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78
The gas chamber method of cyanide fumigation is quicker,
cheaper, safer and more effective than the alternative method of
treating goods in sealed furniture vans.
In transferring families from clearance areas to the Council's
flats the Housing Committee hire furniture vans and labour by the
day. The loaded vans are taken to the Disinfecting Station and
placed in the fumigation chamber, treated with hydrogen cyanide
freed from gas and, after thorough testing to ensure that no trace
of gas remains, the belongings are delivered to the new homes.
Soft goods and articles which might possibly retain gas are put into
a room in the new flat, the window of which is left open, and the
door of the room is sealed until the next day. Beds and bedding
are collected separately in the Public Health Department's vans and
dealt with in the steam disinfecting apparatus.
The small number (9) of slight infestations of the Council's
flats erected since 1934, following the cyanide gas method of
disinfestation, indicates that this method is not only effective but
is of permanent value and results in considerable saving of expense,
trouble and inconvenience. There is no process to equal cyanide
disinfestation of furniture in a properly constructed chamber, but
the difficulty still remains as regards the disinfestation of dwellings
owing to the toxicity of cyanide gas.
Enquiries are constantly being received from public health
officials and others interested in the question of vermin disinfestation
in this country and abroad as to the construction and method of
operating the Hackney cyanide gas chambers. Similar chambers
have, in fact, been erected in and outside London and other
authorities are considering a similar scheme. A description of the
chambers by the Chief Sanitary Inspector, Mr. W. Peverett, was
placed in detail in my report for 1936, and those particulars and
plans are available for the information of any officers of public
health authorities who care to make application for them.
During 1938 the disinfecting staff cleansed by means of steam
2,162 beds and 16,259 other articles such as pillows, cushions and
blankets belonging to families rehoused by the Borough Council. The
following table shows the number of verminous articles treated with
steam other than those belonging to rehoused families, together
with the number of collections of verminous or filthy goods for
destruction to which reference is made on page 75.