The work of the International Labour Organization in occupational health.

The knowledge that certain occupations may lead to disease is probably as old as these occupations, but the first comprehensive effort in occupational medicine was made by Ramazzini in 1700, and the active prevention of occupational diseases began much later. Activities on an international scale were first instituted at the Congress of the International Working Men's Associations in 1867, and from 1890 various congresses dealt with protective regulations and legislation. The Permanent International Commission for the Study of Industrial Diseases, founded in 1906, has organized nine international congresses in European cities. The conception of health protection through the united efforts of several countries was, therefore, not new when the International Labour Organization, established in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, subsequently set up an Industrial Hygiene Division.