[Progress of the industry and occupational health: Chemical industry (its change and industrial hygiene)].
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The Center for Indoor Air Research (CIAR) was created by three United States tobacco companies in 1988. Its stated mission is to fund high-quality, objective research related to indoor air, including studies of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Because CIAR is financed by the tobacco industry and funds research related to tobacco, it fosters an inherent conflict of interest. We consider whether this conflict of interest has affected the content, quality, or use of research funded by CIAR. We hypothesize that the tobacco industry might be using CIAR to develop scientific data to support its position that ETS is not harmful to health. CIAR funds two types of projects: "Peer-reviewed" projects are awarded after peer review by a group of scientists, whereas "special-reviewed" projects are awarded directly by tobacco industry executives. CIAR's special-reviewed projects are more likely than its peer-reviewed projects to be related to ETS, to support the tobacco industry position, and to be used by the industry to argue that smoking should not be regulated in public places. Our findings suggest that the tobacco industry is funding special-reviewed projects through CIAR to develop scientific data that it can use in legislative and legal settings. The industry may be financing peer-reviewed projects through CIAR to enhance its credibility, to provide good publicity, and to divert attention from ETS as an indoor air pollutant. CIAR's stated mission of funding high-quality, objective research has been compromised by conflict of interest, and at least some of CIAR's projects are being used to promote the tobacco industry's agenda.
OBJECTIVES: This report describes the history, true goals, and effects of tobacco industry-sponsored youth smoking prevention programs. METHODS: We analyzed previously-secret tobacco industry documents. RESULTS: The industry started these programs in the 1980s to forestall legislation that would restrict industry activities. Industry programs portray smoking as an adult choice and fail to discuss how tobacco advertising promotes smoking or the health dangers of smoking. The industry has used these programs to fight taxes, clean-indoor-air laws, and marketing restrictions worldwide. There is no evidence that these programs decrease smoking among youths. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco industry youth programs do more harm than good for tobacco control. The tobacco industry should not be allowed to run or directly fund youth smoking prevention programs.
This essay focuses on the early history of industry and professional relationships around silicosis, the debilitating occupational lung disease, through a study of the role of the Industrial Health Foundation, an industry-sponsored group which has played a critical role in shaping the nation's agenda regarding industrial disease. From its start during the Depression, it has portrayed itself as an industry-sponsored agency that depended upon detached, disinterested professionals and experts to develop effective programs to address occupational disease. As an organization that brought together professional industrial hygienists, business groups, government officials, academics and researchers it serves as a means for understanding the intertwining of industrial and academic agendas. We explore some of the issues that arose regarding public policy and scientific investigations, asking: Under what conditions is it appropriate for professionals and scientists to work together with industrially sponsored organizations? What are the pressures that shape research questions, the range of possible solutions, and the control of scientific data? How can technically trained individuals avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest? At what point does the ostensibly disinterested goals of professionalism conflict with the self-interest of the sponsoring organizations?
OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the impact of state media campaigns that prominently feature counter-industry messages on youth cigarette smoking, beyond the effects of price, secular trends, tobacco control efforts, and the national truth campaign. METHODS: Rates of youth smoking were compared in three groups of states: (1) those with long funded counter-industry campaigns (California, Florida, and Massachusetts); (2) states with more recently funded counter-industry media campaigns (Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and New Jersey); and (3) other states. An analysis was performed for a series of national telephone surveys of 12-17 year olds between 1999 and 2002, controlling for differences in demographic background, the price of cigarettes, and exposure to the national truth campaign. RESULTS: Between 1999 and 2002, rates of current smoking and established smoking decreased significantly faster in states with established or more newly funded counter-industry campaigns than in other states. State counter-industry campaigns appear to prime, or make more salient, negative perceptions about tobacco industry practices. CONCLUSION: Results highlight the value of continued state counter-industry campaigns.
Tobacco is a heavily pesticide-dependent crop. Because pesticides involve human safety and health issues, they are regulated nationally and internationally; however, little is known about how tobacco companies respond to regulatory pressures regarding pesticides. In this study we analyzed internal tobacco industry documents to describe industry activities aimed at influencing pesticide regulations. We used a case study approach based on examination of approximately 2,000 internal company documents and 3,885 pages of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. The cases involved methoprene, the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates, and phosphine. We show how the tobacco industry successfully altered the outcome in two cases by hiring ex-agency scientists to write reports favorable to industry positions regarding pesticide regulations for national (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and international (World Health Organization) regulatory bodies. We also show how the industry worked to forestall tobacco pesticide regulation by attempting to self-regulate in Europe, and how Philip Morris encouraged a pesticide manufacturer to apply for higher tolerance levels in Malaysia and Europe while keeping tobacco industry interest a secret from government regulators. This study suggests that the tobacco industry is able to exert considerable influence over the pesticide regulatory process and that increased scrutiny of this process and protection of the public interest in pesticide regulation may be warranted.
This article discusses a major and costly problem in industry today--the industrial back problem. What does industrial hygiene have to do with back accident problems? This article relates the problem to the basic philosphy of industrial hygiene and ergonomics. Information is provided to give the reader a better understanding of the back problem. The role of industrial hygiene and ergonomics is explained as a help to industry in curbing the high costs and workdays lost due to perplexing back problems in industry.
