Mesothelioma in manufacturers of asbestos-containing cigarette filters

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma in manufacturers of asbestos-containing cigarette filters, by J. Talcott, W. Thurber, E. Gaensler, et al (Lancet, 1987).

The study

• Authors: J. Talcott, W. Thurber, E. Gaensler, K. Antman, F.P. Li
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1987;1(8529):392
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 3 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. 000361).

In plain English

This was a short letter to the editor of The Lancet, not a full study. The authors, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, reported that peritoneal mesothelioma had been diagnosed in the past year in three men aged 51 to 56. All three had worked for 2 to 24 months for a small company while it made cigarette filters containing asbestos (1951-58). According to the patent, the filter contained 5-30% blue asbestos (crocidolite). A state health report from that time, and the patients themselves, described the workplaces as dusty. One man later became a plumber for the company, a job the authors noted is associated with asbestos exposure. The company had 160 employees who made filters in those years. Using United States data for white men, the authors' calculation gave about 0.1 cases expected by chance, and they stated that three cases exceeded this. They added that the excess would be greater if reports of further cases in this group were confirmed. They noted that filter-making exposure had previously been associated with asbestosis but not reported to produce mesothelioma.

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 reporting a small case series (three cases), with a rough comparison of observed versus expected cases
• Who was studied: Three men aged 51-56 diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in the past year. All had worked for a small United States company that employed 160 people making cigarette filters during 1951-58.
• Exposure: Work for 2-24 months making cigarette filters that, according to the patent, contained 5-30% blue asbestos (crocidolite). The workplaces were described as dusty. One patient later worked as a plumber for the company, an occupation the authors said is associated with asbestos exposure.
• Main results:
  • Peritoneal mesothelioma was diagnosed in three men, aged 51-56, who had worked 2-24 months at the company while it made asbestos-containing filters.
  • Among the 160 filter workers, three cases exceeded the number expected by chance. The authors based the expected number on United States data for white men: 160 workers times about 40 adult-years at risk times an annual incidence of 15 per 1,000,000. That works out to about 0.1 cases. The printed figure is garbled in the scanned text.
  • A state health report from the period, and the patients, said the workplaces were dusty.
  • One of the three patients became a plumber for the company, an occupation the authors noted is associated with asbestos exposure.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that the three mesothelioma cases exceeded the number expected by chance. They said the actual excess would be greater if reports of additional cases in this worker group were confirmed.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that reports of additional cases in this worker group had not yet been confirmed.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Crocidolite, Mesothelioma, Peritoneal mesothelioma.

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

Related studies

• Asbestosis following brief exposure in cigarette filter manufacture — A.M. Goff, E.A. Gaensler (1972)
• A study of the synergistic interaction of asbestos fibers with cigarette tar extracts for the generation of hydroxyl radicals in aqueous buffer solution — A. Valavanidis, H. Balomenou, et al. (1996)
• Cigarette smoke, asbestos, and small irregular opacities — W. Weiss (1984)
• Cigarette smoke increases the penetration of asbestos fibers into airway walls — D. McFadden, J. Wright, et al. (1986)
• Effects of cigarette smoke and asbestos on airway, vascular and mesothelial cell proliferation — H. Sekhon, J. Wright, et al. (1995)
• Cigarette smoke makes airway and early parenchymal asbestos-induced lung disease worse in the guinea pig — V. Tron, J.L. Wright, et al. (1987)

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