Asbestos in drinking water does not cause mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos in drinking water does not cause mesothelioma, by J.H. Lange, J.A. Hoskins (International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, 2004).

The study

• Authors: J.H. Lange, J.A. Hoskins
• Journal: International Journal of Gynecological Cancer
• Published: 2004;14(5):1048-9; author reply 1046-7
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor that reports no new data. The authors responded to a case report by van Kesteren and colleagues suggesting that drinking rainwater collected from an asbestos-containing roof may have caused peritoneal mesothelioma in a 76-year-old woman. The letter's authors noted that the case report gave no information on the roof's asbestos content, the asbestos type, or the fiber concentration in the run-off water. Citing other publications, they argued that a World Health Organization report found no convincing evidence that ingested asbestos causes cancer in epidemiological studies of populations whose drinking water contained high asbestos concentrations, and that the only study in an earlier review reporting a link was of ecological design. They also noted that other agents have been reported to cause mesothelioma and suggested these, or an idiopathic tumor, be considered. The authors concluded that, based on their review of the literature, ingesting asbestos in water appears not to result in mesothelioma and other cancers, even at high levels. They also concluded that the case report's suggested association was at best speculative.

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 case report; no new data
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter discusses a case report by van Kesteren and colleagues of peritoneal mesothelioma in one 76-year-old woman
• Exposure: Ingested asbestos in drinking water, specifically rainwater collected from an asbestos-containing roof in the case report. The letter also discusses asbestos in potable water from bedrock and from asbestos cement pipes
• Main results:
  • The letter's authors stated that the case report did not give the asbestos content of the roof, the type of asbestos, or the concentration in the run-off water
  • Citing a WHO report, the authors stated that the WHO found no convincing evidence of the carcinogenicity of ingested asbestos in epidemiological studies of populations with drinking water supplies containing high concentrations of asbestos
  • The authors stated that a Quebec epidemiological study they cited concluded there was no excess cancer risk from asbestos in drinking water, while noting that this study was ecologic in nature
  • The authors stated that only one study in an earlier review reported an association between ingested asbestos and cancer, and that this study was of ecological design
  • The authors noted that many agents other than asbestos have been reported to cause mesothelioma, although amphibole asbestos predominates
• The authors' conclusion: Based on their review of the literature, the authors concluded that ingesting asbestos in water, even at high levels, appears not to result in mesothelioma and other cancers. They concluded that the case report's suggested association was at best speculative

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma, Peritoneal mesothelioma.

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

Related studies

• Drinking water and cancer — R.D. Morris (1995)
• Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and exposure to asbestos in drinking water among lighthouse keepers (Norway) — K. Kjaerheim, B. Ulvestad, et al. (2005)
• Cancer incidence and asbestos in drinking water, Town of Woodstock, New York, 1980-1998 — M.L. Browne, D. Varadarajulu, et al. (2005)
• Asbestos-contaminated drinking water: its impact on household air — J.S. Webber, S. Syrotynski, et al. (1988)
• Evidence of arsenic release promoted by disinfection by-products within drinking-water distribution systems — S.S. Andra, K.C. Makris, et al. (2014)
• Concentrations of asbestos fibers and metals in drinking water caused by natural crocidolite asbestos in the soil from a rural area — B. Wei, B. Ye, et al. (2013)

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