The ventilation of houses after fumigation with hydrogen cyanide.

In June 1935, certain problems arose concerning the fumigation of houses with hydrogen cyanide for the destruction of bedbugs. Workmen reconditioning houses in Rochester, which had been given the customary 24 hr. aeration after fumigation with hydrogen cyanide “disks”, had complained of sickness during their work. The walls, cavities and floor spaces of some of these houses had been tested by Mr Topping, the Chief Sanitary Inspector of Rochester, who, using benzidine acetate-copper acetate paper, had obtained a strong positive reaction indicative of the presence of hydrogen cyanide after 24 hr. aeration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]