The Dust Diseases In Great Britain

Our plain-English summary of The Dust Diseases In Great Britain, by A.I.G. Mclaughlin (1955).

The study

• Author: A.I.G. Mclaughlin
• Published: Archives Of Industrial Health 12(1):83-98, July (1955)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 001872. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article was an overview, not a new study, by a Medical Inspector of Factories, of dust diseases in Great Britain. It covered silicosis, asbestosis, coal miners' pneumoconiosis and diseases from talc, beryllium, cotton and other dusts. On asbestos, the author recounted that Cooke named asbestosis, followed by field investigations by Merewether and Price (1930). Workers with asbestosis were first compensated in 1931. Among fatal cases the Factory Department investigated from 1930 to 1953, average age at death and length of exposure were much lower for asbestosis than for silicosis overall. The author wrote that tuberculosis was present in about two-fifths of asbestosis cases and about half of silicosis cases. The garbled table may not match this figure. The author cited an unidentified series of 100 autopsies on asbestosis cases that included 25 lung cancers. Asbestosis cases were also appearing in workers lagging pipes and boilers with asbestos. The author concluded that pneumoconiosis deaths kept rising, most likely because of pressure for faster production and machines that made dusty work dustier, with dust control lagging behind, though better diagnosis and reporting may have played a part. The author stated that no reliable information existed on the populations at risk in each industry and process.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review and overview of the history, compensation, statistics and pathology of dust diseases in Great Britain, written by a Medical Inspector of Factories, drawing partly on Factory Department and Pneumoconiosis Panel records
• Who was studied: Workers in dusty industries in Great Britain, including potteries, foundries, coal mining, asbestos work and others. Official figures covered fatal cases investigated from 1930 to 1953, pneumoconiosis deaths in England and Wales from 1940 to 1951, and new cases diagnosed by the Pneumoconiosis Panels in 1953
• Exposure: Mainly dusts of free silica, asbestos (described as a combined silica mineral) and coal. Also talc, beryllium, graphite, iron, manganese, vanadium, cotton, bagasse and grain dusts. Asbestos jobs mentioned include lagging of pipes and boilers, including spraying
• Main results:
  • In the fatal cases investigated by the Factory Department (1930 to 1953), the average age at death and the length of exposure were much lower in the asbestosis cases than in the silicotic group as a whole, and closer to those of sandblasters and scouring powder makers
  • The author's text states that, in these fatal cases, tuberculosis occurred in about half of the silicosis cases but in only about two-fifths of the asbestosis cases. The scanned Table 2 may not match this figure (see text_problems)
  • The author described the connection between asbestosis and lung cancer as becoming clearer and cited a series of 100 autopsies on asbestosis cases that included 25 lung cancers. The article does not say who carried out this series
  • Asbestosis cases were appearing in asbestos laggers of pipes and boilers. The author said protective measures were hard to apply, particularly when asbestos was sprayed, because these workers usually moved from site to site
  • Deaths from pneumoconiosis among coal miners in England and Wales rose from 232 in 1940 to 937 in 1951, then fell slightly to 912 in 1952. About two-thirds of occupational-group deaths were in coal miners
  • Among new factory cases in 1953, the pottery industry contributed the most (353, mainly silicosis) and foundries came next (190). The author noted there were roughly 25,000 pottery workers and 220,000 foundry workers
  • From autopsies in talc pneumoconiosis cases, the author stated that talc dust, though fibrogenic, was not as active as asbestos in damaging the lungs
  • Of nine boiler scalers autopsied, five died of lung cancer. The author suggested this may have been partly caused by carcinogenic substances in the soot
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that deaths from pneumoconiosis had continued to rise despite control efforts. More accurate diagnosis and publicity may have contributed, but the author judged the more likely cause to be the urge for faster production and the introduction of machines that made processes dustier, with dust control lagging behind
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that no reliable information existed on the populations at risk in each industry and process
  • The author said the 1953 new-case figures for foundry workers should be regarded as an understatement of the real position
  • The author noted that occupations were classified in groups too broad to give specific population figures

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Silicosis, Pneumoconiosis, Talc, Lung Cancer, Dust Control.

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