FEATURED LABORATORY
Army Environmental Hygiene Agency New laboratories and increased responsibilities emphasize the importance of the Army Environmental Hygiene Agency. In meeting the demands of its mission, the Agency must use all the modern techniques of preventive medicine
ARSENAL, M D . "We must E DGEWOOD never forget that good medicine,
both in its preventive and therapeutic aspects, does not begin and end in the hospital. "It rests heavily on varied disciplines and functions, including the special services provided by the United States Army Environmental Hygiene Agency." These words, spoken by Lieutenant General Leonard D. Heaton, the Surgeon General of the United States Army, were chosen to focus attention on a new building and on the agency it serves. The building is the $3,200,000 Wesley C. Cox Building, which serves as headquarters and principal laboratory facility of the Army Environmental Hygiene Agency (AEHA) located at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. AEHA is the operating arm for the Surgeon General in the field of environ-
mental hygiene. Its services are provided on an Army-wide basis in maintaining the health of both the military and civilian personnel of the Army. I t is also concerned with assuring that military operations do not adversely affect the environment of nearby civilian communities. What, exactly, are environmental health and hygiene disciplines ? A partial list would include occupational and preventive medicine, industrial hygiene chemistry and engineering, radiation protection, sanitary engineering, and atmospheric and stream pollution control. Equally important would be entomology, toxicology, occupational vision, and hearing conservation. Analytical chemistry plays a vital role in many of these areas. The Agency's mission centers on three basic categories, or directorates:
Engineering Services, Radiation Services, and Medical Services. Within these are the subdivisions that conduct projects in specific areas. Radiation Services
Old and new problems in radiochemistry, laser, microwaves and health physics are dealt with in this, the newest of AEHA's directorates. Efforts range from laboratory tests and field studies on items containing radioactive material to prevention and reduction of hazards to personnel from medical and industrial X-ray equipment and laser and microwave equipment. Small teams travel in this country and overseas to field installations, hospitals, medical centers, industrial installations, and other facilities using equipment of this nature. These small teams evaluate the potential radiation hazards created by the use of this equip-
Figure 1 , Equipment used in sampling exhaust gas streams for measurement of various air pollutants is a modification of a sampling system originally designed by the^ National Air Pollution Control Administration. It was modified arid built by AEHA to meet its own particular needs. A probe assembly (left) contains a heated "Pitobe," heated particulate collection devices, and cooled liquid-filled impingers. An umbilical cord connects the probe box assembly with the meter box assembly (right). The meter box assembly consists of draft gages, vacuum pump, and a dry gas meter 74 A
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ment, review testing procedures relative to the use of these devices, and make recommendations regarding the safe use of the equipment, maintenance of records related to this subject and required by Army Regulations. Where radioactive materials are used, a potential health hazard results if contamination of table tops, floors, walls, and other surfaces occurs. The presence of radioactive material on such surfaces can be detected by "wipe samples" which are returned to the AEHA radiochcmists for analysis, or by a direct-reading instrument which gives on-the-spot indication of surface contamination. If the test indicates a hazardous condition the surface must be decontaminated to render the environment safe. Similarly, analyses of the room air and the urine or breath of the workers are performed to determine that radioactive particles are not deposited in the body in excess of maximum permissible amounts. Engineering Services
The Sanitary Engineering Division conducts scheduled visits to installations to examine and evaluate pollution problems and frequently dispatches teams to answer requests for aid from nonscheduled sources. Thus, the Army Materiel Command (AMC) requested AEHA to look into a water pollution problem confronting the U.S. Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center at Corpus Christi, Tex. A 12-man military team from the Agency spent two weeks at the Texas installation extracting samples of water from a variety of sources. Their mis-
Figure 2. Cpt Richard S. Smith is shown checking the reliability of an automatic fluid sampler with respect to suspended solids. Cpt Smith and Cpt Walter G. Hines are conducting a sampler study to determine under varying physical and chemical conditions which apparatus gives the most reliable sample. This program is part of the water pollution studies of the sanitary engineering division
Figure 3. Mobile laboratory, a 36-ft trailer unit, houses a gas chromatograph, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and other equipment needed for chemical analyses on water samples collected during field surveys. Industrial and water pollution surveys on Army installations can be made without disrupting the normal activities of the installation. Use of the mobile laboratory also permits the selection of a variety of equipment according to the needs of any particular survey I
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Figure 4. Spectroradiometer with a highly sensitive infrared head is used to measure spectral characteristics of a new short-arc searchlight. Potential hazards from nonionizing electromagnetic radiation-producing devices, such as laser, radar, microwave ovens, and intense noncoherent light sources are evaluated ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 4 1 , NO. 14, DECEMBER 1969
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Featured Laboratory sion was to characterize the wastes in order to develop new and improved treatment measures for the protection of personnel, not only at the Depot but in the surrounding community. Industrial hygienists work with other military and governmental agencies in detailed studies of one of man's most constant companions: noise. Millions of dollars are spent annually in the United States in decreasing and minimizing its distracting and harmful influences.
Medical Services The three divisions within this directorate—Occupational Health, Entomology, and Toxicology—respond to what General Heaton pointed out when he said: "The increasing complexity of modern life demands continual réévaluation and adjustment of the basic concepts^—of preventive medicine." A vital program being conducted by the toxicologists includes analyses of potentially toxic products created from rocket propellant fuels.
Figure 5. Specialist 4 William E. Steinmetz takes a periodic sample from continuous bacterial culture. This continuous culture apparatus is being used to study the degradation of TNT wastes by floc-forming bacteria
Figure 6. Heavy n i e i j l s déterminations are performed with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Heavy metal salts in solution constitute a very serious form of pollution because they are stable compounds not leadiïy removed by oxidation, precipitation, or other natural processes. The most important mechanism of toxic action is believed to be the,poisoning of enzyme systems
Figure 7. Metabolism studies on clothing imprégnants are conducted with manometric techniques. A Gilson differential respirometer is used in the biochemistry section of the toxicology division. Each laboratory is equipped with a below-counter dishwasher. Other equipment shown are a vaporpressure osmometer and a refrigerated centrifuge 76 A
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Toxicologists are experimenting with insecticides and insect repellents that will protect the user from mosquitoes, lice, chiggers, and the whole catalog of pests that can bring misery to the man in the field. These chemicals must not only guard against insect attack, but also must be without toxic effects on man when used. Man's confrontation with insect life finds him striking at the tiny enemies while they are still in the developmental stage. Entomologists at AEHA have developed and are testing a "delayed action" method of stopping or retarding insect growth. Ingredients which vigorously attack the larvae of most insects have been incorporated in a plastic that can be airdropped in the most remote areas. The strategy developed by the entomologists at AEHA is a simple one: the antilarval material "leaches out" over a period of time. This slow-release method extends the impact of the pesticide, and the use of plastic as a carrier facilitates pinpoint delivery. Occupational health personnel are constantly evaluating, by means of "wear" and other types of tests, developments in the application of the everincreasing variety of new materials proposed for use in the manufacture of military supplies and equipment. Training courses in occupational health, as well as in the other disciplines within AEHA, are offered to Army personnel as well as personnel from other governmental departments on an individual or group basis. For whatever the capabilities of AEHA in any of the environmental science disciplines are—and many of them are unique—this diversity of talent and facilities is a major source of personal and professional satisfaction to the 170 military and civilian scientists and engineers assigned to the agency.
