Vignettes in the History of Beryllium Disease—Part II. The Early 1940s: The Search for a Common Denominator

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Abstract Editorial Note: This is the second and final “Historical Perspectives” column on beryllium prepared by Merril Eisenbud. The first, on reports of beryllium toxicity prior to the Second World War, appeared in the January 1998 issue of Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, along with a peer-reviewed article by Eisenbud on the history of the beryllium threshold limit value for the prevention of chronic beryllium disease. Sadly, the January 1998 issue also included an obituary notice for Merril Eisenbud, who died on August 15, 1997, after a brief illness at age 82. We are fortunate that Merril was able to complete this second valuable review of the history of occupational beryllium disease before his untimely death. This is an unusually long and detailed report for this column, and is the result of a considerable effort to locate and evaluate relevant data that were generated more than 50 years ago. At the same time, it can still be useful in current attempts to better understand the nature of beryllium-related disease, the chemical forms that are most toxic, and the exposure-response relationships in people. This column, while it is Eisenbud's final words on beryllium, will not, however, be the last “Historical Perspectives” authored by him. He had suggested that I include some of his perspectives on the practice of industrial hygiene before and during World War II in a future column. These perspectives were originally presented at a farewell seminar upon his retirement from the faculty of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at New York University Medical Center in 1984, and were subsequently published in his 1990 autobiography, “An Environmental Odyssey: People, Pollution, and Politics in the Life of a Practical Scientist.” This fascinating historical perspective will also appear in this column in 1998.