Stalker was chatting recently to an ex mushroom industry worker from the mid eighties. Said worker was stressing the importance of masks for mushroom pickers, saying she wished she’d had them to use when she was working in tunnels from 1986 until 1993.
Stricken by a bad case of mushroom workers lung, or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) the vintage picker was adamant that everyone would try to avoid the condition if they could feel the stabbing pain in the back where her right lung was struggling to get air. Courses of antibiotics and steroids are prescribed for flare ups. If you could have heard the rasp of her voice as she spoke and the contorted look of pain on her face as she struggled to breathe you would not think twice about protecting your lungs.
No doubt health and safety conditions are much better these days.
For more information on the subject check out the article at: www.themushroompeople.com/showArticle.asp?id=1407
