Preliminary air pollution survey of asbestos: a literature review (1969)

This 1969 report was a literature review on asbestos as an air pollutant, prepared by Litton Systems for the National Air Pollution Control Administration. It summarized published studies on health effects, sources, control and measurement without trying to reconcile conflicting data. The review reported that inhaling asbestos may cause asbestosis, pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma, or lung cancer. It cited an estimate that 50 to 60 million particles per cubic foot-years produced asbestosis, and said no dose information was available for cancer. It described autopsy studies finding "asbestos bodies" in one-fourth to one-half of urban lungs. It said these bodies probably contained some asbestos, but no experimental evidence yet showed what fraction did. The only U.S. estimate it found was for urban air near heavily traveled streets: 600 to 6,000 particles per cubic meter, a figure its originators called highly suspect. The review said the dust-counting methods used in the asbestos industry did not apply to ambient air, for which no proven satisfactory method existed. The authors wrote that apparent asbestos air pollution reaches a large number of people. The report's summary and conclusions section was withheld from this version.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 004510. Barry Castleman cites it in chapter 8, "Asbestos Disease in Brake Repair Workers", of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects (5th ed., 2005); see Reading Castleman.