The report challenged the federal government to create a national occupational health program. President Lyndon Johnson proposed such a program early in 1968. But political squabbling kept the Occupational Safety and Health Act from being passed until 1970, under the administration of President Richard Nixon. It went into effect the following year. Early research focused on the carcinogens noted in the PHS's 1965 report.
Observers recall the agency's first decade as a time of intense productivity.
One of the agency's early successes was establishing a program to limit miners' exposure to coal dust. Pneumoconiosis had plagued men who'd spent their entire working lives mining coal. Agency research also led to a decline in byssinosis among cotton workers. Textile workers now are protected by improved workplace ventilation, medical surveillance, and precautions such as washing raw cotton to reduce the dust. These compounds were widely used in inks, cleaning agents, paints, and cosmetics.