Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Abstract

ENVIRONMENTAL and occupational diseases encompass a wide range of human illness and are important causes of disability and death in modern American society.^{1 , 2} They include lung cancer and mesothelioma in persons exposed to asbestos, leukemia in persons exposed to benzene, asthma and chronic bronchitis in persons exposed to organic dusts, lung cancer in persons exposed to radon, chronic disorders of the nervous system in workers exposed to solvents, kidney failure and hypertension in persons chronically exposed to lead, heart disease in persons exposed to carbon disulfide, impairment of reproductive function in persons exposed to certain solvents and pesticides, and chronic diseases of the musculoskeletal system in workers who perform repetitive motions.