Full Description
"The Cotton Dust Papers" is the story of the 50-year struggle for recognition in the U.S. of this pernicious occupational disease. The authors contend that byssinosis could have and should have been recognized much sooner, as a great deal was known about the disease as early as the 1930s. Using mostly primary sources, the authors explore three instances from the 1930s to the 1960s in which evidence suggested the existence of brown lung in the mills, yet nothing was done. What the story of byssinosis makes clear is that the economic and political power of private owners and managers can hinder and shape the work of health investigators.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1.
By Any Other Name: Brown Lung and The Social Recognition of Disease
CHAPTER 2.
"Kiss of Death": Banning the Suction Shuttle in Massachusetts by William Mass, Charles Levenstein, and Gregory F. DeLaurier
CHAPTER 3.
Textiles Move South, 1920-1940
CHAPTER 4.
"Cotton Colic"
CHAPTER 5.
The Harvard Cotton Dust Project by Charles Levenstein and Susan Woskie
CHAPTER 6.
"We Were Running from It, Really": Workers' Compensation and Byssinosis, 1950-1968
CHAPTER 7.
Georgia and the "Mysterious Disease" of Byssinosis
CHAPTER 8.
Bouhuys' Disease
CHAPTER 9.
Brown Lung and the Dilemmas of a Novice Investigator, 1968-1969
CHAPTER 10.
Full Circle: "Burlington's Disease"
CHAPTER 11.
Brown Lung and the Lessons for Occupational Health and Safety
Index
