Asbestos and cancer; the report and recommendations of a working group convened under the auspices of the Geographical Pathology Committee of the International Union Against Cancer

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos and cancer; the report and recommendations of a working group convened under the auspices of the Geographical Pathology Committee of the International Union Against Cancer, by F. Turgeon, J. Devries, A.G. Thompson (Canadian Medical Association Journal, 1965).

The study

• Authors: F. Turgeon, J. Devries, A.G. Thompson
• Journal: Canadian Medical Association Journal
• Published: 1965;92(19):1020-5
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M nos. 001514, 004706).

In plain English

This was not a new study but the abridged report and recommendations of an international Working Group convened under the International Union Against Cancer. Some 40 delegates from several countries reviewed information from an October 1964 New York Academy of Sciences meeting on asbestos. The group stated there was evidence of an association between asbestos exposure and malignant neoplasia, naming lung carcinoma and diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum, with some suggestion also of gastrointestinal carcinoma and possibly ovarian tumours. Latency was usually 20 or more years, with instances up to 60. Present evidence indicated the associated lung carcinomas were not limited to one fibre type, but whether the degree of risk depended importantly on fibre type needed urgent investigation. For mesothelioma, crocidolite (blue fibre) might be of particular importance, but it could not be concluded that only this fibre was involved. Recommendations covered fibre type and dust dose studies, mesothelioma diagnosis, and reference samples of five asbestos types held in Johannesburg. The authors concluded that a more serious and widespread hazard than widely appreciated may exist.

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: Report and recommendations of an international expert working group (a consensus review of information presented at a scientific meeting, not original research)
• Who was studied: Some 40 delegates from Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, South Africa and the United States, who reviewed the information presented at the October 1964 New York Academy of Sciences meeting on the biological effects of asbestos
• Exposure: Asbestos dust generally. The main commercial types named were amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite and tremolite.
• Main results:
  • The group stated there was evidence of an association between exposure to asbestos and malignant neoplasia, established mainly on information from Germany, Italy, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  • The tumours shown to be associated with asbestos dust exposure were carcinoma of the lung and diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum.
  • There was some suggestion of an association with gastrointestinal carcinoma, and possibly with ovarian tumours.
  • The latent period between first exposure and detection of the related tumours was usually 20 or more years, with instances up to 60 years reported.
  • Present evidence indicated that the associated lung carcinomas were not limited to exposure to any one type of asbestos fibre. Whether the degree of risk is importantly related to fibre type was said to need urgent investigation.
  • For mesothelioma, evidence from several countries suggested that crocidolite (blue fibre) may be of particular importance, but the group said it could not be concluded that only this fibre type was involved.
  • The group recommended investigating how fibre type relates to the risk of asbestosis, lung carcinoma, and mesothelial and other tumours.
  • The group recommended studying how dust dosage, including concentration and duration of exposure, relates to the incidence of asbestosis, lung carcinoma, mesotheliomas and other cancers.
  • The group recommended that diffuse mesothelial tumours be diagnosed on criteria suggested by its Panel on Pathology and reviewed by experienced pathologists. It set out macroscopic, microscopic and other diagnostic criteria.
  • The group recommended that standard reference samples of amosite, chrysotile, crocidolite, tremolite and anthophyllite be prepared and held at the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit in Johannesburg.
  • The group stated that the presence of asbestos bodies and fibres indicates exposure to asbestos dust, not asbestosis.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, given these findings and the great increase in asbestos use in all countries, a more serious and widespread hazard from asbestos dust may exist than is widely appreciated.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The group stated that further investigation was urgently needed to establish whether the degree of risk is importantly related to the type of fibre inhaled.
  • The possible role of oils, waxes, other organic matter and trace elements such as nickel and chromium associated with asbestos fibres was described as not yet clear.
  • The report was published in slightly abridged form.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pathology.

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