Byssinosis in the Cotton Waste Industry

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was carried out on 772 workers in 27 mills in the North of England involved in the processing of cotton waste. The overall prevalence of byssinosis as defined by Schilling's criteria was 9.8 per cent with 5.4 per cent having grades 2 and 3. The prevalence in workers who had only ever had cotton waste exposure (5 per cent) was significantly less than for those who had mixed waste and raw cotton exposure. There was no clear relationship between prevalence of byssinosis and years of exposure or dust levels.

Cotton Dust Exposure and Respiratory Disorders among Textile Workers at a Textile Company in the Southern Part of Benin

“…Among the symptoms declared by the interviewed workers, the breathing discomfort symptoms were statistically less frequent in the individuals exposed to cotton dusts (9.9%) than in the unexposed individuals (16.82%). This result does not corroborate the one obtained by Doker et al during a study of 350 workers from 20 factories working in the cotton sector with a prevalence recorded of 34.5% [ 22 ]. A similar result has also been obtained by Zuskin et al [ 23 ] at the end of a study with 400 workers exposed and 138 non-exposed.…”

“…Those figures decreased subsequently with Newman-Taylor recording a rate of 10% in the carders against 3% in the spinners [ 39 ]. The current prevalence of the disease varies according to studies and is roughly 1.5% [ 40 ], 3.5% [ 26 , 36 ], of 6% [ 9 , 24 ], of 10% [ 22 , 41 ] and 59% [ 41 ]. Today, whereas the prevalence rates decrease in the developed countries, they are still very high in developing countries.…”