| Agent Name |
Fuller's earth |
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| CAS Number |
8031-18-3 |
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| Major Category |
Mineral Dusts |
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| Synonyms |
Fuller's earth; May contain Attapulgite (12174-11-7), Sepiolite (63800-37-3), and Montmorillonite (1318-93-0); [Rom, p. 530-1] Commercial palygorskite is called attapulgite. [Harber, p. 338] English fullers earth; Fuller's earth; Spent earth; [ChemIDplus] |
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| Category |
Other Mineral Dusts |
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| Description |
A gray to yellow clay (aluminum silicate); [Hawley] Crystalline silica not bound to other minerals is "free" silica. Silicates are minerals in which silicon and oxygen are combined with other elements. [Rom, p. 364] |
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| Sources/Uses |
Used as an absorbing material and filler for cosmetics, rubber products, oil-well drilling muds, and other applications; [Hawley] |
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| Comments |
20% of 218 Spanish sepiolite workers had abnormal radiographic findings (small opacities), and there were pulmonary function decrements in workers with higher exposures. Another study found no excess mortality from respiratory diseases in attapulgite miners and millers. [Hendrick, p. 171] There was evidence of a nonprogressive pneumoconiosis in a study of workers exposed to montmorillonite for 16 to 39 years. [Rom, p. 530] |
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