Air hunger: the 1930 Johannesburg conference and the politics of silicosis

During the twentieth century South Africa's gold mines were the largest and the deepest in the world. Surprisingly, given the racialized labour regimes, the official rates of occupational lung disease were among the world's lowest. South Africa's achievements featured prominently in science and policy debates in Australia, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. In recognition of South Africa's leadership in workplace reform, in 1930 the ILO chose Johannesburg as the site for a global conference on silicosis