Industrial hygiene perspectives in control of asbestos exposure

Our plain-English summary of Industrial hygiene perspectives in control of asbestos exposure, by W. Reitze (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979).

The study

• Author: W. Reitze
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 1979;330:223-4
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy.

In plain English

This two-page piece was a brief statement by a workshop session cochairman from the Johns-Manville Corporation in Denver, Colorado, not a research study. It described no research methods, and its figures for the author's company came without underlying measurements. The author stated that asbestos has a dose-response relationship, with levels below which no adverse health effects can be measured. The author wrote that North American standards were based on British asbestos textile work, which had been grossly misinterpreted in North America. In the author's account, British rules were guidelines, British counts were mostly area samples, and British records did not support assuming that UK factory disease arose at or below 2 f/cc. The author wrote that the membrane filter method loses reliability below 2 f/cc and that electron microscope measurements of air and water must be considered grossly imprecise. The author reported that Johns-Manville's US manufacturing stations were well below 2 f/cc and that construction had progressed more slowly. The author concluded that efforts must continue so that no worker is exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos fibers.

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: Commentary: a brief opinion statement by a workshop session cochairman, not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The author was affiliated with Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colorado, and discussed the asbestos industry in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure in general, with no fiber type specified. The author discussed the UK asbestos textile industry, US asbestos plants, Canadian mines and the construction industry.
• Main results:
  • The author stated that asbestos has a dose-response relationship, with exposure levels below which no adverse human health effects can be measured. This is the author's statement, not a finding of this article.
  • The author stated that North American standards are based on British asbestos textile work, and that some rather gross misinterpretations of that work have been made in North America.
  • The author described the 1969 UK regulations as proposing limits of 100 fiber years, commonly but not precisely interpreted as 2 f/cc. The author said these were guidelines rather than operating limits.
  • According to the author, UK textile fiber counts were mostly area samples. The author said later simultaneous samples by the same investigators showed higher readings for personal samples than for area samples.
  • The author stated that, according to British hygiene records, it is false to assume that the disease in UK factories arose at or below 2 f/cc.
  • The author stated that the reliability and precision of the membrane filter method fall off rapidly below 2 f/cc.
  • The author stated that electron microscope methods used for ambient air and water must be considered grossly imprecise.
  • The author reported that all Johns-Manville asbestos stations in US manufacturing plants were well below the 2 f/cc level. The author also wrote that the company's Canadian mines were 98% below the Canadian mine standard of 5 f/cc.
  • The author stated that progress in controlling exposure had been slower in the construction industry.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, despite past progress, efforts must continue so that no worker is exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos fibers.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Industrial Hygiene, Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• Industrial hygiene and occupational health studies in Australian (New South Wales) shipyards — A. Bell (1976)
• An industrial hygienist's perspective on generic standards — J.S. Lee (1989)
• The hygiene standard for chrysotile asbestos — J. Peto (1978)
• Hygiene standards for asbestos — S.A. Roach (1970)
• A PC-based quality control (QC) program for an industrial hygiene laboratory — D.K. Verma, K. Ferguson, et al. (2006)
• Dust control in a conventional asbestos textile factory — H.C. Lewinsohn, C.A. Kennedy, et al. (1979)

Browse more research in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, or return to medical research.