Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1984. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - June 21, 1984
Bill Keller
Dr. J. Donald Millar, the NIOSH director, said the gathering of up-to-date information on occupational accidents and disease lagged "at least 70 years behind" data on other public health problems, hampering Government efforts to correct workplace hazards.
Dr. Millar said one major remedy would be to expand the reports made to state public health officers, who now collect information on infectious diseases. Under the current system, physicians are required by states to report communicable diseases to state health officials, who use the data to intervene where there is a public health risk.
The list of 35 reportable diseases established by a national conference of state epidemiologists includes venereal diseases, tuberculosis, rabies, measles, botulism and some newer threats, such as AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Inspections Are Narrowed
Dr. Millar said this same system could find dangerous workplaces that might go undetected by inspections of by Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a division of the Department of Labor. These have been narrowed under the Reagan Administration to cover only industries with the most serious health records.
Officials of NIOSH, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that as a first step they had asked the epidemiologists to list silicosis, a lung disease caused by exposure to silica dust, as a reportable illness.
Ultimately, he said, he would like states to require doctors to report any injury or disease that seems linked to a workplace hazard.
Besides directing state and Federal enforcement officials to danger spots, he said, such a screening system would raise public awareness.
AIDS and Accidents Compared
"You have 4,500 cases of AIDS, and the country's going crazy about AIDS," Dr. Millar said in an interview. "We have 10,000 workers killed every year in occupational accidents, and 100,000 who die of occupational diseases, and it's not news."
Dr. Millar's remarks were made at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Manpower and Housing, called to examine the reporting of workplace health problems.
Mr. Millar and other witnesses cited a variety of reasons for a lack of current information. One, Dr. Millar said, is that doctors are poorly trained in detection of work-related diseases.
Eric Frumin of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers, chairman of a Federal advisory committee on workplace health, said company doctors were also reluctant to point the finger at their employers.
"The refusal of employer-hired physicians to accurately diagnose occupational illnesses is nothing less than legendary," he said, adding that workers should be permitted to be examined by doctors of their own choosing.
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