From the definition of silicosis at the 1930 Johannesburg conference to the blurred boundaries between pneumoconioses, sarcoidosis, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP)

The 1930 International Labour Office Conference on silicosis in Johannesburg identified silicosis by setting a medicolegal framework to its nosology: as with other occupational illnesses, its medical content was fixed under economic pressure. This article follows a reading of all the proceedings of this conference (debates and reports of experts) to examine their potential impact on the etiology and nosology of other diseases, specifically sarcoidosis and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), idiopathic diseases in which inorganic particles may be involved. We propose renewed study of the role of inorganic particles in these diseases. To do this, we propose to mobilize detection means such as mineralogical analysis and electron microscopy and in depth interviewing that are currently seldom used in France, in order to establish diagnosis and the potential occupational and environmental origin of these diseases. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:S31-S38, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.