Document 9YoG5Jo6Y3gJe5vD76QvYXRD

12 FRANK A. PATTY on account of silicosis in the 1932-42 period. Congestion of operations, due to great demands on capacity, has been credited with increasing the number of silicosis cases by raising the concentration of dust-producing operations per unit of shop area. A committee appointed to study the situation recommended: (1) no silica should be used in parting compounds; (2) no sand should be used as an abra sive in "sandblasting.";.and (3) no person under 18 should work as a sandblaster, in repairing a sandblast plant, or within 20 feet of such a plant. Consideration was given to prohibiting the use of free silica in molding material as well as silica paint on cores. Certain of these regulations appear unnecessarily drastic and do not take into account the possibilities of engineering control. E. R. A. Merewether, Senior Inspector of Factories in England, recognized this lack of engineering interest and skill when in 1942 he told an American Public Health Association audience that the time had arrived when "the doctor no longer knows everything about everything" and conceded American leadership in indus trial hygiene engineering. Merewether urged the English chemists to instigate the formation of a .society for "the holding of annual conferences and the publication and distribution of papers and literature on the subject of industrial health and safety,"7 much as is done by our own American Industrial Hygiene Association and to a limited extent by the American Public Health Association. The British Occupational Hygiene Society was established on April 27,1953, and held its first conference in November of the same year. B. RUSSIA C.-E. A. Winslow, who visited Russia in 1917 and again in 1936, reported major advances in public health in that country. Emphasis had been placed on the health of industrial workers. Scientific studies of many occupational, hazards and of means of prompting industrial health have been conducted by various research organizationsj'of which may be mentioned the Institute of Industrial Diseases in Moscow, the Central Institute for Nutrition in Moscow, Pavlov Institute, the Leningrad Institute of Safety, Hygiene and Technique, and States' Scientific Institute of Labor. Protection. The Soviet state has given special attention to questions involving better labor conditions, looking toward the highest possible efficiency and production, as well _ol_the_w.oricers*EBfcl^|)`|r^issib! tended to be ultraconservative on-the side of,safirty;;'afiiS'r^ ^if 'SOTefei'sfeifaards for industry to meet. Varibus"motives have been suggested sas; having cpntributed to the zeal of industrial hygiene investigators. Later, however, some standards were jpodified tp conform .with .experience, and uuirenave been indications that in general the requirements have been made somewhat less rigid.8 For instance, the maximum limit for carbon monoxide was 7 Chem. Age (London), 53, 383 (1945).' A. Metsatunyan, Hyg, and Sanit. (USSR), 10, 23 (1943), INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE--RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 13 per liter, and is now 0.04 mg. per liter (approximately 35 p.p.m.), methyl '^jc(^l;:,was 0.03 mg. per liter and is now 0.07 mg. per liter (approximately 52 p in^) , ethyl alcohol was 1.0 mg. per liter and is now 1.5 mg. per liter (approxijS; "Tnai^y 800 p.p.m.). Apnyl and other alcohols, however, that were 1.0 mg. per M'P^^^O^faare now 0.5 mg. per liter (approximately 280 p.p.m. amyl alcohol and 330 Viu+.vl pl/vnhnll Thic +.l*pr,/l olnnrr wifi, rtWn .mrinrol trend dOWHWard, f not most of our ............ TM wuow.vv, a What a potentially exposure. The disparity of standards for outdoor air may be somewhat We have seen good information resulting'from research into the control .................................... ~ `' e the iron curtain lifted sometime all countries regarding industrial C. GERMANY | Germany in the year 1928 the. task of collecting material and making I ;iactj?al observations in industrial hygiene was entrusted to the Medical Com- the German Society for the Protection of Labor. A literature search was m ^conducted as well as experimental investigations of the most important organic jfrlifegSSoHBMw The German Health Office was established as a clearing house for in- _7^'j:foan|ti'on regarding chemical composition of solvents and the etiological factors ^if.Gil uiess resulting from their use. The inspectors of factories were men with Sj^vijun^dical training but without engineering training, and as a result the control rj^Jiic^iurcs were "largely "of"a'medical nature. It has been stated by one of these Sllfflfftfiniwi'inRnp.ctnrH that it wao pncipr prtS mnra mnfind + e nKfo'!,, Kinlmrino 1 cnani. j^ulmer. Koelsch, Koster, Lehmann, Muller, Wirth, Zatiger, and Zernik, Priceless ^S|iSent"atin, records, and intellect have been reported lost as a result of Many rules and regulations for industry have been developed over j^lilnel.'jicarR and are presently applied in West Germany to the use or manufacture ^^^^^rtain chemicals, the conduct of specific operations, or workrooms below numerous regulations are pointed toward .medical examinations and safeguards for {fie^con&ofoiT'any exigency raWier th'an'toward the feglSms^fg control of the environment to conform with, hygienic standards. The are enforced by a host of factory inspectors. 1' _________ ______ D. OTHER COUNTRIES only have many of the countries of Europe, Asia, and Latin America :fc^jfic!.PO;ted personnel to study industrial hygiene techniques in.the. United States A. Riazonov, Sanitary Safeguarding of Atmospheric Air. Moscow 1954. Reviewed,by gjpjg^Wette. Smog News (ASME), No. 54, 2 (November 30,1955). < M fc53