Fuller's earth

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]

Category

Other Mineral Dusts

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]

Sources/Uses

Used as an absorbing material and filler for cosmetics, rubber products, oil-well drilling muds, and other applications; [Hawley]

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]

Biomedical References

Yes

Diseases

Occupational diseases associated with exposure to this agent:

• Pneumoconioses, other

Processes

Industrial Processes with risk of exposure:

• Mining