Researching the Textile Industry Flox came across an article about the Kiss of Death.

In the textile industry it was customary to pull the thread from the spool through the shuttle by briefly sucking on it. This Kissing the Shuttle was done by every weaver over 300 times a day. Thus infectious diseases were passed on, in the early 20th century mainly tuberculosis. That’s why it is called the Kiss of Death. As many textile workers were women and children, it was them that suffered. In England the custom was abolished by law only in 1952.