Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Cottoi (Editor's note: The info Institute. It was distribute the cotton dust problem an What is cotton textile m< i4. 4U : : : it is tiie spinning, wcavi cloth. What is "brown lung?" Medical authorities des( halation of invisible dust pathological evidence. Res< tile plant. The exact causa known. How many people are e) The Research Triangle Health Administration (0 cotton textile manufacturi this figure. Of note is that employment of about 90,( Are there other people < Yes. but they are not in cording to Department of Why do we see figures 1 Apparentlv, people not manufacture it into texti! Further liberties have 1 A recent news story, for 000 are suffering from bj This was inaccurate on 1 233,000 are employed in th grossly exaggerated. A m How many people may I The Occupational Safet was relied upon principall PAttAn tovtilo monnfoptur VVVIA/11 LV. A 1.11V. lit C4 1 1 U 1 Cl\_ I U 1 plants processing cotton generated do not reflect di studies. Among the reasons the The limited scope of th his limited sample shoulc The arhritary assignm 25.8 percent of those empl used in this operation hav operation from coverage In addition, OSHA proj has not been used in this Furthermore, OSHA pr ginning operation. This pr & Health (NIOSH) which the only existing study d A valid diagnosis of b> eases such as asthma, chr has some form of chronii In the light of such defi ieetions J At hearings held in 19' involving medical examir Results of the study ind and objective (tests indie Applying this rate to tl may have a problem. Studies in the cotton tc and in each case the incid range. Is byssinosis reversible Yes, if caught in the eai the ones most often dia^ veillance. n Dust . .. The Facl Second in a Serie rmation reprinted here is from a brochur id to provide a concise statement of the t d to correct some information that had b( anufa during? ing, knitting and finishing of cotton alor ;ribe byssinosis (the medical name for b particles released by raw cotton process earch has shown the the dust particles ar itive agent within the dust however still (posed to cotton dust in textile manuf Institute, located near Raleigh, N.C., p SHA) in 1975-76. This study concluded tl ng with possible significant exposure to c ; cotton textile manufacturing emplovme )00. exposed to row cotton? the textile industry. They are the people Labor statistics, there are approximat< hat there are as many as 600,000 pet familiar with the difference have lumpec les. been taken in enlarging upon and rounc example, stated that: "of about 600,000 t roc? i ri no i o r oo niuoio. three counts. First, there are about 900,OC lat part of the industry that uses cotton. iore realistic figure is 2,330. rave byssinosis? y and Health Administration (OSHA) hz y, that there are 84,000 byssinosis cases c ing industries. Data for this principal s and cotton blends and a test population List control efforts and medical surveillan ! cotton textile industry believes these i e studies and the time when they were m 1 not be projected to an industry-wide j ient of incidence rates to various sectors oyed in circular knit fabric mills have soi e already been through a wet dyeing or f under the cotton dust standard, ects a 25.8 percent incidence rate in tire c } type of operation for about 15 years, ojects that in the cotton production area ojection persists despite a study conduct* found not a single case of classical byssi one on cotton gins. rssinosis is difficult. In its chronic state, onic bronchitis, emphysema, and pulmon c breathing problems, ciencies as these, the textile industry feel H on the cotton dust standard, the Ameri lations and histories of 37,000 employee licated that less than one percent exhibit* ate a breathing problem) symptoms of , ~ ? 1 1 _ J / AO I I A ? it* luiai uu inner exposeu to uusi luonn s '\tile industry are conducted, through m lence rate among both active and retired ? rly stages. There are four grades of hyssii cnosed, are reversible. Byssinosis can he s You Need To s e prepared by the American Textile extile industry's position on the va ien misrepresented in newspapers, le or blended with man-made fibei rown lung) as a respiratory ailmei ling. Diagnosis is based on symptc e present in cotton at the time it ar eludes researchers. The cause of 1 acturing? erformed a study for the Occupa lere are approximately 233,000 pec ;otton dust. The cotton textile indu nt accounts for less than 26 percer who grow, harvest, gin and wareh ely 300,000 people employed in th' jple exposed to cotton in the te) i together those who produce cottor ling of figures. extile workers in the United States X) textile workers in the United Sta And third, the number of incidence is projected from a few dated studi >f one degree or another in the cottc tudy was gathered in 1970-71 cov< of approximately 1,800 workers, ce programs put into operation sin< >rojections to be grossly inaccurat ade. The author of the principal hii arofile. of the industry. For example, OS! me degree of byssinosis, although r inishing operation which would ex< :ord and fabric manufacturing, wh there is a 17 percent prevalence of ?d by the National Institute for Occ nosis among ginning workers. The byssinosis is very similar to other ary fibrosis. Twenty percent of the s that little credibility can be place can Textile Manufacturers Institut IS. ?d both subjective (employee says h byssinosis. figure of 233,000), the resulting fij edical surveillance programs, on a employees has remained in the or losis: M2,1. 2 and 3. The first three y ' detected in its early stages throi Know ; Manufacturers .rious aspects of television, etc.) -s into yarn and nt caused by in>ms rather than rives at the texjyssinosis is not tional Safety & pie employed in stry agrees with it of total textile louse cotton. Acese pursuits. (tile industry? i with those who , more than 150,tes. Second, only s of byssinosis is ies, one of which ?n producing and iring five textile The conclusions :e the time of the ;e are: mself stated that fiA projects that nost of the yarns empt this type of en in fact, cotton byssinosis in the upational Safety NIOSH study is chronic lung disadult population d in OSHA's proe submitted data le has a problem) n 1 rn io 9 QQH ii'Kn i^UI V IO 4i ,UOV " I IV/ continuing basis ic to two percent trades, which are igh medical sur