University consultants have documented through research conducted over the past 7 years the emergence of an important new respiratory disease hazard to the agricultural population. Seventy to 90 percent of the estimated one-half to one million workers in swine confinement structures experience respiratory symptoms and 55 percent experience chronic bronchitis. At least 14 workers have died suddenly from acute respiratory distress and systemic toxicosis.The ultimate goal of this project is to prevent respiratory disease in swine confinement workers by improving the work environment though improved work practices and through the application of cost-effective industrial hygiene and engineering controls. The investigators will outfit a recently constructed confinement facility with instruments and initiate studies on the relationship between controllable environmental factors and environmental concentrations of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane, carbon dioxide, and aerosols.The investigators will install environmental monitoring devices, then evaluate the costs and environmental effects of the types of ventilation system, the ventilation rate, production practices, and the physical and chemical makeup of the feed. These preliminary Phase I studies anticipate a larger series of studies that could result in the development of marketable environmental control technologies or principles that will economically improve the occupational health of a large and growing segment of the farming population. National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health
