Air pollution in the workplaceSyste

Air pollution in the workplace
Systemic poisoning has occurred in workers inhaling toxic levels of metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, manganese, zinc, and cadmium, as well as pesticides and drugs. Oxides of all of these metals, those of copper, tin, and nickel, and brass dust can cause a febrile reaction (fever, joint and muscle aches) called metal-fume fever. Cutting with an acetylene torch generates temperatures high enough to vaporize metals, including lead. Workers exposed to vinylchloride gas have a high incidence of hepatic angiosarcoma, an otherwise rare tumor. Pneumoconiosis, or coal miner’s lung, results from the inhalation of coal dust with the formation of localized lesions with silica crystals, emphysema, fibrosis, loss of vital capacity and, eventually, right heart failure due to increased cardiac output to compensate for inadequate oxygenation of the blood. Organic solvents may be hazardous because of their CNS-depressing action.
Some recent studies have suggested that the offspring of firefighters have a higher incidence of birth defects in locales where firefighters, or their spouses, are responsible for washing their work clothes. This presum- ably is the result of the absorption of toxic contaminants on the clothing through the skin, although absolute confirmation of this risk source has yet to be confirmed.

Asbestos
Asbestos workers are exposed to a variety of health hazards, including “white lung syndrome” (asbestosis, a form of fibrotic pneumoconiosis), car- cinoma of the lung, mesothelioma (cancer of the pleural and peritoneal