Johns-Manville's Reprint of the IARC Advisory Committee Report on Asbestos Cancers (1972)

An eight-page reprint, in Johns-Manville's "Environmental Facts/Asbestos" series, of the "Report of the Advisory Committee on Asbestos Cancers to the Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer," dated October 6, 1972. The committee of scientists from around the world met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, on October 5 and 6, 1972, with Dr. J. C. Gilson as chairman. It answered nine questions on the evidence since 1964 and set out recommendations for research. J-M printed it "by permission of IARC" on its form EA-IP-374, with its Environmental Affairs Department in Denver as the contact for further information.

What it shows

The report said that since 1964 the evidence linking asbestos to lung cancer had grown stronger, and that cigarette smoking was "an important factor enhancing the lung carcinoma risk in asbestos-exposed workers." On mesothelioma, it found evidence that "all commercial types of asbestos except anthophyllite may be responsible," with the risk "greatest with crocidolite, less with amosite and apparently less with chrysotile." It also found "no evidence of a risk to the general public at present" from asbestos in the air, and no evidence of risk from asbestos in water, drinks or food.

The committee's Physics and Chemistry Panel included Dr. S. Speil of Johns-Manville's Research and Engineering Center in Denver. J-M reprinted the whole report in its own series for customers and others who asked about asbestos and health, including its findings that the general public was not at risk and that chrysotile, the fiber J-M mined, carried less mesothelioma risk than crocidolite or amosite.

Where to read it

The same report was published in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine in 1973 (volume 30, pages 180 to 186). Our study page summarizes it, and the full text is free at PubMed Central. IARC also published it with the proceedings of the Lyon meeting, Biological Effects of Asbestos (IARC Scientific Publication No. 8, 1973).

About this copy

J-M's reprint isn't shown here because the report is still under IARC's copyright. The reprint is undated; the form number EA-IP-374 may mean it was printed in March 1974, but that is a guess.