Asbestos Fact Book

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos Fact Book, by Epa (1985).

The study

• Author: Epa
• Published: Washington, Dc: Epa Report, August (1985)
• Type of article: Government report
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 004568.

In plain English

This is not a research study. It is an August 1985 public information booklet from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It describes asbestos, its health effects, federal regulations and EPA programs; it reports no original health data, though it briefly describes how a building survey sample was chosen. The booklet stated that asbestos is known to cause asbestosis and various forms of cancer. It said mesothelioma almost never occurs without asbestos exposure and that these diseases appear 20 to 40 years after exposure. It said nearly 95 percent of asbestos used in commercial products is chrysotile. In a January 1984 EPA survey of 2,600 public school districts and private schools, one third may have had asbestos problems, 93 percent had been inspected, and 34 percent were in full compliance with EPA's schools rule. A national survey, based on inspections of 231 buildings at 10 sites, estimated that about 700,000 (20 percent) of 3.5 million U.S. federal government buildings, private non-residential buildings and residential apartments contain friable asbestos. It also covered home and brake-work exposure, waste disposal and training programs.

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: Government public information booklet (fact book), not a research study. It summarizes asbestos health concerns, regulations and EPA programs, and it reports results of EPA surveys with only a brief description of how they were done
• Who was studied: No study population. The booklet reports an EPA survey of 2,600 public school districts and private schools (January 1984). It also reports an EPA national survey based on inspections of 231 buildings at 10 sites. Those buildings were a statistically representative sample of 3.5 million U.S. buildings in three classes: federal government buildings, private non-residential buildings and residential apartments
• Exposure: Asbestos in general; the booklet states that nearly 95 percent of asbestos in commercial products is chrysotile. It discusses sprayed or trowelled building materials, pipe and boiler insulation, home products, motor vehicle brakes and asbestos wastes
• Main results:
  • The booklet stated that asbestos is known to cause asbestosis and various forms of cancer. This is a general statement, not a finding of this booklet
  • The booklet stated that mesothelioma almost never occurs without exposure to asbestos
  • The booklet stated that asbestos-related diseases do not show up until 20 to 40 years after exposure
  • EPA school survey (2,600 school districts and private schools, January 1984): one third may have had asbestos problems
  • EPA school survey: 93 percent of the 2,600 schools had been inspected, but only 34 percent were in full compliance with all requirements of the EPA rule
  • EPA building survey: about 700,000 (20 percent) of the 3.5 million buildings were estimated to contain friable asbestos. The 3.5 million covers three classes only: federal government buildings, private non-residential buildings and residential apartments
  • EPA building survey: an estimated 1.2 billion square feet of sprayed-on or trowelled-on asbestos materials, with an average asbestos content of 14 percent, in 190,000 buildings
  • EPA building survey: about 550,000 buildings were estimated to have asbestos-containing pipe and boiler insulation, with an average asbestos content of 70 percent
  • The booklet stated that people who work directly on brake maintenance are potentially exposed to high levels of asbestos
• The authors' conclusion: The booklet has no study conclusion. In the introductory letter, the EPA Administrator stated that asbestos is associated with several serious and often debilitating health problems and is a potential danger for anyone directly exposed to it

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Chrysotile, Friable.

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