Contaminating organic material in asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Contaminating organic material in asbestos, by B.T. Commins, G.W. Gibbs (British Journal of Cancer, 1969).

The study

• Authors: B.T. Commins, G.W. Gibbs
• Journal: British Journal of Cancer
• Published: 1969;23(2):358-62
• Cited by: 17 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001422).

Abstract

Evidence is presented that shows that asbestos contains organic material, some of which arises by contamination when the fibre has been stored in bags made of polythene. The contamination comprises not only the constituents of polythene, but also some of their oxidation products formed when they make contact with asbestos. Some of these products have been identified. It is known that organic material extracted from asbestos is weakly carcinogenic; it is not known however whether the oxidation products of some constituents of polythene are carcinogenic, but the implications of this finding are discussed.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This 1969 laboratory study examined organic material found on asbestos samples and whether some of it came from the polythene bags the samples were stored in. Using hot benzene, the authors extracted 71 mg of yellow oil from 350 g of Canadian chrysotile. The oil contained traces of 3:4-benzopyrene and a yellow compound. That compound was also found in reference samples of crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, and Rhodesian and Canadian chrysotile. The chrysotiles gave the most oil (up to 0.442 percent by weight) and amosite the least (0.019 percent). Mass spectrum analysis identified the compound as a diphenoquinone. Canadian chrysotile stored in glass jars gave consistently less oil than duplicate samples stored in polythene bags. The diphenoquinone appeared in all the bag samples but in none of those kept in glass. Crocidolite oxidised over 50 percent of two added precursor chemicals within two hours. The authors noted that the biological significance of these contaminants had yet to be investigated. They concluded that asbestos containing the diphenoquinone is probably contaminated from polythene storage, and that polythene bags seem unwise for storing samples meant for biological study.

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: laboratory chemical analysis of organic material extracted from asbestos samples, with storage and oxidation experiments
• Who was studied: Asbestos samples, not people: a finely milled Canadian chrysotile sample previously used in rat studies and stored in polythene; U.I.C.C. reference samples of crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, Rhodesian and Canadian chrysotile; and chrysotile fibre collected from asbestos mills in Quebec
• Exposure: Storage of asbestos (chrysotile, crocidolite and other types) in polythene bags, compared with storage in glass jars with an aluminium foil liner, and contact of asbestos with chemicals from polythene
• Main results:
  • In the first Canadian chrysotile sample, 71 mg of yellow oil was extracted from 350 g of chrysotile using hot benzene
  • Among the U.I.C.C. reference samples, the crocidolite and Canadian chrysotile samples contained the most of the yellow component and the anthophyllite the least
  • The chrysotiles yielded the most oil (up to 0.442 percent by weight) and amosite the least (0.019 percent by weight)
  • Crocidolite and Rhodesian chrysotile samples repacked into smaller polythene bags showed what the authors called a significant increase in oil and yellow component after 1 week
  • The yellow component was identified as 3,3',5,5' tetratertiary butyl diphenoquinone
  • Crocidolite took up oil from polythene washings and converted a constituent of that oil into the diphenoquinone
  • Among duplicate Canadian chrysotile samples, those in glass jars gave consistently lower oil yields, and the diphenoquinone was found in all polythene bag samples and none of the glass jar samples
  • When two butylated phenols were added to crocidolite, over 50 percent of both was oxidised to the diphenoquinone within two hours
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded it is reasonable to assume that asbestos in which the diphenoquinone is detected is contaminated, probably from storage in polythene bags, and that it would seem unwise to store materials for biological investigation in polythene bags
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The biological significance of the oil, the diphenoquinone and the bis tertiary butyl phenol found in asbestos stored in polythene had not yet been investigated
  • As far as the authors knew, the diphenoquinone, the stilbene quinone and the bis butyl phenol detected had not been tested for carcinogenicity

Topics

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

Related studies

• Tumour initiation by natural and contaminating asbestos oils — F.J. Roe, M.A. Walters, et al. (1966)
• Studies of carcinogenesis of asbestos fibers and their natural oils — J.S. Harington, F.J. Roe (1965)
• Interpretation of the carcinogenicity of amosite asbestos and ferroactinolite on the basis of retained fiber dose and characteristics in vivo — P.M. Cook, L.D. Palekar, et al. (1982)
• Tumorigenesis by a ferroactinolite mineral — D.L. Coffin, L.D. Palekar, et al. (1982)
• Evaluation of the tumorigenic potential of vermiculite by intrapleural injection in rats — B. Hunter, C. Thomson (1973)
• Iron from a geochemical viewpoint. Understanding toxicity/pathogenicity mechanisms in iron-bearing minerals with a special attention to mineral fibers — A.F. Gualtieri, G.B. Andreozzi, et al. (2019)

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