Proving that asbestos is behind a particular illness takes more than knowing someone was exposed. Scientists and courts use structured frameworks to decide whether exposure and disease are truly connected, and this category walks through them.
The Bradford Hill criteria are a classic checklist for judging whether an association is likely causal, weighing things like strength, consistency, and biological plausibility. For asbestos specifically, the Helsinki criteria set out how much exposure and which markers support attributing a cancer to asbestos, and the IARC classification lists asbestos as a Group 1 carcinogen, its highest certainty category. You'll also meet the amphibole hypothesis, which argues that the straight, needle-like amphibole fibers are far more dangerous than curly chrysotile.
The category also separates general causation, whether asbestos can cause a disease at all, from specific causation, whether it caused this person's disease. Both come up in a legal claim. Every term below links to a full plain-language definition.
Terms in this category
- amphibole hypothesisThe amphibole hypothesis is the claim that the amphibole types of asbestos (crocidolite, amosite, tremolite) …
- Amphibole Hypothesis Strong FormThe Amphibole Hypothesis Strong Form is the contested scientific claim that only amphibole asbestos fibers (s…
- Amphibole Hypothesis Weak FormThe weak form of the amphibole hypothesis is the scientific position that amphibole asbestos fibers (such as …
- Biological PlausibilityBiological plausibility is the idea that a proposed cause-and-effect relationship should make sense given wha…
- Bradford Hill CriteriaThe Bradford Hill criteria are a set of nine viewpoints scientists use to judge whether a statistical link be…
- Case 1991 PrincipleThe Case 1991 Principle is an informal name for the causation reasoning developed by epidemiologist Bruce Cas…
- General CausationGeneral causation is the question of whether a substance is capable of causing a particular disease in people…
- Helsinki CriteriaThe Helsinki Criteria are an internationally recognized set of guidelines used to determine whether a person'…
- IARC ClassificationThe IARC classification is a system used by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to rank how stron…
- Karjalainen 1994Karjalainen 1994 refers to a Finnish epidemiological study led by Antti Karjalainen and colleagues that exami…
- Kiviluoto 1960Kiviluoto 1960 refers to a landmark Finnish radiological study by Dr. Raimo Kiviluoto that documented pleural…
- Mineralogical legibilityMineralogical legibility refers to how clearly and reliably the specific type of asbestos fiber found in a pa…
- Rom 2001"Rom 2001" refers to a peer-reviewed publication by Dr. William N. Rom and colleagues in 2001 examining asbes…
- Signal TumorA signal tumor (or sentinel tumor) is a cancer so strongly tied to one specific exposure that its diagnosis i…
- Specific CausationSpecific causation is the question of whether a particular person's asbestos exposure actually caused that pe…
- Stanton HypothesisThe Stanton Hypothesis proposes that the cancer-causing potential of asbestos and other mineral fibers depend…
Terms in this category
Browse the full Lexicon, or talk it through with a member of our litigation team, not a screener, at 833-4-ASBESTOS.