International Mineralogical Association (IMA)

The International Mineralogical Association is the global scientific body that officially names, defines, and classifies mineral species. Its Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) decides which minerals are recognized, what they are called, and how related minerals are grouped, including the six minerals regulated as asbestos.

Origin

The IMA was founded in 1958 to coordinate mineralogical research across national societies. Its nomenclature commission, established shortly afterward, became the worldwide authority for approving new mineral names and revising older ones, publishing periodic lists that mineralogists, regulators, and courts treat as definitive.

Significance in Asbestos Context

The IMA's definitions sit at the center of long-running disputes over what counts as 'asbestos.' The six commercially regulated asbestos minerals (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite asbestos, tremolite asbestos, and actinolite asbestos) are IMA-recognized species, but the IMA classifies them by chemistry and crystal structure, not by whether a particular sample grew in the long, thin, asbestiform habit that causes disease. Industry defendants have used this gap to argue that fibers in their products (for example, in talc, vermiculite, or taconite) were 'non-asbestiform' amphiboles and therefore not 'asbestos,' even when those fibers were biologically identical in shape and behavior. Understanding that the IMA names the mineral while a separate analysis determines the habit helps patients and families follow expert reports and cross-examinations about whether the fibers found in a product or in lung tissue meet the regulatory and medical definition of asbestos.

Example Sentence

The plaintiff's mineralogist testified that the fibers identified in the talc were winchite and richterite, both IMA-recognized amphibole species, and that their asbestiform morphology meant they should be treated as asbestos for health purposes.

Related Terms

Asbestiform Habit, Amphibole, Chrysotile, Tremolite, Libby Amphibole, Regulated Asbestos Minerals

Notes

• If a defense expert argues a fiber is 'not asbestos because it is not on the IMA list,' ask your legal team whether the fiber is an asbestiform variety of a listed amphibole (such as winchite or richterite at Libby). Many courts have accepted these as asbestos despite naming disputes.
• Request that any mineralogical report in your case state both the IMA species name and the habit (asbestiform vs. non-asbestiform), since both matter to causation.
• Preserve product samples, original packaging, and any industrial hygiene reports. Modern IMA-based reanalysis of older materials has identified regulated asbestos minerals that earlier testing missed.
• The IMA periodically revises amphibole nomenclature (notably in 1997 and 2012); older medical and industrial records may use outdated mineral names, which experts can translate to current terminology.