Document ZBjpmE8a2XX0MLEqReL8YrB6Z

- 77 - van. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH RISKS Although asbestos has bnen known fro~ the remotest ages - and even diseases of the respiratory system in slavt-B working in asbestos textures - the Jink be tween specific diseases and exposure to asbestos h*?ca!i.i:* cMahlinhod with the expansive growth in the use of this mineral and its product*, in the 20th centu ry. The UK possessed - and possesses - a large asbestos- indu-t ry, st.irtii.; around 1810 in the manufacture of asbestosrtcxti lc. 5f> the first Case of asbestosir, was described in England in J&Oo; in the cours* of the following years the link between intensive occupational exposure and harmful effects could be firmly established. The Rritish government took the first measures to protect the workers in these industries around 1930. In the meantime asbestos was being used in more and more applicotions other than asbestos*textile: insulation, asbestos-cement, etc. (see chapter 11). Exposure to asbestos inside the factories became greatly diminished by technical devices} however outside factories exposure of workers increased with the growth of application* of asbestos and asbestos-products, c.g. buil ding trade, insulation. In 193 the first descriptions of bronchial carcinoma ar. a complication of esbostosis appeared, afterwards confirmed by other observations of this corJ/ination. It must be kept in mind, that in those years bronchial cancer was an uncommon disease. Exposure to asbestos, particularly in combination with cigarette-smoking, may cause a steep rise in the incidence of b*~*nchial cancers. and mesothelioma were published. Up til) then mesothelioma was looked n*or. as an extremely rare disease. Since this publication a multitude of reports followed, linking mesothelioma to occupational or neighbourhood exposure to asbestos in the past - mostly occupational. v ' ?.n the l^CO's an excess incidence of cancer of the gastrointestinal tract *00] 0770 PRODUCED BY FORD