Willowing mills

Evidence against the involvement of dust enzymes is the finding that byssinosis does not occur in woolen mills which have an abundance of enzymes in the environment (y. Further, cotton willowing mills, which have high enzyme levels, have a low incidence of byssinosis. It is proposed, however, that enzymes may be responsible for the high prevalence of bronchitic symptoms (53%) among workers in these plants (19). 

Chinn et al. (32) in 1976 pointed out that willowing mills have no byssinosis in spite of high dust levels (17-108 mgm/m ) and high concentration of trypsln-llke proteases (10i7 yg/m ) in mill air. Total airborne dust was collected by cascade impactors. 

Cinkotal et al. (11) measured the endotoxin content In the cardroom of seven cotton mills, and two cotton waste mills. None was found in a tea packing factory or a pipe tobacco factory and the level was low in the willowing mills. Bysslnotic symptoms correlated with the level. 

Greenhouses, lumber mills, canneries, farmers, and manufacturers can reduce energy and disposal costs by using their waste as feedstock for energy systems. In Ireland, greenhouses for early tomatoes are heated with biomass from willow wood. The willow wood fuel costs one third as much as the oil it replaced. 

Theoretical concerns have been reported for the use of white willow bark in children or adolescents with viral infections due to the possibility of Reye s syndrome, an acute inflammatory disease in children that has been linked with use of aspirin and other salicylate-containing medications during acute viral infections (Clauson et al. 2005 Mills and Bone 2005 Upton 1999). Data to support or refute such a concern are lacking, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has indicated that no association has been identified between nonaspirin salicylates and Reye s syndrome (FDA 2003). 

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