Asbestos and asbestosis

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos and asbestosis, by W.J. Smither (The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1970).

The study

• Author: W.J. Smither
• Journal: The Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Published: 1970;13(1):3-5
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 003957).

In plain English

This short 1970 paper was not a research study but a general overview. It was originally presented at a 1969 conference on asbestos exposure during brake and clutch maintenance, and the author was Group Medical Adviser to the Cape Asbestos Company. The paper described the two main groups of commercial asbestos: chrysotile (white asbestos) and the amphiboles, which include amosite, crocidolite and anthophyllite. A figure gave chrysotile as 2,800,000 tons, or 93%, of world production. The author wrote that chrysotile was used mostly in asbestos cement and amosite mainly in insulation and building products, and that in Britain crocidolite's major use was in battery boxes. The author wrote that, very broadly, current friction materials contained 50 per cent chrysotile, and some newer ones about 40 per cent. On health, the author stated that all types of asbestos, inhaled in fairly high concentrations over a considerable period, may cause asbestosis, and that pleural fibrosis causes little or no disability in itself. Lung cancer and, rarely, mesothelioma may follow exposure. In some areas mesothelioma had been associated more often with crocidolite than with the other fibres, and the author called the reasons obscure.

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: narrative overview (conference paper); no original study data
• Exposure: Commercial asbestos fibres (chrysotile and the amphiboles amosite, crocidolite and anthophyllite) and their uses, including brake and clutch friction materials
• Main results:
  • A figure gave chrysotile (white) world production as 2,800,000 tons, 93% of the total
  • The author stated that chrysotile's greatest use was in asbestos cement, and amosite was used mainly in insulation and building products
  • The author stated that crocidolite's major application in the author's country (Britain) was the manufacture of battery boxes
  • The author described current friction materials, very broadly, as containing 50 per cent chrysotile asbestos, and some new materials approximately 40 per cent
  • The author stated that all types of asbestos, inhaled in fairly high concentrations over a considerable period, may cause fibrosis of the lungs (asbestosis)
  • The author stated that pleural fibrosis causes little or no disability in itself
  • The author stated that mesothelioma had in some areas been associated more frequently with crocidolite than with chrysotile, amosite or anthophyllite
• The authors' conclusion: The author wrote that the reasons for the greater association of mesothelioma with crocidolite in some areas were at present obscure and were being investigated

Topics

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

Related studies

• Peritoneal tumours in asbestosis — J.B. Enticknap, W.J. Smither (1964)
• The discriminant value of pulmonary function tests in asbestosis — M.L. Thomson, A.M. Pelzer, et al. (1965)
• Secular changes in asbestosis in an asbestos factory — W.J. Smither (1965)
• Asbestos, asbestosis and mesothelioma of the pleura — W.J. Smither (1966)
• Asbestos minerals in modern technology — S. Speil, J.P. Leineweber (1969)
• Mechanisms in the pathogenesis of asbestosis and silicosis — B.T. Mossman, A. Churg (1998)

Browse more research in The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, or return to medical research.