Skin burns must be immersed in water or covered with wet cloths to prevent re-combustion until the particles can be removed.
Exposure to white phosphorus smoke in the air can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung or bone damage and even death.
A former US soldier who served in Iraq says breathing in smoke close to a shell caused the throat and lungs to blister until the victim suffocated, with the phosphorus continuing to burn them from the inside.
Long-term exposure to lesser concentrations over several months or years may lead to a condition called "phossy jaw", where mouth wounds are caused that fail to heal and the jawbone eventually breaks down.
Eating or drinking less than one teaspoon of white phosphorus can cause vomiting; stomach cramps; liver, heart or kidney damage; drowsiness; and even death. Being burned with white phosphorus can cause heart, liver, and kidney damage. Breathing white phosphorus may damage lungs and throat.
White phosphorus can cause changes in the long bones; seriously affected bones may become brittle, leading to spontaneous fractures. White phosphorus is especially hazardous to the eyes and can severely damage them.
High concentrations of the vapors evolved by burning white phosphorus are irritating to the nose, throat, lungs, skin, eyes, and mucus membranes.
Breathing white phosphorus can cause coughing and the development of a condition known as phossy jaw -- poor wound healing in the mouth and a breakdown of the jaw bone. The most common symptom of exposure to white phosphorus is necrosis of the jaw.
Exposure to white phosphorus can also cause nausea, jaundice, anemia, cachexia, dental pain, and excess saliva.
In 1669 the Hamburg merchant and alchemist Hennig Brandt heated the residue from evaporating urine with powdered charcoal, and condensed the vapor that was evolved into a waxy solid. This solid glowed in the dark, without heat, an astonishing phenomenon. He called the mysterious substance phosphorus, taken directly from the Greek phosphoros, "light-bringer." This was also the name of the planet Venus as morning star, "Lucifer" in Latin. The discovery created quite a stir, and soon nobody was throwing away urine. Travelling alchemists amazed royal audiences, and it was the talk of the time. A normal person excretes about a gram of phosphorus daily.
Although white phosphorus, and many phosphorus compounds, such as phosphine, are toxic, orthophosphates and other compounds are nontoxic, and can be added to food. A "phosphate" was a drink made with fruit syrup, soda water, and phosphoric acid, which gave it an extra tang. Acid and basic phosphate salts are gentler than the carbonate equivalents (because phosphoric acid is stronger than carbonic). Acid phosphate salts (such as primary calcium phosphate, Ca(HPO4)2) are used in baking powder instead of tartaric acid, and basic salts (such as TSP) are used in cleaning powders. Because phosphate is a good fertilizer, the use of phosphates in cleaning agents is now discouraged to avoid eutrophication of the waste water. The "substitute" now on sale is sodium carbonate, which works even better than the phosphate, but dissolves skin.
Fudge brownie mix contains tricalcium and monocalcium phosphate, devil's food cake mix sodium acid pyrophosphate and dicalcium phosphate, scalloped potato mix disodium phosphate, and mashed potato flakes sodium acid pyrophosphate, all well down in the lists. Phosphates are not to be feared in the least, and are among the safest additives of all. Monobasic sodium phosphate, NaH2PO4, is called tasteless salt because it looks like salt, but has no salty taste.
In 1831, Charles Sauria in France substituted phosphorus sulphide, P4S3, for the antimony sulphide, which made a very reliable match that was easy to ignite. The reaction to prepare the sulphide from white phosphorus is vigorous, and phosphorus vapor poisoned the workers. Their disease was the terrible "phossy jaw" with necrosis of the jawbone, the principal symptom of chronic phosphorus poisoning. It is probably not true that white phosphorus was ever used directly in matches that were sucked by the match workers. However, lead dioxide, PbO2 was used as an oxidizing agent. A white phosphorus--lead dioxide match would have been a remarkable poison.
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