Asbestos: a chronology of its origins and health effects

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos: a chronology of its origins and health effects, by R. Murray (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1990).

The study

• Author: R. Murray
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1990;47(6):361-5
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 39 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000033).

Abstract

The emotionalised subject of asbestos is treated in chronological terms: how the "magic mineral" known in ancient times in Europe and Asia became in the late nineteenth century an important industrial resource of particular interest to the navies of the world; and how its malign effects gradually became apparent during the present century. The media have made asbestos a notorious villain, but it still has properties and applications useful to society if they are properly controlled in the same way as other industrial hazards. One important application is the manufacture of asbestos cement pipes which are a convenient and cheap method of providing water supplies and sewage disposal for developing countries. An appeal is made for prudence and not hysteria in relation to the use of mineral fibres of all types.

In plain English

This article was a historical review and personal commentary, not a new research study. The author traced asbestos use and the gradual recognition of its health effects. Among earlier work described, Doll's 1955 study of 113 men who had worked at least 20 years where they were exposed to asbestos dust found an average lung cancer risk 10 times that of the general population. Wagner and colleagues' 1960 paper reported 33 mesothelioma cases; asbestos exposure was demonstrated in only eight, and all but one of the rest had circumstantial evidence of exposure. The author recalled that, of the last 100 necropsies of asbestos workers reviewed for a 1947 report, 25 had died of lung cancer, against two of the last 100 of pottery workers. The author said the 0.2 fibres/ml crocidolite standard was a one-tenth extrapolation from the chrysotile figure, and that no critical dose had yet been defined. The author argued asbestos cement pipes are the cheapest option for water and sewage in developing countries. The author concluded that, with intelligent precautions, fibre reinforcement may be accepted without fear.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical review and personal commentary (narrative chronology drawing on earlier reports and the author's own experience as a factory medical inspector); no formal study methods
• Who was studied: No study population; the article reviews the history of asbestos use and its health effects from ancient times to about 1990, mainly in the United Kingdom
• Exposure: Asbestos in general (described as a commercial term for a range of mineral fibres), including chrysotile and crocidolite, and the non-asbestos fibre erionite
• Main results:
  • The author's own observation from postmortem reports gathered for the Chief Inspector's 1947 annual report: of the last 100 necropsies of asbestos workers, 25 had died of lung cancer
  • In the same informal comparison by the author, of the last 100 necropsies of pottery workers, two had died of lung cancer
  • As recounted from Doll's 1955 study (not this article's own finding): the study was based on 113 men who had worked for at least 20 years in places where they were exposed to asbestos dust
  • As recounted from Doll's 1955 study: the average lung cancer risk among these men employed for 20 or more years was 10 times that of the general population
  • As quoted from Doll: the risk had become progressively less as the duration of employment under the old dusty conditions decreased
  • As recounted from Wagner et al's 1960 paper (not this article's own finding): of 33 mesothelioma cases, asbestos exposure was demonstrated in only eight
  • In the same paper, the remaining cases, except one with no history of asbestos exposure, had circumstantial evidence of exposure from living near the mines or transporting the material
  • The author described the UK standard for crocidolite as set at one tenth of the chrysotile figure (2 fibres/ml for asbestosis), that is 0.2 fibres/ml
  • As recounted from Baris's work in Karain, Cappadocia: mesothelioma was endemic in the village, where the author stated the only fibre is the volcanic zeolite fibre erionite or chabazite
  • The author stated that a critical dose for asbestos or fibre exposure had not yet been defined
  • The author argued that asbestos cement pipes are the cheapest and most convenient way to supply drinking water and dispose of sewage in developing countries
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, provided intelligent precautions are taken, the advantages of asbestos or other fibre reinforcement may be accepted without fear

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos-Cement, Appeal.

Related studies

• Asbestos: a chronology of its origins and health effects — L. Arblaster, E. Renvoize, et al. (1990)
• Asbestos: a chronology of its origins and health effects — M. Huncharek (1990)
• Editor's preface to the report of the workshop on health risks associated with chrysotile asbestos — J.M. Ellison (1994)
• Chronology of asbestos cancer discoveries: experimental studies of the Saranac Laboratory — G.W. Schepers (1995)
• The origins of public concern with taconite and human health: Reserve Mining and the asbestos case — M.E. Berndt, W.C. Brice (2008)
• A short history of the toxicology of inhaled particles — K. Donaldson, A. Seaton (2012)

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