{"id":344,"date":"2016-08-07T18:13:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-07T18:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/07\/fashion-victims-poisonous-pigments-arsenical-greens\/"},"modified":"2016-08-07T18:13:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-07T18:13:00","slug":"fashion-victims-poisonous-pigments-arsenical-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/fashion-victims-poisonous-pigments-arsenical-greens.html","title":{"rendered":"Fashion Victims – Poisonous Pigments : Arsenical Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nA Killer Green Gown<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
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These represent green shades popular in fashion.  They are not toxic pigments
 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\nThis is the second excerpt from  Alison Matthews Davis\u201d book, Fashion Victims.  The first excerpt, 5\/28\/16, recounted the
\nhealth risks posed by the long skirts worn by fashionable women. The skirts
\ndragged on the ground, through the filthy streets of large cities and, of
\ncourse, were then worn within the household, bringing with them all manner of
\npathogenic ( or at least, undesirable ) elements.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fashion Vistims – The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, Aloson Matthes David, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe topic I present now is of a pigment popular in the
\n1800\u2019s which, while perceived as very attractive, was also very, very
\ntoxic.  The first dyes were made from
\nnatural materials: madder root, cochineal exoskeletons, mollusk shells.  While many colors could be produced from
\nrecipes using natural elements, there were some that were less than satisfactory.  One of these colors was green.  Green was produced as a compound color, that
\nis the combination of two colors, yellow and blue.  Perhaps you have seen old textiles where the blue component has
\nfaded and the \u201cgreen\u201d has become a <\/div>\n
\npoor example of its former self.  Chemists were constantly trying to introduce new hues for the new
\ntechnology of aniline dye production. Better Living Through Chemistry as one
\nfuture chemical company would motto a century later.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn 1778 Carl Wilhelm Scheele published his work on a green
\npigment he created by mixing potassium and white arsenic with a solution of
\ncopper vitriol (a sulfate of copper).<\/div>\n
\nYes, you read correctly..arsenic. In 1814 a more saturated
\ngreen hue was synthesized from copper acetarsenite and called by various
\ntitles.  It was widely used for fabrics,
\nchildren\u2019s toys and even candies.  It
\nwas also produced as a pigment in oil paints.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWomen were tired of the dull-colored clothing that was
\ncommonly worn and the introduction of 
\nfresh green hues was most welcome. 
\nThe dye was used not only in fabric production but also in accessories
\nsuch as shoes, and most widely in artificial floral wreaths of fruits and
\nfoliage worn as hair adornments and 
\nlarge broaches.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt had been noted for some time that workers who produced
\nthe artificial foliage suffered from debilitating ulcerations on their faces
\narms and legs.  Rashes appeared along
\nthe necklines of women wearing green gowns and there were  reports of children dying from eating ( or
\ntrying to eat) artificial fruits which appeared in baskets set upon tables in
\nVictorian parlors.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEfforts were made to assuage the fears that soon were voiced
\nby consumers.  Apparently, \u201cthis is not
\narsenical green\u201d became a disclaimer, but was it, or was it not?  Eventually by the 1870\u2019s, other green
\npigments replaced the copper arsenic compounds.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhy would anyone purchase, much less wear, something that
\nwas so very dangerous?   It was well
\nknown that arsenic was used as a pesticide and that it was toxic if
\ningested.  Although there were many
\nfallacious  theories concerning disease
\nand cures, surely, there should have been some heed paid to those physicians
\nand chemists who warned of the danger.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThinking of today\u2019s times, there are still those who ignore
\nthe warnings that appear on tobacco products. 
\nThe question would be, is it worth being stylish?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Killer Green Gown These represent green shades popular in fashion.  They are not toxic pigments  This is the second excerpt from  Alison Matthews Davis\u201d book, Fashion Victims.  The first excerpt, 5\/28\/16, recounted the health risks posed by the long skirts worn by fashionable women. The skirts dragged on the ground, through the filthy streets…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}