Editing Match (section)

===Replacement of white phosphorus===
[[File:1888 match girl strike.jpg|thumb|right|The [[London matchgirls strike of 1888]] campaigned against the use of white phosphorus in match making, which led to bone disorders such as ''[[phossy jaw]]''.]]

Those involved in the manufacture of the new phosphorus matches were afflicted with ''[[phossy jaw]]'' and other bone disorders,<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Br. J. Ind. Med. |year=1962 |volume=19|pages=83–99|title=Phosphorus Necrosis of the Jaw: A Present-day Study: With Clinical and Biochemical Studies|author=Hughes, J. P. W; Baron, R.; Buckland, D. H., Cooke, M. A.; Craig, J. D.; Duffield, D. P.; Grosart, A. W.; Parkes, P. W. J.; & Porter, A.|pmc=1038164|issue=2|pmid=14449812|doi=10.1136/oem.19.2.83}}</ref> and there was enough white phosphorus in one pack to kill a person. Deaths and suicides from eating the heads of matches became frequent. The earliest report of phosphorus necrosis was made in 1845 by Lorinser in Vienna, and a New York surgeon published a pamphlet with notes on nine cases.<ref name=crass9>{{cite journal|title=A history of the match industry. Part 9| author=Crass, M. F. Jr. |year=1941|pages=428–431|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|volume=18|url=http://www.jce.divched.org/journal/Issues/1941/Sep/jceSubscriber/JCE1941p0428.pdf|bibcode=1941JChEd..18..428C|doi=10.1021/ed018p428|issue=9}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Industrial disease due to certain poisonous fumes or gases|author=Oliver, Thomas|url=https://archive.org/stream/archivesofpublic01victuoft#page/2/mode/1up|pages=1–21|journal=Archives of the Public Health Laboratory|volume=1|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1906}}</ref>

The conditions of working-class women at the [[Bryant & May]] factories led to the [[London matchgirls strike of 1888]]. The strike was focused on the severe health complications of working with [[Yellow phosphorus|white phosphorus]], such as [[phossy jaw]].<ref name=spartacus>{{cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUmatchgirls.htm|title=Matchgirls Strike|publisher=Spartacus Educational|access-date=2006-05-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414144119/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUmatchgirls.htm|archive-date=14 April 2012}}</ref> Social activist [[Annie Besant]] published an article in her halfpenny weekly paper ''The Link'' on 23 June 1888.<ref>[http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/thelink.html "White slavery in London".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719031718/http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/thelink.html |date=19 July 2011 }} ''The Link'', Issue no. 21 (via Tower Hamlets' Local History Library and Archives)</ref> A strike fund was set up and some newspapers collected donations from readers. The women and girls also solicited contributions. Members of the [[Fabian Society]], including [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Sidney Webb]], and [[Graham Wallas]], were involved in the distribution of the cash collected.<ref>Raw p. 137</ref> The strike and negative publicity led to changes being made to limit the health effects of the inhalation of white phosphorus.

Attempts were made to reduce the ill-effects on workers through the introduction of inspections and regulations. [[Anton Schrötter von Kristelli]] discovered in 1850 that heating white phosphorus at 250&nbsp;°C in an inert atmosphere produced a red allotropic form, which did not fume in contact with air. It was suggested that this would make a suitable substitute in match manufacture although it was slightly more expensive.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Moritz |last=Kohn |journal=J. Chem. Educ. |year=1944 |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=522, 554 |doi=10.1021/ed021p522 |title=The discovery of red phosphorus (1847) by Anton von Schrötter (1802–1875) |url=http://www.jce.divched.org/journal/Issues/1944/Nov/jceSubscriber/JCE1944p0522.pdf |bibcode=1944JChEd..21..522K }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Two French chemists, Henri Savene and Emile David Cahen, proved in 1898 that the addition of [[phosphorus sesquisulfide]] meant that the substance was not poisonous, that it could be used in a "strike-anywhere" match, and that the match heads were not explosive.<ref name=threlfall-ix>Threlfall (1951), "Chapter IX: The Second generation: 1880–1915: part II: The Private Limited Company"</ref>

[[File:MatchPatentNYT.png|thumb|left|''[[The New York Times]]'' report dated 29 January 1911]]

British company [[Albright and Wilson]] was the first company to produce phosphorus sesquisulfide matches commercially. The company developed a safe means of making commercial quantities of phosphorus sesquisulfide in 1899 and started selling it to match manufacturers.<ref name=threlfall/><ref name=crass5/> However, white phosphorus continued to be used, and its serious effects led many countries to ban its use. Finland prohibited the use of white phosphorus in 1872, followed by Denmark in 1874, France in 1897, Switzerland in 1898, and the Netherlands in 1901.<ref name=crass9/> An agreement, the ''[[Berne Convention (1906)|Berne Convention]],'' was reached at Bern, Switzerland, in September 1906, which banned the use of white phosphorus in matches.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Steve|last= Charnovitz|title=The Influence of International Labour Standards on the World Trading Regime. A Historical Overview|journal=International Labour Review|volume=126|issue=5|year=1987|pages=565, 571}}</ref> This required each country to pass laws prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in matches. The United Kingdom passed a law in 1908 prohibiting its use in matches after 31 December 1910. The United States did not pass a law, but instead placed a "punitive tax" in 1913 on white phosphorus–based matches, one so high as to render their manufacture financially impractical, and Canada banned them in 1914.<ref>[http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=CC9C134CA7859800E234B195B64D9A7E?method=preview&lang=EN&id=25987 Donalda Charron and the E.B. Eddy Match Company] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808040840/http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=CC9C134CA7859800E234B195B64D9A7E?method=preview&lang=EN&id=25987 |date=8 August 2014 }}. National Capital Commission. museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca</ref> India and Japan banned them in 1919; China followed, banning them in 1925.

In 1901 Albright and Wilson started making phosphorus sesquisulfide at their [[Niagara Falls, New York|Niagara Falls]], New York plant for the US market, but American manufacturers continued to use white phosphorus matches.<ref name=threlfall-ix/> The Niagara Falls plant made them until 1910, when the [[United States Congress]] forbade the shipment of white phosphorus matches in interstate commerce.<ref name=threlfall>Threlfall (1951)</ref>