Editing Danbury, Connecticut (section)

==== Mercury poisoning ====

The use of [[Mercury(II) nitrate|mercuric nitrate]] in the felting process poisoned many workers in the hat factories, creating a condition called [[erethism]], also called "mad hatter disease."<ref name=Buckell1946>{{cite journal |last1=Buckell |first1=M |last2=Hunter|first2=D|last3=Milton|first3=R|last4=Perry|first4=KM |title=Chronic mercury poisoning |journal=British Journal of Industrial Medicine |date=February 1993 |orig-year=1946 |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=97–106 |pmid=8435354 |doi=10.1136/oem.50.2.97-a|pmc=1061245}}</ref> The condition, known locally as the "Danbury shakes", was characterized by slurred speech, tremors, stumbling, and, in extreme cases, hallucinations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mercury Workshop |url=https://www.epa.ohio.gov/Portals/41/training/Introduction%20to%20mercury%20issues.pdf?ver=2014-07-08-103928-983 |page=23 |publisher=Ohio Indoor Air Quality Coalition |date=2008 |quote=In the late 1800s hat makers, or hatters, used to use mercury nitrate when working with beaver fur to make felt. Over time, the hatters started exhibiting apparent changes in personality and also experienced tremors or shaking. Mercury poisoning attacks the nervous system, causing drooling, hair loss, uncontrollable muscle twitching, a lurching gait, and difficulties in talking and thinking clearly. Stumbling about in a confused state with slurred speech and trembling hands, affected hatters were sometimes mistaken for drunks. The ailment became known as 'The Danbury Shakes' in the community of Danbury where hat making was a major industry. In very severe cases, they experienced hallucinations. The term '[[mad as a hatter]]' may be a product of mercury toxicity. |access-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922085451/https://www.epa.ohio.gov/Portals/41/training/Introduction%20to%20mercury%20issues.pdf?ver=2014-07-08-103928-983 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McDowell |first1=Lee |title=Mineral Nutrition History: The Early Years |date=2017 |publisher=Design Pub. |isbn=978-1-5069-0459-7 |page=658 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4otDwAAQBAJ&dq=ailment%20became%20known%20as%20%27The%20Danbury%20Shakes%27&pg=PA658 |language=en |access-date=March 19, 2023 |archive-date=September 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922005453/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4otDwAAQBAJ&dq=ailment%20became%20known%20as%20%27The%20Danbury%20Shakes%27&pg=PA658 |url-status=live }}</ref> The effect of mercury on the workers' health was first noted in the late 19th century. While workers in the Danbury factories lobbied for controls on mercury in the early 20th century, a government study on the health effects of mercury was not conducted until 1937. The State of Connecticut announced a ban on mercury in hatmaking in 1941.<ref name="Wajda">{{cite web |url=https://connecticuthistory.org/ending-the-danbury-shakes-a-story-of-workers-rights-and-corporate-responsibility/ |title=Ending the Danbury Shakes: A Story of Workers' Rights and Corporate Responsibility |last=Wajda |first=Shirley T. |date=December 12, 2019 |publisher=Connecticut History |access-date=October 21, 2018 |archive-date=October 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022033504/https://connecticuthistory.org/ending-the-danbury-shakes-a-story-of-workers-rights-and-corporate-responsibility/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

While Danbury hat factories stopped using mercury in the 1940s, the mercury waste has remained in the [[Still River (Housatonic River tributary)|Still River]] and adjacent soils, and has been detected at high levels in the 21st century.<ref name="unisci.com"/><ref name="Bronsther">{{cite report |last1=Bronsther |first1=Rachel |last2=Welsh |first2=Patrick |title=Mercury in Soils and Sediments |publisher=Wesleyan University |url=http://jvarekamp.web.wesleyan.edu/199%20ppt/Mercury66%20in%20Soils%20and%20Sediments.ppt |access-date=September 30, 2015 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002425/http://jvarekamp.web.wesleyan.edu/199%20ppt/Mercury66%20in%20Soils%20and%20Sediments.ppt |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Lerman>{{cite thesis |last1=Lerman-Sinkoff |first1=Sarah Tziporah |date=April 2014 |title=Transport and Fate of Historic Mercury Pollution from Danbury, CT through the Still and Housatonic Rivers |type=BA thesis |publisher=Wesleyan University |location=Middletown, CT |url=https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/ir-639 |access-date=April 6, 2023 |doi=10.14418/wes01.1.1052 |doi-access=free |archive-date=September 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908233037/https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/ir-639 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}