Lesions of the skin in process workers caused by contact with butyl tin compounds.

The industrial production of alkyl tin derivatives has increased rapidly in recent years, but little is known about the hazards to man which may exist in the handling of these substances. Interest in the matter has been sharpened by the catastrophic results of a therapeutic trial of one of the group, diethyl tin di-iodide, in the treatment of furunculosis. The compound was given orally and caused the death of 102 persons, cerebral oedema being found at necropsy (British Medical Journal, 1958). Many of those who survived were left with paraplegia or other permanent neurological damage. As far as experimental work on animals is concerned, interstitial oedema of the white matter of the brain and cord was found by Magee, Stoner, and Barnes (1957) in rats poisoned by certain triethyl tin compounds. Stoner, Barnes, and Duff (1955) studied the toxicity of a number of alkyl tin derivatives for several species, and advised caution in the handling of organo-tin compounds, particularly of the ethyl series, because of the effect these substances had upon the central nervous system. Barnes and Stoner (1958) showed that repeated application of dibutyl tin dichloride to the skin of the rat damaged not only the skin but also the biliary tract, proving that the compound was being absorbed percutaneously.