Documenting the asbestos story in Sarnia

Our plain-English summary of Documenting the asbestos story in Sarnia, by J. Brophy, M. Parent (New Solutions, 1999).

The study

• Authors: J. Brophy, M. Parent
• Journal: New Solutions
• Published: 1999;9(3):297-316
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

An occupational health and safety clinic in Windsor, Ontario, expressed its concerns about the health of former workers at a foundry and insulation plant in Sarnia to the Canadian Auto Workers union early in 1998. The workers suffered cancer, respiratory and hearing problems, and heart disease. An investigation of their workplace exposures ensued. Researchers obtained government documents that showed the history of ineffectual regulation at Sarnia and some of the highest levels of asbestos--hundreds of times over the legal limits--ever recorded in Canadian workplaces.

In plain English

This special report summarized Ontario government records about the Holmes Insulation and Caposite plants in Sarnia, Ontario, where insulation was made with amosite asbestos from 1956 to 1974. The Canadian Auto Workers union obtained the records under freedom-of-information law. Government air sampling in 1958 recorded up to 134.4 million particles per cubic foot, when the limit was five million. In January 1973, fiber counts ranged from 1 to 852 fibers per cubic centimeter against a limit of 2. In February 1973 they ranged from 4.7 to 837. The authors reported that the government issued only one order to stop asbestos work, and it was not enforced. They also quoted a Ministry of Labour mortality study by Dr. Murray Finkelstein. Among 108 asbestos-exposed men, it found four lung cancer deaths where 0.66 were expected, plus two mesothelioma deaths. In all, five former Holmes workers were known to have died of mesothelioma. The authors concluded that these deaths might have been prevented. A companion report on the Holmes Foundry, mainly about silica, followed.

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: Special report: a documentary review of Ontario Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour records obtained under freedom-of-information law; not an original epidemiological study
• Who was studied: Former workers at the Caposite and Holmes Insulation plants (and, in a companion report, the Holmes Foundry) in Sarnia, Ontario, as described in government inspection records from 1958 onward; a cited mortality study traced 152 former employees, 108 of whom were identified as having worked in asbestos exposure
• Exposure: Amosite asbestos imported from South Africa, used to make Caposite pipe insulation (55 to 60% amosite) from 1956 until March 22, 1974
• Main results:
  • In 1958 Ministry air sampling at the Caposite plant, one sample registered 134.4 million particles per cubic foot. The Ministry of Health had advised keeping fine fiber dust below five million particles per cubic foot.
  • In 1967, of 34 air samples taken by government inspectors, only five were below the legal limit then in place.
  • On January 15, 1973, fiber counts ranged from 1 to 852 fibers longer than 5 microns per cubic centimeter. The limit was 2 fibers/cc. Of 10 counts, only 2 were below that limit.
  • Sampling on February 13, 1973 found fiber counts from 4.7 to 837 fibers per cc.
  • According to the authors, the government issued only one order to halt asbestos operations (January 31, 1973), and it was not enforced or complied with.
  • Finkelstein's Ministry of Labour mortality study, as quoted, covered 108 asbestos-exposed men. It found four lung cancer deaths observed versus 0.66 expected, three respiratory disease deaths versus 0.42 expected, and two deaths from mesothelioma.
  • Five deaths from mesothelioma were known among former Holmes workers, including men not on the study roll. Three of the five were under 50 at death and all were under 60. The cases included peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma.
  • By mid-1998 the Workers Compensation Board had accepted 51 of 54 industrial disease claims arising from the Holmes Foundry, Holmes Insulation and Caposite plants.
  • At the Holmes Foundry (companion report), government inspectors took 131 air samples for respirable silica on seven occasions over twenty years; two-thirds were above the legal limit.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the government issued only one stop-production order during fifteen years of asbestos sampling, that this order was ignored, and that the deaths might have been prevented had government and industry acted on the information they had.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • For the Holmes Foundry report, the authors state that the government did not hand over all relevant documents and that they do not know how many records are missing.
  • The cited mortality study (as quoted by the authors) states that its roll of 152 workers was only a subset of those who worked with asbestos at the factory.

Related studies

• From Awareness to Action: The Community of Sarnia Mobilizes to Protect its Workers from Occupational Disease — D. Kramer, K. McMillan, et al. (2015)
• Elimination of asbestos use and asbestos-related diseases: an unfinished story — E.K. Park, K. Takahashi, et al. (2012)
• Asbestos and disease - a public health success story? — B. Järvholm, A. Burdorf (2024)
• Science or public relations? The inside story of the Asbestosis Research Council, 1957-1990 — G. Tweedale (2000)
• The James Hardie story: asbestos victims' claims evaded by manufacturer — B. Hills (2005)
• Occupational exposure to diesel and gasoline emissions and lung cancer in Canadian men — P.J. Villeneuve, M.É. Parent, et al. (2011)

Browse more research in New Solutions, or return to medical research.