the great outdoors - health hazards in the workplace and elsewhere, UK

Ecologist, The, June, 2001 by Martin J Walker

Martin J Walker concludes his series on the health hazards of the modern world by looking at life in the workplace and beyond

In 1897, a novelist named Robert Harborough Sherard wrote a series of articles which he provocatively titled The White Slaves of England. Sherard had been researching working conditions in the factories of his time; research which deliberately ignored the stories of the managers and industrialists, and had focused instead on the view of the workers.[1]

The scenes which Sherard found could have come from a Heironymous Bosch painting. In the heart of the alkali industry in Widnes and St Helens, he saw that spring was not just silent, but never came at all: `The foul gases which belched forth night and day from the many factories rot the clothes, the teeth, and, in the end, the bodies of the workers, have killed every tree and every blade of grass for miles around.'[2]

Inside the Widnes chlorine bleach factories, workers were frequently killed by chlorine gas, which they called `Roger'.

`Roger is a green gas, and is so poisonous that the men (packers) who pack the bleaching powder ... work with goggles on their eyes and 20 thicknesses of flannel over their mouths, these muzzles being tightly secured by stout cords. They can pack but a few minutes at a time. A "feed" of the gas kills its man in an hour.'[3]

Sherard found equally cruel conditions amongst the usually female white lead workers of Newcastle. These workers, whose jobs meant they were literally facing certain death, were gradually only able to work for short periods at a time.

`Chlorosis kills the bloom of the cheek, paralysis distorts the limbs with "knee-jerk" and "wrist-drop", and attacking the eyes also, may blind where it does not twist them ...'[4]

It was these, and similar nightmares of the industrial age, that led in the 20th century, to factory acts, clean air acts, labour protection laws and a whole slew of regulations and improvements designed to prevent such horrors inflicting workers again. The trouble is that, today, the widespread and obvious pollution of the industrial revolution has given way to less visible, but often more insidious, incidences of pollution in the workplace and in the general environment. When we look back on those times, we assume that people could never be subject to such risks again. We rarely understand that they -- we -- still are.

Today's toxic truth

In the Britain of 2001, bad working conditions and poor safety standards are still responsible for hundreds of fatalities and 4 million industrial injuries annually, while an ever-increasing number of industrial chemicals are responsible for growing cases of cancer, and chronic conditions like asthma. As with adverse reactions to chemical drugs, the fourth highest cause of death in Britain, the very high levels of occupational toxins and illnesses, which still affect the health of millions during their working lives, are rarely addressed in the public arena. As with the high levels of poisonous chemicals and toxins present in our homes (see last issue) there is no clear scientific position on most industrial toxic substances.

And what is truly ominous is that, unlike the 19th century and even the pre-war 20th century, today most scientific professionals, with some honourable exceptions, side with, and are funded by, the multinational companies who are the cause of so many of the problems.

Today, to read the truth about chemicals and health in the workplace, you have to read one of the few independent scientists or struggling community campaigns, or open one of the increasingly rare labour movement magazines:

`Latest evidence suggests exposure to industrial chemicals, inside and outside the workplace, is responsible for a large and growing proportion of cancer deaths. But instead of moving towards more stringent controls, governments and industry bodies are fighting hard to keep known killers in the workplace.'[5]

In post-industrial society, industrial vested interests are often represented unchallenged in science, academia and the popular press. Large numbers of science-based professionals make a living either producing, marketing or defending recognised chemical toxins. In The Hazards of Work, published 20 years ago, Patrick Kinnersly stated the workers case, which has not changed:

`We cannot wait years while scientists play with statistics and computers to establish the exact risk ... The technical and statistical debate misses the point: workers are expected to go on breathing an unpleasant atmosphere while the scientists find out how harmful it is ... By the time you get the cancer you may have retired, you may have forgotten the six weeks, 20 years ago, when you worked in the tyre factory or the dye works.'[6]

Asbestos lives

One of the most obvious areas in which bad science and bad industry have combined to produce major health hazards is the case of asbestos. During a 50-year regulatory lacuna between the 1930s and 1980s, when the government was forced to bring in regulatory changes, medical research scientists gave asbestos production in Britain a clean bill of health.