Byssinosis in the cotton trade.

The word byssinosis is derived from the Greek word vacros., meaning fine linen. Originally the word was used in a wider, more general sense, whereas to-day it indicates a specific industrial entity. Byssinosis is a respiratory disease affecting workers inhaling dust in cotton mills. The condition has been known to exist for many years, and was first recorded by Greenhow in a report to the Privy Council of London in 1861. The cotton trade has been the Cinderella of occupational hazards and it is only recently that research into the causes of byssinosis has been undertaken. In 1930 the Industrial Health Research Board published a study of sickness among operatives in Lancashire cotton mills, and in 1932 the Home Office issued the Report of the Departmental Committee on Dust in Card Rooms in the Cotton Industry. This report collected the existing information about conditions in the mills, types of machinery in use, and the nature of the cotton dust, and included an account of the clinical examination and radiological findings in a group of workers suffering from the disease. The post-mortem findings in a few cases where death had occurred were also described. In 1936 Prausnitz published an account of investigations on respiratory dust disease in operatives in the cotton industry. The mass of information from these two reports gives the most recent and authoritative knowledge on byssinosis, and forms the structure on which further investigations can be based. Foreign literature on the subject is scanty and does not contribute any additional knowledge. Zipperlen (1935) reported on an investigation of patients suffering from asthma in Wurttemburg, where there is a textile industry. His report contained the following statement: 'A few words should be said concerning industry. In spite of all protective appliances cotton dust cannot be excluded, and we have actually observed a large number of severe asthma patients in whom strong allergic reactions could be obtained with suitably prepared dust from the factories.'