Occupational Illness

Abstract

Workplace exposures to hazardous materials cause or aggravate diseases as common and diverse as asthma, cancer, dermatitis, and tuberculosis.¹ Crude estimates of the number of new cases of occupational disease in the United States range from 125,000 to 350,000 per year,²⁴ in addition to 5.3 million work-related injuries. The economic cost is estimated to exceed $60 billion annually.^2,57 Occupational disorders occur in industry and agriculture, both as underrecognized endemic diseases and in sporadic epidemics. With modernization, occupational hazards have shifted from factories and mines to include hospitals and office buildings.Patients perceive industrial toxins as threatening their . . .