Pulmonary fibrosis in an aluminium worker.

e In Great Britain there have been no reports of pulmonary fibrosis due to particulate aluminium. On the contrary, the Medical Research Council's Industrial Pulmonary Diseases Committee in 1936 investigated 50 workers exposed to aluminium dust and were unable to find any evidence that it caused fibrosis of the lung. Hunter, Milton, Perry, and Thompson (1944) studied the health and environment of 97 duralumin propeller grinders and concluded that there was no evidence that it occasioned any disease of the trachea, bronchi, or lungs. Eloquent testimony to its innocent reputation is the fact that coalminers have been deliberately exposed to this dust (Lancet, 1956) with the intention of preventing pneumoconiosis. On the other hand, in Germany (Goralewski, 1947) and Canada (Shaver, 1948) cases have occurred which have been recorded in a growing literature which has been summarized by Perry (1955).