Ramazzini

The great Italian physician Ramazzini, who is considered to be the father of occupational medicine, wrote in the early 1700s about the health problems that beset the tradesmen of his time—the cobblers, the coopers, the tanners, the millers, and the others—who labored from childhood to middle age in work that they knew would ultimately kill or disable them. He described trades in which children entered the workforce at the age of 10 or 12 even though they knew that by the age of 40 they could be disabled or even dead. Although Ramazzini described the conditions and treated the sick, he couldn t do much to prevent these conditions. It is only now, in fact, over the past 40 years or so, that society has begun to recognize that a healthy workplace is not merely a desirable luxury, but a right for the worker and an asset to productivity. 

Ramazzini, B., De Morbis Artificum (1713). Chicago University of Chicago Press, translated by W. C. Wright, 1940. 

A third historical strand that has helped to create modern toxicology consists of the labors of occupational physicians. Some of the earliest treatises on toxicology were written by physicians who had observed or collected information on the hazards of various jobs. The man some have called the father of the field of occupational medicine was Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian physician whose text De Moribus Artificum Diatriba (1700) contributed enormously to our understanding of how occupational exposure to metals such as lead and mercury could be harmful to workers. Ramazzini also recognized that it was important to consider the possibility that some poisons could slowly build up in the body and that their adverse effects do not make themselves apparent for a long time after exposure begins. 

Because adverse skin responses are so easily recognizable, this organ was among the earliest subjected to scrutiny, mostly by physicians interested in occupational diseases. Bernardino Ramazzini s tract of 1700, De Moribis Artificum Diatriba, contained many examples of skin diseases associated with occupational exposures, and, as will be seen in the next chapter, the seminal work of Percival Pott on occupationally induced cancers, published in 1775, revealed the role of soot in the production of cancers on the skin of the scrotum in London chimney sweeps. 

Ramazzini, B. "De Morbls Artlflcum Dlatriba" W.C. Wright transl. U. of Chicago Press Chicago, 1940 p 257-61. 

As early as 1713, Bernardini Ramazzini, the father of occupational medicine, observed that artisans who worked with paints, stone, and metal had physical problems and short life expectancies. In modern times, it is suspected that van Gogh s craziness and Goya s illness may have been the result of lead poisoning. It is known that van Gogh used leaded yellow paint for his numerous sunflower paintings and was careless with his paints, leaving them open to dry and scatter into his environment. He could easily have ingested lead paint chips. 

In fact, all substances are poisonous, and there are none that are safe. The right dose alone differentiates a substance as a remedy or as a poison. In other words, no substance is absolutely safe. Important reference could be made to valuable contributions of Theophra Stus (370-286 B.C.), Hippocrates (400 B.C.), and Ebers Papyrus (1500 B.C.). In fact, the use of hemlock by the Greeks to execute the great philosopher Socrates (470-399 B.C.) is an instance of its own. Recently, Ramazzini (1700) documented preventive measures to control industrial hazards among occupational workers (Fig. 2-1). 

The answer is very likely, and pigments are a possible explanation of the way artists were prone to abnormal moodiness and poor health. As we have seen, many pigments were compounds of the toxic elements, mercury, lead, and arsenic. As long ago as 1713, the physician Bernardino Ramazzini speculated that both Correggio and Raphael had been victims of lead poisoning. 

For centuries people have suspected that dust could be harmful. At least, early writers indicated in their works a general connection between lung diseases and dust inhalation, even though they didn t distinguish between the various types of respiratory diseases. For example, Pliny refers to inhalation of fatal dust, and Agricola speaks of the pestilential air and the corrosive dust. In his hook published in 1700, Ramazzini describes the effect of dust on the respiratory organs and describes numerous cases of fatal dust disease. 

Devonshire Colic, 1700s, Devonshire, England High incidence of lead colic among those who drank contaminated cider. The apple press was constructed partly of lead. Discovered and described in the 1760s by Dr George Baker. Ramazzini, 1700 documented the possible preventive measures to control industrial hazards among workers. 

Cancer, in fact, has afflicted humans around the world and throughout recorded history. The origin of the word cancer is credited to the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 Bc), considered the father of medicine. Hippocrates used the terms car-cinos and carcinoma to describe non-ulcer-forming and ulcer-forming tumors. Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian doctor, reported in 1713 the high incidence of breast cancer in nuns. Percival Pott of Saint Bartholomew s Hospital in London described in 1775 an occupational cancer in chimney sweeps, cancer of the scrotum, caused by soot collection under the scrotum of workers. 

Ramazzini, B. 1700. De morbis artificum diatribe (diseases of workers). Translated by W. C. Wright, 1964. New York Hafner. 

Bernadino Ramazzini was the father of occupational medicine. Born in 1633 in Italy he studied the way diseases occurred in groups of people engaged in similar work or living in a particular area. This science we now call epidemiology is an important means of associating a particular... 

Collegium Ramazzini. 1999a. Call for an international ban on asbestos. Am J Ind Med 36 227-229. 

Penalver R Manganese poisoning the 1954 Ramazzini oration. Industrial Medicine and Surgery 24 1-7, 1955... 

PenalverR. 1955. Manganese poisoning The 1954 Ramazzini oration, hid Med Surg 24 1-7. 

Ramazzini B (1713) Disease of Workers, De Morbis Artificum Diatriba. 

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