Byssinosis is an occupational respiratory disease which is thought to be induced by chronic respiration of cotton, flax, or soft-hemp dusts in textile mills. The disease is caused by foreign matter included with the raw fiber, not by the fiber. Obtaining sufficient quantities of respirable dust under 15–20 μm diameter for biological and chemical analysis has been a major difficulty in byssinosis research. Two simple means have been devised for collecting kilogram quantities of respirable cotton dust from the air-cleaning systems in commercial mills.
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