Asbestos investigation under way

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos investigation under way, by R. Renner (Environmental Science & Technology, 2003).

The study

• Author: R. Renner
• Journal: Environmental Science & Technology
• Published: 2003;37(23):426A-428A
• Type of article: News
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a 2003 news article, not a research study. It reported that the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substance Disease Registry (ATSDR) began an investigation on October 20 in El Dorado, a suburb of Sacramento, California, where naturally occurring tremolite asbestos is widespread near the surface and stirring up the soil can lead to exposure. The article described the agency's earlier work in Libby, Montana, where tremolite contaminated mined vermiculite. It cited a newspaper report of 192 deaths in Libby. It also cited an EPA scientist's account of a separate study: about 18% of roughly 6800 Libby residents given chest X-rays had scarred lungs, including about 40% of men over 65. In El Dorado, a pathologist found extremely high concentrations of asbestos fibers in the lungs of a dog that had lived there more than 13 years, though the data were described as slim. When technicians raked a local high school's baseball infield and the dirt track around its football field in July, some results exceeded worker safety exposure limits. A McGill pathologist predicted a major public health disaster if development continued unchecked.

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 article (Environmental News section), reporting on an agency investigation and quoting researchers; not an original research study
• Who was studied: El Dorado (County), a suburb of Sacramento, California, where ATSDR began an investigation on October 20, 2003; comparisons drawn with Libby, Montana, a town of about 12,000
• Exposure: Naturally occurring tremolite asbestos near the soil surface in El Dorado, with exposure from activities that disturb the soil; in Libby, tremolite asbestos as a contaminant of vermiculite mined mainly for insulation
• Main results:
  • According to a 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer story cited by the article, asbestos exposure in Libby, Montana had led to 192 deaths and sickened hundreds of others
  • In a separate 2000 to 2001 clinical study described by EPA scientist Christopher Weis, in which about 6800 Libby residents had chest X-rays, about 18% of the population had scarred lungs, including about 40% of men over 65
  • A U.S. EPA expert panel in February 2003 unanimously agreed that the carcinogenic potency of tremolite fibers is 2 orders of magnitude greater than for chrysotile fibers
  • Pathologist Jerrold Abraham found extremely high concentrations of asbestos fibers in the lungs of a dog that had lived in El Dorado for more than 13 years
  • When technicians used a tractor rake to drag the baseball infield and the dirt track surrounding the football field of Oak Ridge High School in July, some results exceeded worker safety exposure limits; the football stadium and baseball diamond were closed in August
• The authors' conclusion: As a news report, the article drew no conclusion of its own. It quoted pathologist and epidemiologist Bruce Case's view that El Dorado could become one of the greatest public health disasters of the 21st century in the United States if development continues unchecked.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The dog lung data were described as slim
  • California Air Resources Board monitoring was mainly done above the human breathing zone without disturbing the soil, so the ATSDR regional representative said those data may not be relevant

Topics

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

Related studies

• Community exposure to asbestos from a vermiculite exfoliation plant in NE Minneapolis — J. Kelly, G.C. Pratt, et al. (2006)
• Lung mineral fibers of former miners and millers from Thetford-Mines and asbestos regions: a comparative study of fiber concentration and dimension — A. Nayebzadeh, A. Dufresne, et al. (2001)
• Asbestos problems in Montana and California — C. Maynard (2004)
• Determining satisfaction with access and financial aspects of care for persons exposed to Libby amphibole asbestos: rural and national environmental policy implications — C.A. Winters, W. Hill, et al. (2011)
• Childhood exposure to Libby amphibole asbestos and respiratory health in young adults — P.H. Ryan, C.H. Rice, et al. (2017)
• Lung function, radiological changes and exposure: analysis of ATSDR data from Libby, MT, USA — D. Weill, G. Dhillon, et al. (2011)

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