The apolipoprotein ε4 (APOE ε4) isoform directly alters cholesterol and immune biology and is associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic disease in industrialized settings; nevertheless, APOE ε4-which is ancestral in humans-has persisted over evolutionary time. One potential explanation is that the costs and benefits of APOE ε4 were significantly different in the environments in which humans evolved compared to those we experience today. In support, previous work has suggested that living in a high pathogen environment, engaging in high levels of physical activity, or eating a low fat diet can dampen the detrimental effects of APOE ε4, and has revealed positive effects for fertility. However, direct tests of whether APOE isoforms are associated with different biological outcomes in non-industrial versus industrialized contexts are lacking. Working with the Turkana of Kenya and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia-two Indigenous groups in which individuals of shared ancestry span a continuum of subsistence, non-industrial to urban, industrialized lifestyles-we investigated how APOE genotypes impact cholesterol, immunological, and reproductive traits and tested for genotype x environment (GxE) interactions. First, we confirmed established genotype effects across lifestyles, showing that more APOE ε4 alleles are associated with higher total cholesterol, higher LDL cholesterol, and lower HDL cholesterol. Second, we tested for lifestyle interactions, finding lifestyle-dependent effects of genotype on innate immune biomarkers in the Orang Asli but not Turkana. Finally, we show that more APOE ε4 alleles are correlated with an extended reproductive lifespan, however this effect is relatively weak, is not consistent across populations, and does not correspond with a higher reproductive output. Together, our study provides evidence that industrialized environments can modify the biology of APOE ε4; however, we find that APOE ε4 is not universally beneficial in non-industrial contexts, highlighting the role of local environmental variation in determining its specific costs and benefits.
Toxicity of some organic and inorganic chemicals to microorganisms is an important consideration in assessing their environmental impact against their economic benefits. Microorganisms play an important role in several environmental processes, both natural and engineered. Some organic and inorganics at toxic levels have been detected in industrial discharges resulting in plant upsets and discharge permit violations. In addition to this, even though in some cases the effluent wastewater does not exceed the discharge limits, the results of toxicity tests show potential toxicity. Toxicity knowledge of effluents can benefit treatment plant operators in optimising plant operation, setting pre-treatment standards, and protecting receiving water quality and in establishing sewer discharge permits to safeguard the plant. In the Turkish regulations only toxicity dilution factor (TDF) with fish is part of the toxicity monitoring program of permissible wastewater discharge. In various countries, laboratory studies involving the use of different organisms and protocol for toxicity assessment was conducted involving a number of discharges. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the acute toxicity of textile and metal industry wastewaters by traditional and enrichment toxicity tests and emphasize the importance of toxicity tests in wastewater discharge regulations. The enrichment toxicity tests are novel applications and give an idea whether there is potential toxicity or growth limiting and stimulation conditions. Different organisms were used such as bacteria (Floc and Coliform bacteria) algae (Chlorella sp.). fish (Lepistes sp.) and protozoan (Vorticella sp.) to represent four tropic levels. The textile industry results showed acute toxicity for at least one organism in 8 out of 23 effluent samples. Acute toxicity for at least two organisms in 7 out of 23 effluent sampling was observed for the metal industry. The toxicity test results were assessed with chemical analyses such as COD, BOD, color and heavy metals. It was observed that the toxicity of the effluents could not be explained by using physicochemical analyses in 5 cases for metal and 4 cases for the textile industries. The results clearly showed that the use of bioassay tests produce additional information about the toxicity potential of industrial discharges and effluents.
Industrial ecology (IE) promotes the development of industrial systems based on recycling of matter and cascading of energy through cooperation. In this paper, the local/regional industrial ecosystem approach is reflected in two examples from Finland. The local forest industry system is based on renewable resources, waste materials and energy utilisation between forestry companies, a saw-mill, a pulp mill, a paper mill and a forest industry power plant. Waste energy from electricity production is used for production of heat and process steam. Regional city energy supply systems in Finland are also to a large extent arranged around power plants that utilise waste energy. The potential of combining the forest industry system with the energy supply systems of cities is considered and the conditions for success in the Finnish case are discussed.
Industrial estates (IE) are today perceived as an integral part of development strategies of many countries worldwide. The environmental impacts from a concentration of large number of industries in a small area or unplanned IE, can pose a serious threat to both local and global sustainable development initiatives. The formation of ecologically balanced industrial systems can result in numerous environmental and economic benefits. This paper examines the relevance of industrial symbiosis and carrying capacity concepts and proposes an integrated approach towards IE planning in India based on grouping combinations of industries based on carrying capacity, formation of green industrial townships, development of environmental impact assessment guidelines for IE and implementation of environmental management systems.
This paper puts health questions within the context of national development and industrial policy. It follows the idea of structuralist, Marxist and Schumpeterian approaches, in which industry and innovations form determining factors for the dynamism in capitalist economies and relative positions within the world economy. All countries that have developed and started to compete under better conditions with advanced countries have had an association between strong industry and an endogenous knowledge, learning and innovation base. However, in the field of health, this vision presents problems because business interests move according to the economic logic of profit rather than to meet health needs. The notion of the health-industrial complex is an attempt to provide a theoretical reference that enables linkage between two distinct types of logic: health and economic development. This study has sought to show, on the basis of foreign trade data, how disregard for the logic of health policy development has led to a situation of economic vulnerability in this sector, which may limit the objectives of universality, equality and comprehensiveness. Within this context, a cognitive and political break with these antagonistic visions that put health needs on one side and industrial needs on the other is proposed. A country that aims to reach a condition of development and independence requires strong innovative industries and an inclusive and universal health system, at the same time.
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