Asbestos fibres and the environment

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos fibres and the environment (British Medical Journal, 1981).

The study

• Journal: British Medical Journal
• Published: 1981;282(6277):1707
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 004194).

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, published with a reply. It reported no new study. The letter writer, C P de Fonseka of Bristol, responded to two earlier BMJ articles by Daphne Gloag. The writer asked why they had not mentioned dust from the brake linings of moving motor vehicles as a source of airborne asbestos, suggested it could be a major pollutant in traffic jams, and asked about the risk to do-it-yourself motorists cleaning dust from brake drums. In reply, Daphne Gloag cited other published work. An American survey had found raised asbestos air levels at toll stations, roughly in proportion to passing traffic. Most chrysotile in brake linings is changed by friction, and the remaining fibres are mainly short, so possibly less hazardous, though even a small share of unchanged fibres could be harmful. Some mesotheliomas had been found in garage workers and may have been caused by their occupation, although in a recent case-control study no increased risk was evident. The reply concluded there seemed to be a distinct but small occupational hazard, suggesting do-it-yourself car maintenance would have negligible risks.

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 (correspondence) with a reply from the author of the original articles; no original study
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter concerned atmospheric contamination from moving motor vehicles, traffic jams, and do-it-yourself motorists renewing brake linings.
• Exposure: Dust from motor vehicle brake linings, which the reply said contain a substantial proportion of chrysotile
• Main results:
  • The reply cited an American survey (not this article's own work) that found raised asbestos air concentrations at toll stations, roughly proportionate to the number of vehicles passing
  • The reply stated, citing other work, that most chrysotile in brake linings is changed morphologically by friction and the remaining fibres are mainly short, and so possibly less hazardous
  • The reply stated that even a small proportion of unchanged fibres could be harmful
  • The reply cited reports of some mesotheliomas in garage workers that may have been caused by their occupation, but noted that in a recent case-control study no increased risk was evident
• The authors' conclusion: The reply concluded that there seemed to be a distinct but small occupational hazard, which suggested to the author that do-it-yourself car maintenance would have negligible risks

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Auto mechanics and brake work.

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