From Silicosis to Silica Hazards: An Experiment in Medicine, History, and the Social Sciences
Abstract
This special issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine looks back to the International Conference on silicosis that took place in Johannesburg 85 years ago [International Labour Office, 1930]. Held in 1930, this scientific gathering marked a turning point in the medical and economic history of pneumoconiosis. Moreover, this Conference, ground breaking in its own right, also laid the foundation for the International Labour Organization international convention on silicosis that followed four years later in 1934 [International Labour Office, 1934]. (First lines)