Documents byssinosis 7 results

Background: To evaluate the relationship between long-term exposure to cotton dust and Gram-negative bacterial endotoxin on lung function, we conducted an 11-year follow-up study of cotton textile workers in Shanghai, China. Methods: Workers at a nearby silk-thread manufacturing mill were used as a referent population. Ninety percent of the original cohort of 445 cotton and 467 silk textile workers - both active and retired - were identified for testing in the 11th year. Questionnaires and spirometric testing were performed, as well as cotton dust and endotoxin sampling at three points over the 11-year follow-up period: at baseline, at Year 5, and at Year 11. After excluding deaths and subjects on sick-leave, 84% of the original cohort had complete health and environmental data. Results: The data were reanalyzed using generalized estimating equations feedback model which allow for subject transfer over time between work areas, various exposure levels to dust and endotoxin, and FEV1. Cotton workers had a larger loss of FEV1 during the first 5 years of study (-40 mls/yr) as compared with the second 6 years of follow-up (-18 mls/yr). During the same periods, the average decline among silk workers was slightly higher in the first period, but was more consistent (-30 mls/yr vs. -27 mls/yr), and these differences could not be explained by worker selection or dropout. When cumulative exposure to dust and endotoxin were estimated and used in a multivariate model (GEE) for FEV1 loss, cumulative dust, but not endotoxin, was associated with 11-year loss in FEV1 after adjustments for confounders. There was evidence of feedback between dust-exposure levels and FEV1, indicating the existence of a healthy-worker survivor effect. After accounting for a healthy-worker survivor effect, we found a significant relationship between dust exposure and FEV1 decline. Conclusions: Our results suggest that cotton dust is more strongly associated with chronic airflow limitation than associated endotoxins. Further work is needed to clarify potential reversibility after cessation of exposure, and the relative contributions of dust, endotoxin, and tobacco to chronic respiratory impairment in cotton and other vegetable-exposed workers.

"In June 1978, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor promulgated a cotton dust standard (43 FR 27351) to protect cotton textile workers from the respiratory disease byssinosis (or "brown lung"). At that time, OSHA suggested that at least 35,000 workers suffered from the disease and another 100,000 were at risk due to exposure to cotton dust. The Centers for Disease Control conservatively estimates that 183 workers died from byssinosis between 1979-1992. These figures, of course, do not include the generations that fell victim to brown lung before 1978.
The Cotton Dust Papers is the story of the 50-year struggle for recognition in the U.S. of this pernicious occupational disease. The authors contend that byssinosis could have and should have been recognized much sooner, as a great deal was known about the disease as early as the 1930s. Using mostly primary sources, the authors explore three instances from the 1930s to the 1960s in which evidence suggested the existence of brown lung in the mills, yet nothing was done. What the story of byssinosis makes clear is that the economic and political power of private owners and managers can hinder and shape the work of health investigators. Yet this story also shows how a progressive coalition of labor and other forces can cause an industry to break ranks and finally acknowledge the existence of an occupational disease. The Cotton Dust Papers is thus a cautionary tale of how social arrangements can either perpetuate or help to overcome human suffering. A fascinating and accessible piece of historical detective work, The Cotton Dust Papers offers lessons about the pursuit of occupational health that remain relevant and important today. "

"This report contains tables, figures, and maps showing statistics on asbestosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, byssinosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and respiratory tuberculosis, as well as on associated occupational dust exposures.
This edition also includes sections on malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, and "other" interstitial lung disease, as well as smoking status by industry and occupation. In addition, tables are now provided listing U.S. counties with the highest mortality from certain occupational respiratory diseases."

"his guide provides a wide spectrum of information on agricultural health hazards and their prevention. While focusing the problems of developing countries, it also deals with issues of concern to industrialised countries. Contents: living conditions and environmental hygiene (housing, farm buildings, water supply, manure and sewage, environmental health, food sanitation); occupational physiology and ergonomics; prevention and management of occupational pesticide poisoning; occupational diseases; zoonoses, infectious and parasitic diseases; occupational health services and medical inspection of labour. Contains graphs and illustrations."

"The seventh of a series, the Work-Related Lung Disease (WoRLD) Surveillance Report 2007 provides information on various work-related respiratory diseases and associated exposures in the United States. The WoRLD Surveillance Report 2007 describes where these diseases are occurring (by industry and geographic location), who is affected (by race, gender, age, and occupation), how frequently they occur, and temporal trends. Volume 2 focuses on respiratory conditions by NORA industrial sector."