blue skin, accumulation of fluids in the lung and pain on the lung. The exposure to high doses can lead to lung collapse and death. Only few inspirations may be fatal.

Keywords: chlorine; history; manufacture; war gas; World War I; chemical disaster; human environment; chemical terrorism

Published: June 29, 2005  Show citation