Abstract
New opportunities to prevent occupational lung diseases require the discovery of new occupational lung diseases, new settings for recognised occupational lung diseases, and new approaches to their prevention. Reviewing the last decade’s discoveries, we can learn how to recognise new prevention opportunities involving emerging occupational lung diseases. Since 1996, some examples of newly recognised occupational lung disease include flock workers’ lung, hypersensitivity pneumonitis associated with biocontaminated synthetic metal working fluids, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), asthma associated with 3-amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (AMT) in herbicide manufacture; and bronchiolitis obliterans from flavouring chemicals. If the past is paradigm, approaches to recognition and prevention can proceed without knowing how to measure causal agents and without regulating them.
Keywords
Lung; Lung-disease; Lung-disorders; Lung-irritants; Pulmonary-disorders; Pulmonary-system-disorders; Dust-inhalation; Particulate-dust; Pneumoconiosis; Respiratory-hypersensitivity; Respiratory-irritants; Respiratory-system-disorders; Metal-fumes; Metallic-dusts; Metallic-fumes; Chemical-composition; Chemical-hypersensitivity; Chemical-properties