Asbestos: further steps towards reducing the risks

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos: further steps towards reducing the risks (Lancet, 1983).

The study

• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1983;2(8349):563
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001732).

In plain English

This unsigned Lancet commentary was not a research study. It reported recommendations of the UK Health and Safety Commission. A medical report by Prof E. D. Acheson and Dr M. J. Gardner concluded that banning the manufacture and importation of new blue or brown asbestos products should be considered, and that all asbestos use should be curtailed as safer substitutes became available. The commission recommended lower workplace control limits from Aug 1, 1984. For brown asbestos the limit would fall from 0.5 to 0.2 fibres per ml of air, and for white asbestos from 1.0 to 0.5 fibres per ml. Blue asbestos would remain at 0.2 fibres per ml of air for the time being. The commission decided that marketing and use of brown and blue asbestos and their products should be prohibited from June 1, 1984. Asbestos removal work, with some exceptions, would need a licence from the Health and Safety Executive. The commentary noted that the general environment still lacked specific limits, and that the commission's tone hardly suggested a resolve to act with great urgency.

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: News commentary/editorial (Community Health section) reporting regulatory recommendations; not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population; the article concerns recommendations of the UK Health and Safety Commission on workplace asbestos controls, 1983
• Exposure: Workplace asbestos, described as blue, brown and white asbestos; workplace control limits in fibres/ml of air; asbestos removal work
• Main results:
  • The Acheson and Gardner medical report concluded that a formal prohibition of the manufacture and importation of new blue or brown asbestos products should be considered, and that use of all asbestos should be curtailed as safer substitutes become available
  • The commission recommended reducing workplace control limits for brown asbestos from 0.5 to 0.2 fibres/ml of air and for white asbestos from 1.0 to 0.5 fibres/ml. The limit for blue asbestos would remain at 0.2 fibres/ml for the time being
  • The new limits would not apply until Aug 1, 1984, though employers were expected to comply earlier where possible
  • The commission decided that marketing and use of brown and blue asbestos and their products should be prohibited from June 1, 1984
  • Before brown asbestos could be banned, there had to be discussion with other Government departments of the implications to the United Kingdom
  • All asbestos removal work would require a licence from the HSE, unless done by an employer with their own workforce on their own premises and notified to the enforcing authority
• The authors' conclusion: The commentary stated that the lack of control limits for the general environment remained a concern, and that the commission's tone hardly suggested a resolve to act with great urgency

Topics

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

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