"The Unrecognized Epidemic"
Chronic beryllium disease may result from very low levels of exposure to beryllium which occurred decades before any manifestation of the illness. The mechanism is thought to be a delayed immune response triggered by unknown environmental and genetic factors but at its heart due to sensitization to beryllium.
In this paper the authors present a history of the disease and current knowledge of its molecular biochemical mechanisms. They conclude that the current very low OSHA exposure limits still do not protect workers and suggest screening methodologies to identify those at risk.
