Fluff

I hate the lateral flow test. My wife has to prepare everything for me before leading me to the innocent looking twig you stick up your nose and throat. In the abhorrence stakes, the mask comes a close second, put on dutifully where required and ripped off as soon as my feet hit the pavement. They may or may not be useful in blocking an aerosol of covid, but I go along despite steamed up glasses and severely reduced vision and an irritating cough I get sometime later. On balance, I'm willing to accept they may have some use, especially on the London Underground. Have you ever blown your nose and examined your handkerchief after some time there?) But despite all that,  I will throw something out here: a word—phthisis or if you wish—byssinosis. 

In the early 1830’s Dr James Kay noticed cotton workers complained of bad lungs: 

“Entrance into the atmosphere of the mill immediately occasions a dry cough which harasses him considerably during the day, but ceases immediately after he leaves the mill….these symptoms become gradually more severe.” He coined a new word for it ‘spinners phthisis’ and indicated it could be fatal.

By the 1850’s the condition was well known. Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about it in ‘North and South.’ In fact one of her characters, Bessy Higgins dies from it. The manufacture of cotton released ‘Fluff . . . little bits as fly off fro’ the cotton when they’re carding it and fill the air till it looks like fine white dust. They say it winds round the lungs and tightens them up.’ Eventually (people fall) ‘into a waste, coughing and spitting blood, because they’re just poisoned by the fluff.’ 

In 1863 the Lancet noted ‘A carder seldom lives in a cardroom beyond forty years of age.’ Some factory owners put a fan in the room in order to disperse the ‘fluff’. Other factory owners objected to the expense. The workers too had their reservations noting the fans made them more hungry. Fluff had become part of their diet! As the unfortunate Bessie Higgins explained: ‘They’d been long used to swallowing fluff …and that their wages ought to be raised’ if forced to work in non-fluff conditions. 

A fluff diseased lung.

The problem persisted. As late as 1908 a study into the health of Blackburn cotton workers found that almost 74% of them suffered from asthma as a result of inhaling cotton dust. 

Spinners phthisis, later called byssinosis was recognised as an industrial disease under the 1946 National Insurance Act. Despite improved ventilation, a study in 1948 revealed that out of 103 men with at least ten years exposure to cotton dust, 52% showed symptoms of early onset byssinosis, and 10% had been disabled by it.  

Yes, the mask may on balance be necessary, though there is something abhorrent in the idea of children being forced to wear them in schools, but unless you see them as a useful appetite suppressant absorbing fluff as a dietary supplement, it may be well to recognise that not all good things come in small packages. 

 

 

The post originated from having taught factory conditions in an earlier life and speculation based on a rambling mind. Further research highlighted the possible danger, though again, too, they may have an axe to grind, whereas I just hate masks

. Link  https://eluxemagazine.com/culture/the-dangers-of-face-masks/