Occupational and "non-occupational" asbestosis in Finland

Our plain-English summary of Occupational and "non-occupational" asbestosis in Finland, by L. Noro (American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 1968).

The study

• Author: L. Noro
• Journal: American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal
• Published: 1968;29(3):195-201
• Cited by: 22 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. 001456).

Summary of the article

In this 1968 Yant Memorial Lecture, the author reviewed Finnish experience with occupational and non-occupational exposure to anthophyllite asbestos, which is quarried in eastern Finland. Finland produced 11,000 metric tons a year. Asbestos had been added to pottery there since about 2500 B.C., and modern industrial exposure had existed since 1918. Of about 225 jobs examined, three-fourths had dust levels under the threshold limits. Dust in the mill and quarry ranged from 7.5 to 100 mg/m3. A 1946 x-ray survey found asbestosis in 126 of 476 workers (26.5%). By 1967, 144 cases had been diagnosed in an industry of about 500 workers, and 35 among insulators. No mesotheliomas were found. In 1967, examination of 135 workers found 37 asbestosis cases, with no lung cancer or mesothelioma. Population x-ray studies found pleural calcifications in 9% of people over 15 in the commune with the quarry, and almost 30% of those over 65. Elsewhere in rural Finland, 7 cases were found among 265,223 people. An autopsy study found asbestos bodies in 57.6% of 264 lungs. According to the Finnish Cancer Register, lung cancer and malignant pleural and peritoneal tumors were not more common in the calcification area during 1953-62. None of 12 recorded Finnish pleural mesotheliomas came from that area. The author concluded that asbestos could be controlled by industrial hygiene and rejected claims that it endangered families and neighbors. He also called for continued dust control and listed unanswered questions.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This article is the text of a 1968 lecture by the director of Finland's Institute of Occupational Health. It reviewed Finnish experience with anthophyllite asbestos, which is quarried in eastern Finland. A 1946 X-ray survey by Wegelius found asbestosis in 126 of 476 asbestos workers (26.5%). By 1967, 144 asbestosis cases had been diagnosed in an industry employing about 500 workers; by the time of the lecture, 35 cases had been found among insulators. In 1967, 37 of 135 examined workers had asbestosis, and no lung cancer or mesothelioma was found among these cases. Raunio's X-ray study found unusual pleural calcifications in 9% of people over 15 in Tuusniemi, the quarry commune, and almost 30% of those over 65. Meurman's autopsy study found asbestos bodies in 57.6% of 264 lungs. According to Raunio, cancer register data for 1953-62 showed lung cancer and malignant pleural and peritoneal tumors were not more frequent in the calcification area than in other rural east Finland. The author said the hazard could be controlled, but that too little was known about danger to the general population.

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: Lecture (Yant Memorial Lecture) reviewing Finnish experience with asbestos, drawing on surveys by the author's institute and by other Finnish researchers
• Who was studied: Workers in the Finnish asbestos quarry, mill and industry (about 500 employed), Finnish insulators (about 400-500), and residents of the asbestos area and other parts of Finland studied by X-ray and autopsy
• Exposure: Anthophyllite asbestos quarried in eastern Finland, both occupational (quarry, mill, factories, insulation work) and non-occupational (living in the asbestos area); total dust in the mill and quarry ranged from 7.5 to 100 mg/m3
• Main results:
  • In the 1946 X-ray survey by Wegelius, 126 of 476 asbestos workers (26.5%) had asbestosis
  • Until 1967, 144 cases of asbestosis had been diagnosed in the asbestos industry, which employs approximately 500 workers
  • Among Finnish insulators, 35 cases of asbestosis had been found up to the time of the lecture; no mesotheliomas were found among them
  • Of 135 workers examined in 1967 (24 pensioners included), 37 had asbestosis, of which 13 were new cases
  • No lung cancer or mesotheliomas were found among the asbestosis cases from the 1967 examination
  • Preliminary 1968 study: of about 400 workers exposed for more than one year over thirty years, one-fourth had had asbestosis (90 cases)
  • In the Tuusniemi commune, where the quarry is located, unusual pleural calcification was found in 9% of the population over fifteen years of age
  • In Tuusniemi, the calcifications were found in almost 30% of persons over 65 years of age
  • In the rural population elsewhere in Finland, only seven cases of calcification were found among 265,223 people examined
  • Meurman's autopsy study found bilateral thickening of the parietal pleura in 39.3% of cases, equally in eastern and western Finland
  • Meurman's autopsy study found asbestos bodies in 57.6% of 264 lungs studied
  • According to Raunio, Finnish Cancer Register data showed the incidence of lung cancer and malignant pleural and peritoneal tumors was not higher in the calcification area than in other rural districts of east Finland in 1953-62
  • Twelve cases of pleural mesothelioma had been recorded in Finland, none from the asbestos area
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that asbestos is a rather dangerous material to workers' health if not properly controlled, but that it can at present be controlled and its use made as harmless as that of other dusts or toxic materials
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Exposure levels at the plants had been measured systematically only in recent years
  • Diagnosis of early-stage asbestosis in the 1946 survey was difficult because only small X-ray film was used
  • The study of possible local causes of calcification, such as magnesium in drinking water, was not yet finished
  • The author stated that too little was yet known about the danger asbestos poses to the general population

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Non-Occupational Exposure, Anthophyllite, Insulator, Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, Pleural Calcification, Autopsy, Asbestos Bodies.

Related studies

• Breast cancer and occupational exposures in women in Finland — E. Weiderpass, E. Pukkala, et al. (1999)
• Trends of occupational exposure to chemical agents in Finland in 1950-2020 — T. Kauppinen, S. Uuksulainen, et al. (2013)
• Occupational exposure to carcinogens in Finland — P. Heikkilä, T. Kauppinen (1992)
• Use of exposure registration in the prevention of occupational cancer in Finland — J. Alho, T. Kauppinen, et al. (1988)
• Evaluation of asbestos exposure in the working environment. Recommendation of subcommittee on asbestosis of the permanent commission and international association on occupational health — (1972)
• Mineral fiber concentration in lung tissue of mesothelioma patients in Finland — T. Tuomi, M. Segerberg-Konttinen, et al. (1989)

Browse more research in American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, or return to medical research.