Stannic oxide (SnO2)
The primary uses for stannic oxide (SnO2) include polishing glass, marble, silver, and jewelry in addition to creating dyes for fabrics, paper, ceramic glazes, printing inks, coatings, and pigments in food polymers. Stannic oxide is also insoluble in water and dissociates in sulfuric acids and hydrochloric acid. Case studies
De-tinning plant
In 1679, a 26 year old tin miner who worked in a smelter was found to have odd lung physiology after a radiography. He was asymptomatic despite having profuse small, metallic nodules in the lungs. At the same plant, a 55 year old man who loaded scrap tin into smelting furnaces for 15 years was assessed. His radiography confirmed that his cough and crackle was due to metallic bilateral nodules on the lungs, or stannosis. The second males biopsy revealed macrophages overwhelmed with dust deposits that affected hist connective tissue in the lungs. The case study determined that two workers in a detinning mine, who handled molten tin, developed stannosis. According to the researchers of "Stannosis: A report of 2 cases", the two workers were subject to the dustiest job of packaging tin-oxide for transportation. Tin miners are typically researched when assessing for stannosis because their exposure to tin oxides is around 70-80% in comparison to other job tasks in a plant. Tinning milk reservoir tanks
After 17 years of painting tin hot tin powder into the inside of tanks, a 74 year old male patient developed a dry cough and progressive dyspnea.
Because engineering controls and respiratory personal protective equipment were not used, the worker suffered grave lung damage. In comparison to health, non-tinning workers, the patient had significantly higher bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BLAF) containing tin. == References ==