Host rocks and gangue minerals in relation to pneumoconiosis and cancer

Our plain-English summary of Host rocks and gangue minerals in relation to pneumoconiosis and cancer, by A.M. Langer (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1981).

The study

• Author: A.M. Langer
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1981;2(2):89-90
• Type of article: Editorial
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001815).

In plain English

This is a two-page editorial by the author, not a research study, and it reports no new data. It introduced a paper in the same journal issue by Gylseth and Norseth. The author described that paper as reporting an association between some specific diseases in taconite miners and exposure to fibrous amphibole gangue minerals, which are minerals of no value to the mining company, from ore and host rock. The author argued that asbestos in some ore deposits has gone unrecognized and uncontrolled, largely because the fibers are submicroscopic. Examples from earlier work included submicroscopic chrysotile in New Caledonia nickel ore. They also included asbestiform tremolite, asbestiform anthophyllite and chrysotile in some impure industrial talc, and occasional and spotty asbestiform tremolite and chrysotile in vermiculite. The author described the Lake Superior case. There, needle-like grunerite cleavage fragments from taconite processing could not be told apart from amosite using the best available methods, and the fibers reached municipal water supplies. The author concluded that the major part of the problem is most likely fibrous minerals known to occur in ore deposits for which no data on biological activity are yet available.

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: Editorial (commentary); no original study or data
• Who was studied: No population was studied. The editorial comments on a study by Gylseth and Norseth of taconite miners, published in the same issue, and discusses mining and processing workforces in general.
• Exposure: Asbestos and other fibrous minerals that contaminate ores, host rocks and gangue minerals. Examples discussed: quartz, chrysotile, asbestiform tremolite, asbestiform anthophyllite, fibrous amphibole gangue minerals, and grunerite cleavage fragments.
• Main results:
  • The author's point (not a finding of this editorial): asbestos contamination of ores has gone unrecognized and uncontrolled largely because the fibers are submicroscopic.
  • Cited from earlier work (Langer et al, 1980): nickel ore deposits of New Caledonia were contaminated with submicroscopic chrysotile asbestos fibers and fibrils.
  • Cited from earlier work: large quantities of asbestiform tremolite, asbestiform anthophyllite and chrysotile have been found in some impure industrial-grade talc deposits.
  • Cited from earlier work (Bowes, Langer and Rohl, 1977): occasional and spotty contamination of vermiculite with asbestiform tremolite and chrysotile.
  • Described from the Lake Superior taconite case: acicular grunerite cleavage fragments could not be distinguished from asbestiform grunerite from South Africa (amosite) using the best available analytical techniques.
  • In the Lake Superior case, the populations of a number of large municipalities were exposed to these fibers through their water supplies, as well as the mining community.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the final and most likely major part of the problem involves fibrous minerals known to be present in a number of ore deposits for which data on biological activity are not yet available.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pneumoconiosis.

Related studies

• Silicosis among gemstone workers in South Africa: tiger's-eye pneumoconiosis — N.W. White, R. Chetty, et al. (1991)
• Carborundum pneumoconiosis. Fibers in the mineral activate macrophages to produce fibroblast growth factors and sustain the chronic inflammatory disease — R. Bégin, A. Dufresne, et al. (1989)
• The contamination of Lake Superior with amphibole gangue minerals — A.M. Langer, C.M. Maggiore, et al. (1979)
• Silica, asbestos, man-made mineral fibers, and cancer — K. Steenland, L. Stayner (1997)
• One agent, many diseases: exposure-response data and comparative risks of different outcomes following silica exposure — K. Steenland (2005)
• Silicosis and smoking strongly increase lung cancer risk in silica-exposed workers — N. Kurihara, O. Wada (2004)

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