RESUMEN
In the 1980s, the right-to-know movement won American workers unprecedented access to information about the health hazards they faced on the job. The precursors and origins of these initiatives to extend workplace democracy remain quite obscure. This study brings to light the efforts of one of the early proponents of wider dissemination of information related to hazard recognition and control. Through his work as a state public health official and as an advisor to organized labor in the 1950s, Herbert Abrams was a pioneer in advocating not only broader sharing of knowledge but also more expansive rights of workers and their organizations to act on that knowledge.
Asunto(s)
Acceso a la Información/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Salud Laboral/historia , Lugar de Trabajo/historia , Derechos Civiles/historia , Democracia , Sustancias Peligrosas/efectos adversos , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Sindicatos/historia , Salud Pública/historia , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Workers Right to Know laws later in that decade were signature moments in the history of occupational safety and health. We have examined how and why industry leaders came to accept that it was the obligation of business to provide information about the dangers to health of the materials that workers encountered. Informing workers about the hazards of the job had plagued labor-management relations and fed labor disputes, strikes, and even pitched battles during the turn of the century decades. Industry's rhetorical embrace of the responsibility to inform was part of its argument that government regulation of the workplace was not necessary because private corporations were doing it.
Asunto(s)
Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Exposición Profesional/legislación & jurisprudencia , Salud Laboral/legislación & jurisprudencia , Acceso a la Información/historia , Acceso a la Información/legislación & jurisprudencia , Negociación Colectiva/historia , Negociación Colectiva/legislación & jurisprudencia , Sustancias Peligrosas/efectos adversos , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Sindicatos/historia , Sindicatos/legislación & jurisprudencia , Exposición Profesional/efectos adversos , Exposición Profesional/historia , Salud Laboral/historia , Estados Unidos , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/historia , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/legislación & jurisprudenciaRESUMEN
The challenges of regulating industrial chemicals remain unresolved in the United States. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 was the first legislation to extend coverage to the regulation of industrial chemicals, both existing and newly registered. However, decisions related to both law and science that were made in passing this law inevitably rendered it ineffectual. Attempts to fix these shortcomings have not been successful. In light of the European Union's passage of innovative principles and requirements for chemical regulation, it is no longer possible to deny the opportunity and need for reform in US law and practice.
Asunto(s)
Regulación Gubernamental , Sustancias Peligrosas/toxicidad , Legislación como Asunto , Contaminación Ambiental/legislación & jurisprudencia , Contaminación Ambiental/prevención & control , Regulación Gubernamental/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Legislación como Asunto/historia , Estados Unidos , United States Environmental Protection AgencyRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This article serves as an introduction to the history of military environmental exposures, both man-made and naturally occurring. It also discusses exposure hazards of concern to US military members who have served in armed conflict in the past 40+ years. METHODS: A review of the literature of the historic exposure concerns as well as those of the recent and current conflicts. RESULTS: In recognition that there have been no significant compilations of articles regarding exposure hazards and concerns faced by US Service members returning from the recent and current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, this dedicated issue of the Journal contains 14 such papers. This articles provides a brief overview of these reports. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental exposure hazards during deployment to conflict are not new. Concerns about these exposures are not new. Many conflicts have similar, if not identical exposures of concern, but also often have some that are unique to the particular conflict. In 2001 the Department of Veterans Affairs established a new program to address some of these concerns of Veterans.
