Asbestos contamination of vermiculite

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos contamination of vermiculite, by S.B. Hayward, G.R. Smith (American Journal of Public Health, 1984).

The study

• Authors: S.B. Hayward, G.R. Smith
• Journal: American Journal of Public Health
• Published: 1984;74(5):519-20
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000544).

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study. The authors, from the Air and Industrial Hygiene Laboratory of the California Department of Health Services, were responding to a published review by Levin and Purdom on the health effects of energy-conserving materials, which the authors felt had given vermiculite a clean bill of health. They cited a 1980 US Environmental Protection Agency report stating that at least 80 per cent of the vermiculite used in the United States as of 1980 contained asbestos as a contaminant at a concentration of at least 1 per cent. That figure came from the EPA report, not from the authors' own work. The authors reported that their laboratory had observed asbestos contamination in vermiculite used for packing hazardous materials into 55 gallon drums. It had also observed asbestos fibers in spray-on ceiling materials containing vermiculite. They did not give the number of samples, the testing methods, or the type of asbestos fiber. The authors concluded that one should strongly suspect that most vermiculite used for building insulation is contaminated with asbestos.

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: Letter to the editor commenting on a published review (Levin and Purdom), reporting informal laboratory observations
• Who was studied: Vermiculite-containing materials examined in the authors' laboratory (Air and Industrial Hygiene Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, Berkeley). No number of samples or dates were given.
• Exposure: Asbestos present as a contaminant of vermiculite (fiber type not specified in the letter)
• Main results:
  • Cited from a 1980 US EPA report, not the authors' own data: at least 80 per cent of vermiculite used in the United States as of 1980 contained asbestos as a contaminant at a concentration of at least 1 per cent
  • The authors' laboratory observed asbestos contamination in vermiculite used for packing hazardous materials into 55 gallon drums
  • The authors' laboratory observed asbestos fibers in spray-on ceiling materials containing vermiculite
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that one should strongly suspect that most vermiculite used for building insulation is contaminated with asbestos.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Talc and vermiculite.

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

Related studies

• Fiber contamination of vermiculites: a potential occupational and environmental health hazard — F. Moatamed, J.E. Lockey, et al. (1986)
• Cohort study of mortality of vermiculite miners exposed to tremolite — J.C. McDonald, A.D. McDonald, et al. (1986)
• Radiographic abnormalities and exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in the community of Libby, Montana, USA — L.A. Peipins, M. Lewin, et al. (2003)
• Vermiculite, respiratory disease, and asbestos exposure in Libby, Montana: update of a cohort mortality study — P.A. Sullivan (2007)
• The morbidity and mortality of vermiculite miners and millers exposed to tremolite-actinolite: Part II. Mortality — H.E. Amandus, R. Wheeler (1987)
• Mortality in a cohort of vermiculite miners exposed to fibrous amphibole in Libby, Montana — J.C. McDonald, J. Harris, et al. (2004)

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