CIB 62

CIB 62 refers to Current Intelligence Bulletin No. 62, a 2011 document published by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) titled "Asbestos Fibers and Other Elongate Mineral Particles: State of the Science and Roadmap for Research." It summarized what was then known about the health hazards of asbestos and similar fibrous minerals and laid out a research agenda to address gaps in exposure assessment, fiber identification, and regulation.

Origin

NIOSH issues Current Intelligence Bulletins to alert workers, employers, and regulators to newly identified occupational hazards. CIB 62 was developed over several years and released in April 2011 as the agency's formal roadmap on asbestos and other elongate mineral particles (EMPs), reflecting concerns that the regulatory definition of asbestos was too narrow to capture all hazardous fibers.

Significance in Asbestos Context

CIB 62 is important to patients because it is an official federal acknowledgment that hazardous fibers extend beyond the six minerals regulated as "asbestos", including cleavage fragments and fibers from minerals like erionite, winchite, and richterite (relevant to Libby, Montana exposures). Plaintiffs' experts often cite CIB 62 to show that the government and industry have long known that the narrow regulatory definition underestimates real-world risk, and to support claims involving non-commercial or contaminant fibers. Defendants sometimes cite it to argue that scientific uncertainty remained as of 2011, so the document can appear on both sides of expert reports.

Example Sentence

The patient's expert cited CIB 62 to explain why the tremolite contamination in the talc products her client used should be treated as a serious asbestos exposure, even though tremolite was not part of the commercial asbestos trade.

Related Terms

NIOSH, Elongate Mineral Particles, Libby Amphibole, Tremolite, OSHA Asbestos Standard, Helsinki Criteria

Notes

• If your exposure involved vermiculite, talc, taconite, or mining-related dust, ask your legal team whether CIB 62 supports characterizing those fibers as hazardous in your case.
• Preserve any product identification, job site records, or geological location information. CIB 62-related arguments often turn on which specific minerals were present.
• Ask your treating pulmonologist or pathologist whether fiber analysis (e.g., transmission electron microscopy) was or could be performed on lung tissue or sputum to identify non-commercial fibers.
• The full document is publicly available from the CDC/NIOSH website and can be useful background reading before meetings with attorneys or expert witnesses.