Objective/Context:

Social conflicts caused by air pollution gave rise to an intense debate around health in the European and North American non-ferrous mineral basins during the 19th century. Contemporary scholars classified it as a public health problem, since it ultimately affected the entire mining community, encompassing what we know today as environmental and occupational hazards. This article uses selected case studies to analyze institutional regulations, and the scientific and technical solutions that were applied in response to them. However, in the first half of the twentieth century, health problems associated with smelter smoke evolved to become an industrial hygiene issue and were therefore limited to the field of industrial relations. Institutional, scientific and technical factors behind this change are closely related to the role of the social agents concerned, particularly large corporations.

Methodology:

This research, which is comparative from a temporal and spatial perspective, relies on an analysis of both current literature and contemporary sources.

Originality:

Air pollution derived from mining activities triggered a process of closely interrelated institutional, scientific and technical innovations. In the late nineteenth century, the ensuing debate became international, spreading from European to American mining basins.

Conclusions:

The smelter smoke controversy deeply divided the non-ferrous mineral basins of Europe, the United States and Canada, and science provided the foundation for the institutional and technical measures implemented to address it. In that process, particularly since the late nineteenth century, mining companies developed the capacity to successfully adapt the science to their needs.

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