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Miners, silica and disability: The bi‐national interplay between South Africa and the United Kingdom, c1900–1930s
Author(s) -
McIvor Arthur
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22509
Subject(s) - silicosis , context (archaeology) , medicine , intervention (counseling) , government (linguistics) , summit , economic growth , nursing , history , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , pathology , physical geography , economics , geography
This paper investigates silicosis as a disabling disease in underground mining in the United Kingdom (UK) before Second World War, exploring the important connections between South Africa and the UK and examining some of the issues raised at the 1930 International Labour Office Conference on silicosis in Johannesburg in a British context. The evidence suggests there were significant paradoxes and much contestation in medical knowledge creation, advocacy, and policy‐making relating to this occupational disease. It is argued here that whilst there was an international exchange of scientific knowledge on silicosis in the early decades of the twentieth century, it was insufficient to challenge the traditional defense adopted by the British government of proven beyond all scientific doubt before effective intervention in coal mining. This circumspect approach reflected dominant business interests and despite relatively robust trade union campaigning and eventual reform, the outcome was an accumulative legacy of respiratory disease and disability that blighted coalfield communities. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:S23–S30, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.