Dust Disease in Hemp Workers

Abstract

The importance of hemp worker''s disease, from a social point of view, is that it leads to a progressive loss of working capacity and to premature death. After about 20 years'' exposure the worker may be able to produce only at a rate of 25% to 40% of a young man''s rate of production. Only rarely does an "initial intolerance" cause a worker to give up his job. Much more frequently the gradual development of disability, which requires many years to reach its peak, renders him totally disabled in middle or early old age.