Hazards of white asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Hazards of white asbestos, by A.J. Dalton (Lancet, 1998).

The study

• Author: A.J. Dalton
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1998;352(9124):322
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a letter to The Lancet, not a research study, written by a health and safety co-ordinator at the UK Transport and General Workers Union. It responded to a May 9, 1998 commentary by Mark Cullen on attempts by some doctors and scientists to rehabilitate Canadian chrysotile, or white asbestos. The author reported that on May 28 the Canadian Government announced a World Trade Organisation complaint about France's 1997 ban on all forms of asbestos. The author also wrote that Canadian lobbying, including meetings with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, had delayed a UK ban promised in June 1997. Cullen believed a predicted 'third wave' of disease from very low environmental exposure had shown little sign of appearing. The author urged wariness of complacent assumptions. Citing 1996 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research, the letter stated that the safest asbestos face masks could leak (protection factor 40, not 2000). It also stated that the UK's 768 licensed asbestos-removal firms each received less than one HSE site visit a year, that only 13 licences had been revoked since 1983, and that the average fine over the past five years was £1120.

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 (correspondence); not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter discussed asbestos in UK homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces, UK asbestos removers, and the 768 licensed UK asbestos-removal firms.
• Exposure: Chrysotile (white asbestos), particularly Canadian chrysotile, and exposure of asbestos removers during removal work
• Main results:
  • The letter cited 1996 HSE research showing that the safest asbestos face masks can leak: protection factor was 40, not 2000. The author stated that asbestos removers had therefore been exposed when they thought they were safe.
  • The author stated that each of the 768 licensed UK asbestos-removal firms receives less than one HSE site visit each year.
  • The author stated that only 13 licences had been revoked since 1983.
  • The author stated that over the past 5 years the average fine for breaking asbestos laws was £1120.
  • The author reported that the Canadian Government announced on May 28 a World Trade Organisation complaint about the 1997 French total ban on all forms of asbestos.
• The authors' conclusion: The author argued against complacency about the predicted 'third wave' of disease from low-level, largely chrysotile, environmental exposure. The author questioned whether people are adequately protected against asbestos dust.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Chrysotile.

Related studies

• Hazards of white asbestos — H. Demiruglu (1998)
• Comparative hazards of chrysotile asbestos and its substitutes: A European perspective — P.T. Harrison, L.S. Levy, et al. (1999)
• Canadian hypocrisy regarding chrysotile — J. Bridle, J. Hoskins (2011)
• Asbestos-induced tumors in White Leghorn fowls — P.R. Peacock, A. Peacock (1965)
• Asbestos mining in Southern Africa, 1893-2002 — J. McCulloch (2003)
• Characterisation of palygorskite specimens from different geological locales for health hazard evaluation — R.P. Nolan, A.M. Langer, et al. (1991)

Browse more research in Lancet, or return to medical research.