Seidman 1979 Study

The Seidman 1979 Study is a landmark epidemiological investigation by Dr. Herbert Seidman and colleagues that followed workers at the Union Asbestos and Rubber Company (UNARCO) amosite insulation plant in Paterson, New Jersey, employed between 1941 and 1954. It documented strikingly high rates of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis even among workers employed for only a few months. The study became key scientific evidence that short, intense asbestos exposures can cause fatal disease decades later.

Origin

Herbert Seidman, a biostatistician at the American Cancer Society, published the study with Irving Selikoff and E. Cuyler Hammond in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1979, with follow-up analyses appearing into the 1980s. It built on Selikoff's broader Mount Sinai program documenting disease in asbestos insulation workers.

Significance in Asbestos Context

This study is frequently cited in mesothelioma cases to rebut the defense argument that short-term or low-level exposures cannot cause disease. Seidman's data showed mesothelioma in workers exposed for less than six months, and elevated lung cancer risk persisted for decades after exposure ended. For patients whose work histories include brief stints around asbestos (a summer job, a short construction project, a temporary assignment), the Seidman cohort is one of the scientific foundations supporting that such exposures are legally and medically meaningful. It is also important because it focused on amosite, the brown asbestos used heavily in insulation products, and helped establish that amosite carries substantial mesothelioma risk despite industry claims that only crocidolite was dangerous.

Example Sentence

The plaintiff's expert cited the Seidman 1979 Study to explain how the patient's nine months working near amosite pipe insulation in 1952 could plausibly have caused his mesothelioma fifty years later.

Related Terms

Selikoff Studies, Amosite, Latency Period, Dose-Response Relationship, Cumulative Exposure, UNARCO

Notes

• If your work history includes any time around insulation, pipe covering, or shipyard work in the 1940s–1970s, document the dates, products, and job duties. Even short exposures may be legally significant under the science Seidman established.
• Ask your legal team whether the Seidman cohort data is being used by their causation expert; it is particularly relevant if defendants argue your exposure was too brief to matter.
• Preserve any employment records, union records, Social Security earnings statements, or co-worker contacts that can confirm short-term jobs, which are often the hardest exposures to document.
• The study is most directly applicable to amosite exposures (brown asbestos in insulation), so product identification in your case matters.