Document DDmkNgZMa8ZgRY9Jgb2EDjQdN

FILE NAME: Talc (TALC) DATE: 1935 DOC#: TALC201 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Book Excerpt - The Prevention of Industrial Diseases NATIONAL MEDICAL MONOGRAPHS ABNORMAL ARTERIAL TENSION By Edward J. Stieglitz, M.S., M.D., F.A.C.P. Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Rush Medical College, Univ. of Chicago OBSTETRICS FOR TH E GENERAL PR A C T IT IO N E R By J. P. Grccnhiil, B.S., M.D., F.A.C.S. Professor of Gynecology, Loyola Uni versity School of Medicine, Chicago INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE By W. Irving Clark, A.B., M.D. Assistant Professor, Industrial Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and Philip Drinker, S.B., Ch.E. Associate Professor Industrial Hygiene, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston TH E MANAGEMENT OF COLITIS By J. Arnold Bargen, M.D., F.A.C.P. Division of Medicine, the Mayo Clinic COMMONER DISEASES OF T H E SKIN By S. William Becker, M.S., M.D. Associate Professor of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Chicago DISEASES OF TH E CHEST By J. Arthur Myers, M.D. Professor of Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Univ. of Minn. M edi cal School NATIONAL MEDICAL MONOGRAPHS INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE By W. IRVING CLARK, A.B., M.D. Assistant Professor of the Practice of Indus trial M edicine, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and Medical Director of The Horton Com pany, Worcester, M ass. ^ r4 and PHILIP DRINKER, S.B., Ch.E. Associate Professor of Industrial Hy^iene} Harvard School of Public Health, Boston^ Mass. Edited by MORRIS FISHBEIN, M.D. 1 N Sr^ J a n fi" JARS, N atio n al M ed ica l B ook New York, N. 1935 / 4 C om pany, Y. I nc. C hapter X II TH E PREVEN TIO N OF IN D U STRIAL D ISEASES E lsewhere w e defined an industrial disease as a toxemia resulting from too great exposure to a toxic substance or to an unfavorable working environment. Obviously, then, the avoidance of such an exposure furnishes the first and most im portant defense against industrial disease. Gen erally it is unnecessary to prohibit all exposure to a toxic substance-- most substances have threshold doses. In Chapter V I I I we have given figures of permissible concentrations for certain dusts, fumes, and for one mist, chromic acid. Hamilton [70] and Henderson and Haggard [79] and publications of the U. S. Public Health Service give the available data on gases [ 15 1]. Perhaps the second most obvious preventive 308 INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE 209 measure is the limiting of working hours so that the exposure w ill be sub-threshold. Usually such limitation is developed by practical ex perience and later is put upon a sound scientific basis by appropriate laboratory experimenta tion. Notable examples of limitation of exposure are shown in the rules for working in com pressed air and again for working in hot deep mines (Chapter IV ). In both of these examples industry would welcome a normal full working day if the resulting exposure were physiologi cally safe for man. A third method which is always sought by an industry which finds itself in toxicological trouble, is the development or substitution of a safe process for that which is causing trouble. A familiar example is the almost total elimina tion of benzol poisoning [69] by the use of less toxic solvents in place of benzol--toluol and xylol. In dusty trades it is often feasible to change a process so that it becomes non-dusty. Examples can be seen in any plant doing sand blasting; a few years ago the abrasive was sand and the blasting frequently was done on the open