Human health effects associated with the commercial use of grunerite asbestos (amosite): Paterson, NJ; Tyler, TX; Uxbridge, UK

Our plain-English summary of Human health effects associated with the commercial use of grunerite asbestos (amosite): Paterson, NJ; Tyler, TX; Uxbridge, UK, by J. Ribak, G. Ribak (Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2008).

The study

• Authors: J. Ribak, G. Ribak
• Journal: Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
• Published: 2008;52(1 Suppl):S82-90
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Grunerite asbestos (amosite) has been shown in epidemiological and experimental animal studies to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and pulmonary fibrosis commonly referred to as asbestosis. An overview of the human and experimental animal studies describing the health hazards of grunerite asbestos (amosite) is presented. Of the many human studies describing the health hazards of asbestos, only three factories using mainly, if not exclusively, grunerite asbestos (amosite) have been studied. The first is a series of reports on a cohort of 820 workers from a plant located in Paterson, NJ. Among this cohort, 18.7% died of lung cancer and 17 mesotheliomas occurred. The Paterson factory closed in 1954 and moved to Tyler, Texas where it operated until 1972. Among the 1130 former workers in the Tyler plant 6 mesotheliomas were reported with 15.8% lung cancer mortality. The third grunerite asbestos (amosite) exposed cohort was an insulation board manufacturing facility in Uxbridge, United Kingdom. Here 17.1% of the workers died of lung cancer and 5 mesotheliomas occurred. The lung content from 48 Uxbridge workers was analyzed by analytical transmission electron microscopy for mineral fibers. The relationship between grunerite asbestos (amosite) concentrations in the lung correlated with grades of fibrosis and asbestos bodies and was lower than the concentration found in the cases with malignant tumors. The lung cancer cases contained more grunerite asbestos (amosite) than mesothelioma cases, and in the cases of non-malignant disease the concentrations were still lower. In both types of malignancies the concentration of grunerite asbestos (amosite) was very high-over a billion fibers per gram of dried lung tissue. Occupational exposure to airborne concentrations of between 14 and 100 fibers of grunerite asbestos (amosite) per milliliter after 20 year latency causes marked increases in lung cancer, mesothelioma and pulmonary fibrosis (asbestosis).

In plain English

This article was a review of published studies on grunerite asbestos (amosite), focusing on three factories that used mainly this fiber type. At the Paterson, NJ plant, a cohort of 820 men hired from 1941 to 1945 had 740 deaths by the latest update, including 17 mesotheliomas (8 pleural, 9 peritoneal). Airborne levels there were never measured but were estimated at 14 to 75 f/mL. At the successor plant in Tyler, TX, 1130 workers had 222 deaths, including 35 lung cancers and 6 mesotheliomas (4 pleural, 2 peritoneal). There, three-year average air levels for five job tasks ranged from 15.9 to 91.4 f/mL. At an insulation board factory in Uxbridge, UK, which also used some chrysotile, 57 lung cancer deaths were observed against 29 expected, and 5 mesotheliomas occurred. A lung tissue study of 48 Uxbridge workers found a mean of 785 million amosite fibers per gram of dried lung. The authors concluded that the three studies give consistent evidence that amosite produces asbestosis and increased risk of lung cancer and of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. They noted that some pleural mesotheliomas occurred after less than a year of exposure.

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: Review of published studies: epidemiology reports on three factory cohorts exposed mainly to amosite, plus animal and laboratory studies
• Who was studied: Three published factory cohorts. Paterson, NJ: 820 men who started work between June 1941 and December 1945. Tyler, TX: 1130 workers at the successor plant, which operated until 1972. Uxbridge, UK: workers at an insulation board factory, 1947 to 1979, including a lung tissue study of 48 workers.
• Exposure: Grunerite asbestos (amosite) in product manufacturing. Paterson: never measured, estimated at 14 to 75 f/mL. Tyler: three-year mean levels for five job tasks ranged from 15.9 f/mL (curing) to 91.4 f/mL (milling/fiberizing); the single-year values in Table 2 include 163.5 f/mL for milling/fiberizing in 1967. Uxbridge: amosite and chrysotile up to 1973, then amosite only; exposures before 1964 were thought to be as high as 100 f/mL.
• Main results:
  • Paterson cohort, latest update (740 deaths among 820 men): 17 mesotheliomas, of which 8 were pleural and 9 were peritoneal
  • Paterson: mean duration of employment was 25.6 months in the pleural mesothelioma cases versus 43.8 months in the peritoneal cases (range 2 to 60 months)
  • Paterson (Seidman et al. 1986 report): 111 lung cancers among 593 deaths, 18.7% of deaths
  • Tyler cohort: standardized mortality ratio of 277 for cancer of the lung, trachea and bronchus in the total cohort (222 deaths)
  • Tyler cohort: 6 mesotheliomas, 4 pleural and 2 peritoneal
  • Uxbridge cohort: 57 lung cancer deaths observed versus 29 expected
  • Uxbridge cohort: 5 mesotheliomas and 9 asbestosis deaths
  • Lung tissue study of 48 Uxbridge workers: mean amosite level of 785 million fibers per gram of dried lung tissue; mean chrysotile level of 12 million
  • Same lung tissue study: amosite concentration in the 14 lung cancer specimens was 40% higher than in the 5 mesothelioma cases
  • Same lung tissue study: amosite concentration was positively related to the grade of fibrosis and asbestos bodies
  • In all three factories, some pleural mesotheliomas occurred in workers with less than 1 year of exposure
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the three factory studies provide consistent evidence that amosite produces asbestosis and increased risk of lung cancer and of mesothelioma in both the pleura and peritoneum. They suggested that increased risk after brief exposure may be related to very high exposures.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Airborne asbestos was never measured at the Paterson factory
  • No information was given about the jobs of the six Tyler workers who developed mesothelioma
  • For Tyler, it was not reported whether any lung cancers occurred in non-smokers
  • Eleven Uxbridge lung tissue subjects had significant crocidolite in their lungs, possibly acquired outside the plant

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Amosite, Asbestosis.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Grunerite, Amosite, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy (ATEM), Mineral Fiber, Fibrosis.

Related studies

• Rapporteur's Report Session 3: exposure to grunerite (amosite) asbestos: historical perspectives of the health effects — G.W. Gibbs (2008)
• Tyler asbestos workers: mortality experience in a cohort exposed to amosite — J.L. Levin, J.W. McLarty, et al. (1998)
• Tyler asbestos workers: A mortality update in a cohort exposed to amosite — J.L. Levin, A. Rouk, et al. (2016)
• A risk assessment for exposure to grunerite asbestos (amosite) in an iron ore mine — R.P. Nolan, A.M. Langer, et al. (1999)
• Rapporteur's Report Session 4: grunerite asbestos (amosite) and tremolite-ferroactinolite asbestos: risk of environmental mesothelioma — J.F. Gamble (2008)
• Long and short fiber amosite asbestos alters at a different extent the redox metabolism in human lung epithelial cells — C. Riganti, E. Aldieri, et al. (2003)

Browse more research in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, or return to medical research.