Asunto(s)
Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Personal Militar/historia , Exposición Profesional/historia , Guerra , Historia del Siglo XV , Historia del Siglo XVI , Historia del Siglo XVII , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Historia Antigua , Historia Medieval , Humanos , Masculino , Enfermedades Profesionales/epidemiología , Enfermedades Profesionales/historia , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/historia , Veteranos/historiaAsunto(s)
Salud Global , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Industrias/historia , Intoxicación por Plomo/historia , Enfermedades Profesionales/historia , China , Contaminantes Ambientales/historia , Historiografía , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Industrias/legislación & jurisprudencia , Internacionalidad , México , Salud Laboral/historia , Recall y Retirada del Producto , Estados UnidosAsunto(s)
Bisfenol A Glicidil Metacrilato , Anomalías Congénitas , Sustancias Peligrosas , Discapacidades para el Aprendizaje , Bifenilos Policlorados , Hidrocarburos Policíclicos Aromáticos , Salud Pública , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/economía , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/historia , Bisfenol A Glicidil Metacrilato/economía , Bisfenol A Glicidil Metacrilato/historia , Anomalías Congénitas/economía , Anomalías Congénitas/etnología , Anomalías Congénitas/historia , Seguridad de Productos para el Consumidor/legislación & jurisprudencia , Gobierno/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/economía , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Discapacidades para el Aprendizaje/economía , Discapacidades para el Aprendizaje/etnología , Discapacidades para el Aprendizaje/historia , Neoplasias/etnología , Neoplasias/historia , Plásticos/economía , Plásticos/historia , Bifenilos Policlorados/economía , Bifenilos Policlorados/historia , Hidrocarburos Policíclicos Aromáticos/economía , Hidrocarburos Policíclicos Aromáticos/historia , Salud Pública/economía , Salud Pública/educación , Salud Pública/historia , Salud Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Política Pública/economía , Política Pública/historia , Política Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Contaminantes del Agua/economía , Contaminantes del Agua/historiaRESUMEN
Over the past 5 years we have seen an increase in the attention focused on the assessment of the potential health risk posed by nanoscale materials. The diversity of these materials with respect to size, composition, and surface properties, and the rapid pace of their development and commercialization, poses significant challenges to traditional toxicity testing paradigms. At the same time the potential use of new high throughput "predictive "toxicity" strategies, such as that envisioned in the recent NRC report "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century," have emerged as possible solutions to deal with the issue of how to assess the safety of the thousands of chemicals to which humans are potentially exposed. In this forum article we discuss how in some respects, the emergence of diverse engineered nanomaterials offers a tailor-made test case for the application of a new paradigm for assessing human heath risks. However, although this approach may have merit in the study of some specific nanomaterials, this approach does not consider the complexity involved in utilizing in vitro cell culture toxicology methods to evaluate the potential hazard of the wide array of current and future engineered nanomaterials.
Asunto(s)
Sustancias Peligrosas/efectos adversos , Nanopartículas/efectos adversos , Salud Pública , Pruebas de Toxicidad , Animales , Técnicas de Cultivo de Célula , Regulación Gubernamental , Guías como Asunto , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/farmacocinética , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Nanopartículas/historia , National Academy of Sciences, U.S. , Salud Pública/historia , Salud Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Salud Pública/normas , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Medición de Riesgo , Pruebas de Toxicidad/historia , Pruebas de Toxicidad/métodos , Pruebas de Toxicidad/normas , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
This article traces the historical foundations of the Yerkes-Dodson Law from its experimental foundations in the first decade of the 20th century, to its recognition as a generalizable phenomenon in multiple species including humans and to more current attempts to understand its molecular basis within the framework of stress-related biological processes. Within this context, the biological and dose-response characteristics of the Yerkes-Dodson Law are evaluated and compared to the hormesis dose-response model. Based on this evaluation, which includes study design analysis, statistical models of multiple factor/chemical interaction, and a comparative assessment of the quantitative features of these respective dose-response relationships and their molecular foundations, the Yerkes-Dodson Law is shown to represent a special case of the general concept of hormesis illustrating the interaction of two independent study variables, which has typically been observed to be an additive response, although not theoretically restricted to one. The conceptual integration of the Yerkes-Dodson Law within the hormetic dose response framework adds further support for the generalization of the hormesis concept.
Asunto(s)
Relación Dosis-Respuesta a Droga , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Estrés Psicológico/historia , Toxicología/historia , Adaptación Psicológica , Animales , Conducta Animal , Sustancias Peligrosas/farmacología , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Modelos Estadísticos , Desempeño Psicomotor , Proyectos de Investigación , Estrés Psicológico/psicologíaRESUMEN
The development of the European legislation on chemicals must be viewed against the background of general developments in politics and society. Chemical accidents have played a triggering role, especially the catastrophe at Seveso in 1976. As a response, the "Seveso Directives" 82/501/EEC, 96/82/EEC, and 2003/105/EEC were passed. This also promoted general intentions to better comply with chemical hazards. The very first initiative of European institutions considering chemical compounds dates back to 1967 with Directive 67/548/EEC. Its amendments were later developed into the core of European legislation on chemicals. Other important fields of European legislation concerning chemicals, which were developed further, are environmental protection, consumer protection and occupational safety.
