WHAT lS OCCUPATIONAL LUNG DISEASE?
Most respiratory disease is caused by breathing in some potentially noxious material such as bacteria, viruses, cigarette smoke, allergens and dusts. Nowhere is respiratory vulnerability more evident than with the constant air pollution occurs in some jobs. Although information about occupational hazards goes back to antiquity (for instance, in mining), doctors have only recently come to realize the magnitude of the problem in all areas of employment, from manufacturing (e.g., asbestos inhalation) to white collar jobs (e.g., “sick building syndrome”). Occupational medicine is now a major part of medicine in general; it has its own specialty journals and training programs for doctors who want to specialize. Occupational lung disease, a major aspect of this field, is a significant cause of respiratory problems in all industrial nations. It is caused by inhaling noxious agents in the workplace, mainly dusts, fumes, gases, and vapors. There are two broad categories of occupational lung dis
