Global problems from exposure to asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Global problems from exposure to asbestos, by A.L. Frank (Environmental Health Perspectives, 1993).

The study

• Author: A.L. Frank
• Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Published: 1993;101 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):165-7
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Considerable human-derived data the health consequences of asbestos exposure are available. Usually, less information is available from laboratory models of asbestos-related health effects. Animal data mirror the experience in man, and cellular studies help in to understand the mechanistic changes related to asbestos. Although it is clearly carcinogenic, asbestos has shown much variability when examined for its mutagenic activity. Asbestos, a commercial term referring to a family of six naturally occurring mineral fibers, has been widely used around the world. Disease has been recognized into the last century, and at this time every occupational group that has been examined for possible asbestos-related disease has demonstrated it. Disease associated with asbestos makes no distinction based on race or geography, and wherever asbestos is handled it produces disease. With shifting global commercial patterns, disease patterns can be expected to shift also.

In plain English

This 1993 article is a narrative review by a single author, not a new study, and it reports no original data. The author summarized published human, animal and cell-culture research on asbestos, which the article describes as six minerals: chrysotile (serpentine group) and crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, actinolite and tremolite (amphibole group). The author stated that all commercially produced fiber types have been shown to cause disease in people. The author described lung cancer as the most important asbestos-related cancer in terms of excess deaths and said smoking acts synergistically with asbestos. Asbestos was called the major identifiable cause of mesothelioma, and the author stated that both fiber groups can cause it. Citing an earlier study of 17,800 asbestos insulation workers followed since the early 1960s, the author wrote that it showed an excess of various gastrointestinal cancers. Laboratory cell tests were described as giving widely variable results. The author noted that chrysotile use was increasing in countries with little past asbestos use. The author concluded that asbestos- and tobacco-related disease is entirely preventable and that continuing research should not hold back prevention.

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: Narrative review and commentary by a single author, summarizing earlier human, animal and in vitro research. No new data were collected.
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The author reviewed published findings on asbestos-exposed people, on animals, and on cell and organ culture systems.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, described as six minerals: chrysotile (serpentine group) and crocidolite (printed "croccidolite" in the text), amosite, anthophyllite, actinolite and tremolite (amphibole group). Smoking is also discussed as a co-exposure.
• Main results:
  • The author described lung cancer as the most important asbestos-associated malignancy in terms of excess mortality, and described a synergistic effect between smoking and asbestos exposure.
  • The author described asbestos as the major identifiable cause of mesothelioma and stated that members of both the serpentine and amphibole groups can cause it.
  • Citing an earlier study (Selikoff and colleagues) of 17,800 asbestos insulation workers followed from the early 1960s, the author wrote that this cohort showed an excess of a variety of gastrointestinal cancers. This is another study's result, not this article's.
  • The author noted that kidney and pharyngeal cancers have also been suggested as associated with asbestos exposure, and described the evidence on laryngeal cancer as quite strong.
  • For asbestosis, the author stated that the disease appears dose related. Smoking, while not causing asbestosis, appears to alter the biologic response, mainly the profusion of changes on chest X-rays.
  • The author stated that animal inhalation studies have shown that both chrysotile and amphibole fibers produce lung cancer and mesothelioma in animals. Cell culture tests were described as showing wide variability depending on the system studied.
  • The author stated that women as well as men can develop asbestos-related disease, and that differences in disease patterns reflect differences in exposure histories.
  • The author noted that chrysotile, the most widely used fiber, was being used increasingly in countries with little previous asbestos use or manufacture.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that asbestos- and tobacco-related diseases are entirely preventable. In the author's view, scientific interest in unresolved questions should not stop the scientific community from acting to prevent predictable disease after asbestos exposure.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Carcinogenic, Mineral Fiber.

Related studies

• The case for a global ban on asbestos — J. LaDou, B. Castleman, et al. (2010)
• Global corporate policies and international "double standards" in occupational and environmental health — B. Castleman (1999)
• A worn-out welcome: renewed call for a global ban on asbestos — R.C. Haynes (2010)
• Indigenous health and environmental risk factors: an Australian problem with global analogues? — L.D. Knibbs, P.D. Sly (2014)
• Children's health in Latin America: the influence of environmental exposures — A. Laborde, F. Tomasina, et al. (2015)
• Environmental associations and histopathologic patterns of carcinoma of the lung: the challenge and dilemma in epidemiologic studies — J.C. Ives, P.A. Buffler, et al. (1983)

Browse more research in Environmental Health Perspectives, or return to medical research.