Inventor Name
Unknown
Repository
Archives of Ontario
77Grenville Street, Unit 300
Toronto, ON
M5S 1B3
416-327-1600
www.archives.gov.on.ca
Physical Description
3.9 metres of textual records ca. 75 artifacts: lung tissue sections ca. 80 photographs: negatives
Summary
The McIntyre Research Foundation was a non-profit corporation formed to carry on research and investigation in connection with the prevention, mitigation, and eradication of industrial diseases. The Foundation was established in 1939 as McIntyre Research Limited, named after its sponsor, McIntyre Porcupine Mines Limited, which in that year had patented aluminum therapy as a preventative measure against silicosis in miners. The co- inventors of the treatment were Dr. W.D. Robson and J.J. Denny, who were, respectively, plant physician and engineer of the mining company. In 1946, the shareholders of McIntyre Research Limited turned over their interest to McIntyre Research Foundation. The Foundation's research work was initially concerned with the chemical and physical processes which determine the incidence and rate of development of silicosis. Next followed clinical studies on the use of inhaled aluminum powder (a treatment known as "aluminum prophylaxis") as a therapeutic means in silicotics with known disability. This practice had ceased by 1979, due to concerns regarding links between aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease. By the 1950s, the Foundation had begun to promote pathological studies of the lungs by providing medical schools and other research institutions with samples of large lung sections illustrating the appearance of silicosis in lungs. The McIntyre Research Foundation ceased operations in 1992. Fonds consists of records created and acquired by the McIntyre Research Foundation. Included in the fonds are textual records pertaining to studies of silicosis and other diseases which afflicted miners. These records include subject files, medical papers and articles, research files, miners diseases studies, reports, published medical journal articles, silicosis conference records and reports, annual McIntyre Research Foundation reports, newsletters, and yearly reviews of Ontario silicosis cases. Also included in the fonds is correspondence, including that relating to the Porcupine Clinic for Silicosis Research, as well as correspondence between the Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Labour, the Banting Research Institute at the University of Toronto, the Ontario Mining Association, the Mining Accident Prevention Association of Ontario, and the Ontario Workmen's Compensation Board, as well as correspondence relating to early clinical studies. Fonds also contains lung tissue sections and corresponding X-ray photographs pertaining to case files of miners affected by silicosis.