BYSSINOSIS
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Although inhaling cotton dust was
identified as a source of respiratory disease more than 300 years
ago, byssinosis has been recognized as an occupational hazard for
textile workers for less than 50 years. More than 800,000 workers in
the cotton, flax, and rope-making industries are exposed in the
workplace to airborne particles that can cause byssinosis. Only
workers in mills that manufacture yarn, thread, or fabric have a
significant risk of dying of this disease.
In the United States, byssinosis is almost completely limited to
workers who handle unprocessed cotton. More than 35,000 textile
workers have been disabled by byssinosis and 183 died between 1979
and 1992. Most of the people whose deaths were due to byssinosis
lived in the textile-producing regions of North and South Carolina. |
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