Asunto(s)
Industria Química/historia , Industria Química/legislación & jurisprudencia , Seguridad de Productos para el Consumidor/legislación & jurisprudencia , Unión Europea/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Toxicología/historia , Toxicología/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Legislación de Medicamentos/historiaRESUMEN
El artículo recorre la historia de la Toxicología a través de las diversas culturas y autores a ella asociados y a los conceptos y metodologías que han ido dándole forma. El texto no consiste en una concatenación de datos y efemérides sino más bien trata de explicar la evolución de la disciplina mediante el breve retrato de las sociedades que la posibilitaron. Más allá del veneno, se ofrecen las perspectivas que hacen de la Toxicología una de las ciencias más requeridas del siglo XX y XXI, a partir de la aparición de la sociedad del riesgo. Al final provisional de esta historia aparece la toxicogenómica, la última transformación en este campo de investigación
This paper analyzes the history of Toxicology through the many cultures, researchers, concepts and methodologies. The text is not only a set of data and ephemeredes but also represents the attempt to describe the evolution of this discipline through societys image. Given that as of the 20th and 21st centuries a risk society appeared, the role of toxicology took on greater importance; the author shows that toxicology then consisted of more the just studying poisons. At the provisional end of this history, toxicogenomics appear, the last transformation of this research field
Asunto(s)
Toxicología/historia , Toxicogenética/tendencias , Venenos/historia , Intoxicación/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historiaRESUMEN
Longitudinal studies support the proposition that the extent and severity of chronic conditions in middle and late ages are to a large extent the outcome of environmental insults at early ages, including in utero. Data from the Early Indicators Project, undertaken at the Center for Population Economics, suggest that the range of differences in exposure to disease has narrowed greatly over the course of the 20th century, that age-specific prevalence rates of chronic diseases were much lower at the end of the 20th century than they were at the beginning of the last century or during the last half of the 19th century, and that there has been a significant delay in the onset of chronic diseases over the course of the 20th century. These trends appear to be related to changes in levels of environmental hazards and in body size. These findings have led investigators to posit a synergism between technological and physiological improvements. This synergism has contributed to reductions in inequality in real income, body size, and life expectancy during the 20th century.
Asunto(s)
Envejecimiento , Enfermedad Crónica/epidemiología , Tamaño Corporal , Enfermedades Transmisibles/historia , Etnicidad/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Industrias/historia , Esperanza de Vida/tendencias , Mortalidad/tendencias , Factores de Riesgo , Cambio Social/historia , Factores Socioeconómicos , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The use of glycol ethers has changed significantly over the past 30 years. Low molecular weight E-series have been phased-out and progressively replaced by low molecular weight P-series whenever possible. There is a trend to shift from E-series to P-series and an obvious willingness to substitute where alternative solutions exist or as a consequence of strengthening regulation and voluntary measures to reduce exposure in the workplace.
Asunto(s)
Industria Química/tendencias , Éteres/historia , Glicoles de Etileno/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Glicoles de Propileno/historia , Solventes/historia , Exposición a Riesgos Ambientales/legislación & jurisprudencia , Éteres/química , Éteres/toxicidad , Glicoles de Etileno/química , Glicoles de Etileno/toxicidad , Sustancias Peligrosas/toxicidad , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Peso Molecular , Glicoles de Propileno/química , Glicoles de Propileno/toxicidad , Solventes/química , Solventes/toxicidadRESUMEN
In 1962, after high levels of the isotope Iodine-131 were detected in Utah milk supplies, Dr. Harold Knapp, a mathematician working for the AEC's Division of Biology and Medicine, developed a new model of estimating, first, the relation between a single deposition of radioactive fallout on pasturage and the levels of Iodine-131 in fresh milk and, second, the total dose to human thyroids, resulting from daily intake of the contaminated milk. The implications of Knapp's findings were enormous. They suggested that short-living radioiodine, rather than long-living nuclides such as radiostrontium, posed the greatest hazard from nuclear test fallout and that children raised in Nevada and Utah during the 1950s had been exposed to internal radiation doses far in excess of recommended guidelines. This paper explores the explicit historical revisionism of Knapp's study, his refusal, contra normal AEC practices of knowledge production and spatial representation, to distance himself from the people and places downwind from the Nevada Test Site, and the reactions his work provoked among his AEC colleagues.
Asunto(s)
Alimentos/historia , Geografía/historia , Agencias Gubernamentales/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Radioisótopos de Yodo/historia , Leche/historia , Salud Pública/historia , Radioisótopos/historia , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Animales , Niño , Preescolar , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
This paper locates the EPA national headquarters within the racialized local geography of southwest Washington, D.C. By focusing on the formation of a scientist union and the union's struggle to make visible an episode of chemical exposure in its own offices, the paper connects the work of racialized privilege with the difficulty of proving chemical exposures in the 1980s.
