Match Industry
White phosphorus was the active ingredient of most matches from the 1840s to the 1910s and exposure to the vapour from this caused a deposition of phosphorus in the jaw bones of workers in the industry. Concern over phossy jaw contributed to the London matchgirls strike of 1888, and although this strike did not end the use of white phosphorus, William Booth and the Salvation Army opened a match-making factory in 1891 which used the much safer, though more expensive, red phosphorus. The Salvation Army also campaigned with local retailers to get them to sell only red phosphorus matches.
However it was not until the use of white phosphorus was prohibited by the international Berne Convention in 1906, and these provisions were implemented in national laws over the next few years, that industrial use ceased.
Read more about this topic: Phossy Jaw
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