Hazards of white asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Hazards of white asbestos, by H. Demiruglu (Lancet, 1998).

The study

• Author: H. Demiruglu
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1998;352(9124):322-3
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This letter to The Lancet replied to Mark Cullen's commentary, which had said that people in asbestos-laden facilities, largely chrysotile, were at minimum exposure and low risk of cancer. The author described a survey of villages in Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey. A team from the author's institute had carried it out; the letter cites it as an earlier publication. Villagers were exposed throughout life to unusually high concentrations of inorganic dust from local rocks and soils, containing fibrous minerals including chrysotile asbestos and non-asbestos fibers such as fibrous zeolite. In all villages more than 50% of men were current or ex-smokers, against less than 0.5% of women. Compared with the general population, lung cancer mortality was estimated at about 17-fold in men and four-fold in women. People tended to be unusually young at diagnosis. Two nearby control villages recorded no cancer cases. Their samples had no asbestos, but other fibrous minerals were similar to the Cappadocia villages. The author concluded that there is a direct relation between non-occupational environmental chrysotile exposure and lung cancer risk, and that living in an asbestos-laden facility should be regarded as high-risk.

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) describing an environmental survey carried out by a team from the author's institute, cited as a separately published study
• Who was studied: Inhabitants of villages in Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey, compared with the general population and with two control villages near Cappadocia. The letter gives no numbers of people and no study dates.
• Exposure: Lifelong, non-occupational environmental exposure to unusually high concentrations of inorganic dust from local rocks and soils. Environmental samples contained fibrous minerals, including chrysotile asbestos and non-asbestos fibers such as fibrous zeolite.
• Main results:
  • In all surveyed villages, more than 50% of men were current or ex-smokers; less than 0.5% of women were smokers.
  • Estimated lung cancer mortality, compared with the general population, was increased about 17-fold in men and four-fold in women.
  • Ages at diagnosis tended to be unusually young.
  • In two control villages near Cappadocia no cancer cases were recorded. Their environmental samples contained no asbestos, while other fibrous minerals were similar to the Cappadocia villages.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that there is a direct relation between non-occupational environmental exposure to chrysotile asbestos and lung cancer risk, and that living in an asbestos-laden facility should be regarded as a high-risk exposure.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Hazards of white asbestos — A.J. Dalton (1998)
• Comparative hazards of chrysotile asbestos and its substitutes: A European perspective — P.T. Harrison, L.S. Levy, et al. (1999)
• Assessment of environmental asbestos exposure in Turkey by bronchoalveolar lavage — P. Dumortier, L. Coplü, et al. (1998)
• Incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma due to environmental asbestos fiber exposure in the southeast of Turkey — A. Senyiğit, C. Babayiğit, et al. (2000)
• Canadian hypocrisy regarding chrysotile — J. Bridle, J. Hoskins (2011)
• Investigation of micronucleus frequencies in lymphocytes of inhabitants environmentally exposed to chrysotile asbestos — H. Dönmez-Altuntas, M. Baran, et al. (2007)

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