Asunto(s)
Accidentes de Trabajo , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/uso terapéutico , Personal de Laboratorio Clínico/historia , Prejuicio , Justicia Social/historia , United States Environmental Protection Agency/ética , United States Environmental Protection Agency/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Review of the literature reveals that environmental hazards cause adverse health effects that include sterility, infertility, embryotoxicity, low birth weight, skin lesions, neurodevelopmental defects, immunologic disorders, cancer, and fear of late effects. They have been identified mostly by astute practitioners but also by a bacteriologist, an animal experimentalist, 5 factory workers in childless marriages, and a tipsy bystander in an economically impoverished area of Baltimore. Dust on a parent's work clothes has transported a hazard at work to a hazard at home (lead, asbestos, and chlordecone). Causality is established by showing a dose-response effect and reproducing the effect in studies of other exposed groups or by using another epidemiologic method, eg, prospective instead of retrospective study. Also, the findings should be biologically plausible and not attributable to a concomitant variable such as cigarette smoking. Contrary to front-page newspaper headlines, incidence rates for childhood leukemia are not rising. Preserving specimens for future studies has been valuable: blood from people who were exposed to dioxin in Seveso, Italy; mummified umbilical cords containing methyl mercury at Minamata Bay, Japan; and Guthrie dried blood spots to screen retrospectively for 43 genetic disorders and a specific prenatal cytogenetic abnormality in some children with 1 form of leukemia. Recommendations are given for enhancing interest in environmental hazards and their discovery by clinicians.
Asunto(s)
Investigación Biomédica/historia , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Carcinógenos/efectos adversos , Carcinógenos/historia , Causalidad , Niño , Epidemiología/historia , Medicina Basada en la Evidencia/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Neoplasias/inducido químicamente , Neurotoxinas/efectos adversos , Neurotoxinas/historia , Pediatría/historia , Plaguicidas/historia , Plaguicidas/toxicidad , Teratógenos/historia , Teratógenos/toxicidadRESUMEN
S. A. Roach was a pioneer in the assessment and control of hazardous substances in the working environment during the second half of the 20th century. The two papers discussed in this commentary are generally regarded as his most important scientific contributions. The first paper (Roach, 1977) dealt with the determinants of the body burdens of toxic air contaminants. Using simple kinetic models, he showed how levels of toxicants rise and fall in the body according to the patterns of airborne exposures received during relevant time windows. This led to several useful rules of thumb, including the timing of grab samples for 'fast acting' substances, the appropriate duration of air samples relative to the biological half time, how to deal with unusual work schedules, and how to integrate exposure assessment with control. He also offered sage advice regarding the meaning and interpretation of exposure limits, the importance of repeated monitoring, and the extent to which unacceptable levels of exposure might be reduced. In concluding this work, Roach emphasized that the hygienist can fulfill a central role in occupational health simply by intervening to reduce the body burden. The second paper (Roach, 1981) dealt with the design of effective ventilation systems to control worker exposure to toxic airborne contaminants. By developing a series of simple differential equations, Roach evaluated the impact of turbulent diffusion upon industrial ventilation. He emphasized that the stationary contaminant concentration was proportional to the contaminant generation rate and that velocity alone was not a sufficient design criterion to control exposures. Rather, he argued that the equivalent ventilation rate (the ratio of the contaminant generation rate to the steady concentration in the breathing zone) should be the guiding criterion for ventilation design. Throughout both papers, Roach used fundamental principles to tie together exposure assessment and engineering control, and pointed the way to a science for occupational hygiene. The profession can still learn a great deal from these seminal contributions.
Asunto(s)
Salud Laboral/historia , Contaminantes Ocupacionales del Aire/análisis , Inglaterra , Sustancias Peligrosas/análisis , Sustancias Peligrosas/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Concentración Máxima Admisible , Exposición Profesional/historia , Exposición Profesional/prevención & control , VentilaciónRESUMEN
Liquid manure is an important element in modern intensive agriculture. However, its handling and storage present acute risks in the form of toxic or explosive gases and large storage containers, access to which is often inadequately secured. In recent years occupational medicine and accident prevention experts have begun the task of systematically identifying the sources of risk and formulating safety guidelines. The present paper, a byproduct of research into the epidemiology of manure-related accidents in eastern Switzerland, explores the history of this type of accident. The historical record shows that in centuries past such events were an urban rather than a rural phenomenon. The main sources of risk were the cesspits in which domestic, hospital and prison waste was collected, cemeteries and church crypts where the dead were laid to rest and even the holds of ships transporting cargos of dried excrement intended for use as agricultural fertiliser. Historical accounts indicate that then, as now, there was often inadequate awareness of the dangers of such installations, despite the many (often dramatic) contemporary reports of accidents and fatalities caused by failure to institute and observe basic safety rules.