When we began mass-producing matches in the 1800s, workers in the factories started dying mysteriously. The history of our sparking little flame-sticks is darker than you think.
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Sources:
https://www.rdhmag.com/pathology/periodontitis/article/16404967/the-return-of-the-dreaded-145phossy-jaw146
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278239105001011#aep-abstract-sec-id8
http://web.archive.org/web/20120314060725/http://www3.ul.ie/~childsp/CinA/Issue61/TOC25_Phosporous.html#3
http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/london/article_3.shtml
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/friction-matches-were-boon-those-lighting-firesnot-so-much-matchmakers-180967318/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278239107020332
https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/phossy-jaw-and-the-matchgirls/
https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/s-0035-1558452
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1010518207001308
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00508-006-0644-8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1079210409002546
https://www.nature.com/articles/bdj.2007.1057
https://books.google.com/books?id=ezqxkyB5CLUC&pg=PA3628&lpg=PA3628
https://www.cochrane.org/CD001347/MUSKEL_bisphosphonates-treating-osteoporosis-caused-use-steroids
Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryant__May_Pearl_safety_matches,_London,_England,_1890-1_Wellcome_L0058858.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_working_in_a_match_factory.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weier_Phosphor.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jnkping_tndsticksfabrik,_1872.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matchgirl_strikers.PNG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phosphor_rot.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bryant_and_May_packing_girls.jpg
https://www.videoblocks.com/video/match-ignition—slo-mo-bmy7vs-obj7uxrnc1
https://www.videoblocks.com/video/man-lights-a-match-with-fire-sparks-and-smoke-in-slow-motion-ignition-of-fire-open-fire-heat-and-flame-bci2ifadmjegskjx9
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/burning-match-gm154926382-15492898
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/grey-background-concrete-wall-texture-gm1154735034-314110112
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/close-up-macro-and-sharp-background-surface-of-colorful-matches-mix-gm1047965724-280306329
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/panoramic-dental-x-ray-gm171294275-20875143
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/internal-structure-of-a-bone-gm494713216-77615439
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/matchstick-on-fire-gm119480712-14510069
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/row-of-matchsticks-with-one-bursting-into-flames-gm1197943909-342196274
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/spongy-bone-tissue-affected-by-osteoporosis-gm808704868-130947585
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