Health hazards of asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Health hazards of asbestos, by D.H. Wegman (Science, 1979).

The study

• Author: D.H. Wegman
• Journal: Science
• Published: 1979;206(4419):677-8
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 004602).

In plain English

This article was a book review, not a research study. The author reviewed "Asbestos and Disease" by Irving J. Selikoff and Douglas H. K. Lee (Academic Press, 1978). The reviewer described the book as an attempt at a comprehensive review of all aspects of asbestos and human health, written for the nonspecialist, with a bibliography of over 800 references. The book had five sections: the distribution of the mineral, nonmalignant effects, malignant effects, how disease develops, and prevention and control of asbestos-related disease. The reviewer found the discussion of methods for measuring asbestos particularly useful given the continuing debate over field measurement techniques. The reviewer also noted a chapter on asbestos in air, water, food, drugs and consumer products. The book's authors adapted Koch's postulates, rules first written for infectious disease, for chemical agents linked to chronic disease, and applied them to asbestos and pleural and parenchymal nonmalignant disease. The reviewer noted some repetition between chapters. The available text breaks off partway through the review, so the reviewer's overall conclusion is missing.

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: Book review of a review book (no original research)
• Who was studied: No study population; the subject was the book "Asbestos and Disease" by Irving J. Selikoff and Douglas H. K. Lee, published in 1978
• Exposure: Asbestos in general as covered by the book, including nonfibrous or small-fibril forms and asbestos in air, water, food, drugs and consumer products
• Main results:
  • The book was written for the nonspecialist and included a bibliography of over 800 references
  • The book was organized in five sections: distribution of the mineral, nonmalignant effects, malignant effects, pathogenic mechanisms, and prevention and control of asbestos-related disease
  • The reviewer considered the book's discussion of asbestos measurement methods particularly useful given the debate over field measurement techniques
  • The book's authors considered the hazardous nature of nonfibrous or small-fibril forms of asbestos
  • Selikoff and Lee extended and modified Koch's postulates for chemical agents associated with chronic disease
  • The adapted postulates were applied to evidence on asbestos and pleural and parenchymal nonmalignant disease (the text breaks off while listing further diseases)
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The reviewer noted that chapters were written to stand alone, which caused some repetition for readers going cover to cover

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