Occupational Health Research in India.

Abstract

India being a developing nation is faced with traditional public health problems like communicable diseases, malnutrition, poor environmental sanitation and inadequate medical care. However, globalization and rapid industrial growth in the last few years has resulted in emergence of occupational health related issues. Agriculture (cultivators i.e. land owners+ agriculture labourers) is the main occupation in India giving employment to about 58% of the people. The major occupational diseases/morbidity of concern in India are silicosis, musculo-skeletal injuries, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases, asbestosis, byssinosis, pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss. There are many agencies like National Institute of Occupational Health, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Central Labour Institute, etc. are working on researchable issues like Asbestos and asbestos related diseases, Pesticide poisoning, Silica related diseases other than silicosis and Musculoskeletal disorders. Still much more is to be done for improving the occupational health research. The measures such as creation of advanced research facilities, human resources development, creation of environmental and occupational health cells and development of database and information system should be taken.

Lung Function Abnormalities in Petrol Pump Workers in Suburban Areas of Chennai

“…India shows the greatest impact of outdoor air pollution with 1/5th of global deaths occurring in India. [1] The survey conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi shows that 80% of cities in India exceed the PM10 (Pollutants that emit particulate matter of less than 10µm in size). 90 cities have a critical level of PM10 and 26 cities have very critical PM10.…”

Status of Toxicological Research in India

“…Therefore, integration of their knowledge in understanding toxicology and environmental issues related to safe and effective preventive or therapeutic measures against xenobiotics, harmful chemicals, and environmental hazards usually takes a much longer time than their counterparts across the globe. Hence, one of the prime requirements to improve the current status of toxicology in India is enforcement of continuing educational programs related to occupational and environmental hazards (2).…”

Epidemiological analysis of pneumoconiosis in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and cases reported by the Urumqi Railway Bureau

“…Accordingly, the global epidemiological situation of pneumoconiosis must be understood in order to develop an effective control strategy. Although many epidemiological studies of pneumoconiosis (e.g., Seaton et al, 1991;Linch et al, 1998;Kauppinen et al, 2000;Rosenman et al, 2003;Saiyed and Tiwari, 2004;Soutar et al, 2004;Carneiro et al, 2006;Smith and Leggat, 2006;Bang et al, 2008;Madl et al, 2008;Mazurek and Attfield, 2008;Choi et al, 2010;Laney et al, 2010;Nelson et al, 2010;Suarthana et al, 2011;Nelson, 2013), more than 20 articles about the epidemiological analysis of pneumoconiosis in domestic provinces and cities (e.g., Li et al, 2010;Courtice et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013;Mo et al, 2014), and 1 article from Changji, Xinjiang have been published in the last 5 years, there have been no reports about the epidemiological analysis of pneumoconiosis in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region or by the Urumqi Railway Bureau. Accordingly, to understand the epidemiological characteristics and dynamic changes of new cases of pneumoconiosis in Xinjiang in recent years, this epidemiological study investigated pneumoconiosis cases before June 2006 and from July 2006 through 2010 in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as well as cases reported by the Urumqi Railway Bureau from 1981 to 2012.…”