Linking chrysotile asbestos with mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Linking chrysotile asbestos with mesothelioma, by G.K. Sluis-Cremer (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1988).

The study

• Author: G.K. Sluis-Cremer
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1988;14(5):631-2
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000276).

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The author responded to a 1988 commentary by Dunnigan on linking chrysotile asbestos with mesothelioma, which discussed the case of a shipyard worker. Citing earlier animal experiments by other researchers, the author noted that fine tremolite had caused mesothelioma when placed directly into the pleural space of animals. The author also noted that chrysotile standard samples that caused mesotheliomas in animal inhalation experiments were not known to be free of tremolite. The author argued that no one can be certain pure chrysotile fibers cause mesothelioma when inhaled. The author called for more research into the tremolite content of chrysotile from various origins. The shipyard worker was reported to have been exposed to substantial amounts of both chrysotile and amphiboles. The author concluded that it was unreasonable to call the worker's chrysotile exposure the sole cause of the mesothelioma. The author added that, in the light of present knowledge, one could not say the commercial chrysotile did not contribute.

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 (opinion and commentary, no original data)
• Who was studied: no study population; the letter discusses a shipyard worker with mesothelioma described in Dunnigan's 1988 commentary
• Exposure: chrysotile asbestos and the tremolite fibers that accompany it in dust from mining and milling; amphiboles (crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite) also discussed
• Main results:
  • The author stated, citing earlier animal work by Wagner and colleagues, that fine tremolite can cause mesothelioma by intrapleural instillation.
  • The author stated that chrysotile standard samples that caused mesotheliomas in animal inhalation experiments were not known to be free of tremolite.
  • The author argued that it cannot be certain that pure chrysotile causes mesothelioma when inhaled.
  • The author called for more research on the tremolite content of chrysotile from different origins.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that it was unreasonable to declare the shipyard worker's chrysotile exposure the sole cause of his mesothelioma, but that it could not be said the commercial chrysotile did not contribute.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Chrysotile, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Chrysotile, tremolite, and malignant mesothelioma in man — A. Churg (1988)
• Respiratory cancer in chrysotile textile and mining industries: exposure inferences from lung analysis — P. Sebastien, J.C. McDonald, et al. (1989)
• Fiber size and number in workers exposed to processed chrysotile asbestos, chrysotile miners, and the general population — A. Churg, B. Wiggs (1986)
• Fiber burden and patterns of asbestos-related disease in chrysotile miners and millers — A. Churg, J.L. Wright, et al. (1993)
• Mineralogic correlates of fibrosis in chrysotile miners and millers — A. Churg, J.L. Wright, et al. (1989)
• Environmental pleural plaques in residents of a Quebec chrysotile mining town — A. Churg, L. DePaoli (1988)

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