Document yrK5aj0bVBDN4Lo4OaL09yk26

cn\ PACjFSC bjv .ted States Gypsum op CHICO, CAL- ENTERPRISE ` OCTOBER 23, 1931 , Library Ugc Chicago riT'A r. Morris Fishhein's tiily Health Servicem&' IT INDUSTRIAL DUST IS NOT INJURIOUS c'0 TO LUNGS OF WORKER In a survey of the subject recently made, Dr. E. . Col- lis points out that most dusts in such concentrations as oc cur in industry do not exert an injurious influence on the lungs. Workers in leather, in the shoe industry and m /milling are in contact constantly with the dusts associated with these working con-i j ditions, but are not often sick as a resulL.r ;>j|_ There was a time when flour dust wasi-yt held to be. harmful. Latt .. it was found. ' that the illness was due to`j /making off of quartzite from the millstone ; `1 the quart-' zite dust was the harmfr; ictor rather II than the flour dust. Today - hen flour is , milled by steam rollers min s do not ex u perience the same type of luug tro l' .^Workers in limestone, marble^ gypsum N , and in cement do not suffer muciVJiro: ___ Dr.' ?ishbei \ dust they inhale. tjecalise_these...dusts-.,are Js.. easily_ taken ,, up and __________________ system. There are, however, other dusts which are not easily taken up, such as those from iL basic slag and emery. . These dusts contain oxide of aluminum, which is not easily dissolved in the tissues and which therefore must be coughed up. Constant exposure to such dust causes re peated inflammations of the tissues of the lungs and a type of bronchitis which becomes chronic and serious. It is, of course, difficult to tell the difference between bron chitis caused by dusts and that which results from ex posure at hot furnaces and that due to the fumes that arise in various industries, or indeed that due to. severe climatic conditions. ,. Apparently the most harmful of all dusts is that de veloped in the industries using silica, particularly those as sociated with basalt and asbestos. The dust of asbestos acts in connection with the tissue of the lung to. cause a thickening or fibrous condition of the lungs which goes on rapidly to a serious if not fatal condition. ,, Coal dust does not apparently produce any unusual mortality from respiratory disease. 'The lungs of miners are found to be simply black with coal dust and yet no serious disease of the lung `has developed. If, however, -the coal dust is combined with silica dust!of the type that has been mentioned, the condition that develops may be exrT tremely serious. fj Dr. Fishbein is editor Journal of the American Association, and of Hygeia, the Health ^Magazine. o *o0 Oo' <J1 ! jf A, iiWM. R336SSSRWE