Asbestos-related cancer

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related cancer, by J.F. Genits (CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 1996).

The study

• Author: J.F. Genits
• Journal: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
• Published: 1996;46(4):254-5
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The letter writer, James F. Gerrits, MD, questioned a statement in an earlier guest editorial by Philip Landrigan that "more than 50 percent of asbestos workers die of asbestos-related cancer." The letter argued that exposure varies by workplace and that there are several types of asbestos, some with no association with cancer. In a published reply, Landrigan stated that asbestos is a proven human carcinogen. The reply said the editorial referred to high-risk groups such as miners, shipbuilders and insulation workers, and that more than 50 percent of workers in some of these groups had died of lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. The reply agreed that risk depends on the degree of exposure, stated that no safe threshold has been established, and rejected the claim that some types are safe. It said chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite have all been shown in epidemiologic studies to cause lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. These were statements by the writers, not findings of new research.

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, followed by a reply from the author of the editorial it criticized. Opinion and commentary, not a study.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general. The letter says there are several types. The reply names the three major types: chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite.
• Main results:
  • Statement by the letter writer (not new data): there are several types of asbestos and some have no association with cancer.
  • Statement in the reply (not new data): asbestos is a proven human carcinogen.
  • Statement in the reply: in some high-risk groups of workers (miners, shipbuilders, insulation workers), more than 50 percent died of lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
  • Statement in the reply: no safe threshold level of exposure has been established, and risk increases with the extent and severity of exposure.
  • Statement in the reply: chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite have all been shown in epidemiologic studies to cause lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and other cancers.
• The authors' conclusion: The letter writer doubted the editorial's 50 percent statement. The reply's author concluded that the letter writer was right that risk depends on the degree of exposure, but wrong that some types of asbestos are safe.

Related studies

• Estimates of work-related cancers in workers exposed to carcinogens — F. Deschamps, M. Barouh, et al. (2006)
• Investigating cancer risks related to asbestos and other occupational carcinogens — J. Siemiatycki (2007)
• Elimination of asbestos use and asbestos-related diseases: an unfinished story — E.K. Park, K. Takahashi, et al. (2012)
• The global spread of asbestos — A.L. Frank, T.K. Joshi (2014)
• Cancer incidence among firefighters: 45 years of follow-up in five Nordic countries — E. Pukkala, J.I. Martinsen, et al. (2014)
• The carcinogenicity of dietary acrylamide intake: a comparative discussion of epidemiological and experimental animal research — J.G. Hogervorst, B.J. Baars, et al. (2010)

Browse more research in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, or return to medical research.