US EPA

8799 

Journal Article 

Origins of the standards for control of beryllium disease (1947-1949) 

Eisenbud, M 

1982 

Yes 

Environmental Research
ISSN: 0013-9351
EISSN: 1096-0953 

UNITED STATES 

27 

1 

79-88 

English 

7040071 

The first of the several types of respiratory tract disease to be observed among beryllium workers was chemical pneumonitis, reported from Europe in the mid-1930s. The disease was then thought to be due to exposure to anions such as the fluorides and sulfates involved in beryllium production, rather than the metal itself. This was understandable at the time, considering the innocuous position of this metal in the periodic table of the elements, and the negative results of early animal exposures. The acute forms of beryllium disease in the United States were first published in 1943 by Van Ordstrand, who reported that a severe form of chemical pneumonitis was occurring among the employees of beryllium extraction plants in Ohio. His observations coincided with reports of a chronic form of lung disease in Massachusetts factories that used beryllium in fluorescent lamp manufacturing. 

occupational exposure; respiratory system; beryllium; toxicology