Of the 40 bandages tested, 26 had fluorine levels ranging from 10 PPM to 374 PPM. Of 16 bandages manufactured in black or brown skin tones for people of color, 10 fell into that contamination range.

Fluorine chemistry developed rapidly during the Second World War, with American scientists working on the 'Manhattan project' to separate fissionable uranium-235 from uranium-238. Uranium is ...