F. W. Simson, Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa, British Medical Journal (1928)

A complete issue of the British Medical Journal for May 26, 1928, kept for an article by Dr. F. W. Simson, pathologist at the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg (pages 885 and 886, with two plates). Simson studied lung tissue from four workers at an asbestos mine and mill in Southern Rhodesia, and from a guinea pig exposed to asbestos dust, and found fibrosis and golden-yellow bodies like those Cooke and McDonald had described. He began: "It has been known for some time that workers exposed to the dusty atmosphere arising from some processes involved in the preparation of asbestos materials suffer from pulmonary disability."

What it shows

Simson confirmed the British findings in mill workers handling chrysotile and found the scarring came on quickly: a moderately marked fibrosis after one year in the mill in one man, and a more definite one after two years in another. He discussed the iron content of amosite and crocidolite, and cited a report from the United States of 13 deaths from one source between 1907 and 1914, and a 1910 British report of 5 deaths from tuberculosis in five years among fewer than forty workers at a factory where asbestos was woven.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

British Medical Journal. Relevant article "Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa" by F.W. Simson. Article discusses 4 case studies of South African asbestos mill workers. Great deal of histological information presented. Simson states "it has been known for some time that workers exposed to the dusty atmosphere arising from some processes involved in the preparation of asbestos materials suffer from pulmonary disability."

About this copy

This is document 00321-00442 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.