Asbestos: insights from women

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos: insights from women, by D.H. Yates (The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, 2017).

The study

• Author: D.H. Yates
• Journal: The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine
• Published: 2017;5(10):782-784
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a short historical commentary in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine's "Spotlight" section, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The author described how two British women factory inspectors, Lucy Deane and Adelaide Anderson, reported harmful effects of asbestos dust in the 1898 Annual Report of the Lady Inspectors of Factories. They noted that asbestos sifting and carding were dusty trades, and a microscopic examination showed sharp, jagged particles. They recommended exhaust ventilation and annual medical examinations. On a return visit in 1899 they found improved ventilation and less complaint of injury to health. The author also recounted the case of Nellie Kershaw, an asbestos textile worker who died at 33 and was the subject of what the article calls the first reported case of asbestosis in the medical literature, in 1924. UK regulations followed in 1931, and a ban followed in 1985. The author concluded that early accounts of disease are often buried in official reports, and that the delay between first observation and official recognition needs to be shortened.

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: Historical commentary ("Spotlight" article); not an original study
• Who was studied: No study population. The article discusses historical accounts: British women factory inspectors Lucy Deane and Adelaide Anderson, female workers in the English asbestos industry around 1898, and Nellie Kershaw, a textile worker in Rochdale, UK, whose case was published in 1924
• Exposure: Asbestos dust from asbestos sifting, carding and spinning of raw asbestos fibres into textiles and yarn (fibre type not specified)
• Main results:
  • The author stated that the two women inspectors first reported adverse effects of asbestos in the 1898 Annual Report of the Lady Inspectors of Factories
  • A microscopic examination by HM Medical Inspector Dr Thomas Legge, cited in Deane's report, showed sharp, glass-like, jagged asbestos particles
  • The inspectors recommended exhaust ventilation and annual medical examination of workers; on revisiting in 1899 they noted improved exhaust ventilation and far less complaint of injury to health
  • Nellie Kershaw, who began work in the asbestos industry aged 13 spinning raw asbestos fibres into yarn, died aged 33; pathologist Dr William Edward Cooke testified at her inquest that asbestos was the primary cause of her lung fibrosis and death
  • Her local doctor, Dr Walter Scott Joss, reported seeing 10 to 12 similar cases each year, all in people working with asbestos
  • Nellie Kershaw was refused sickness benefits because her illness was not on the list of occupational diseases, and her employers accepted no liability
  • UK regulation came in 1931; asbestos was not banned in the UK until 1985
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that initial accounts of disease are often buried in official reports, that their impact reflects the reputation of the person reporting, and that the long delay between first observation and official recognition of a disease needs to be shortened, hopefully through better communication

Topics

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

Related studies

• Breast cancer and occupational exposures in women in Finland — E. Weiderpass, E. Pukkala, et al. (1999)
• Occupational risk factors for lung cancer in women: results of a case-control study in Germany — I. Jahn, W. Ahrens, et al. (1999)
• Women's occupation and cancer: preliminary analysis of cancer registrations in England and Wales, 1971-1990 — J. Simpson, E. Roman, et al. (1999)
• Asbestos and the law — G. Poyatos, C. Diego Roza (2017)
• Too little, too late? The home office and the asbestos industry regulations, 1931 — P. Bartrip (1998)
• Asbestos and cancer: an early warning to the British TUC — N.J. Wikeley (1992)

Browse more research in The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, or return to medical research.