M11.1 NEW TOPICS IN AGRICULTURAL RESPIRATORY DISEASE

M. Schenker.Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California at Davis, CA, USA

Most studies of agricultural lung disease have focused on the adverse effects of organic dusts, with a particular focus on airway diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, asthma-like syndrome, and toxic and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Newer studies have begun to focus on the effects of inorganic dust or mixed exposures on the lung. This talk will cover exposures to silica and silicates in different agricultural settings, including data on preventive behaviours and practices. Research on the health effects of these exposures will be presented, including chronic respiratory symptoms, silicosis, and mixed dust pneumoconiosis. Analogous studies of dust exposure and respiratory effects in other occupational and community based studies will be described. The association of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and agricultural exposures will be reviewed, and new research on the association of chronic low level paraquat exposure and lung disease described. Recent research on non-occupational asbestos exposure and mesothelioma will be presented, and implications …