Occupational cancer of the lung and smoking

Our plain-English summary of Occupational cancer of the lung and smoking (British Medical Journal, 1970).

The study

• Journal: British Medical Journal
• Published: 1970;2(5705):313
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 002462).

In plain English

This was an unsigned editorial (a "leading article") in the British Medical Journal discussing other researchers' work, not an original study. It named the main British jobs with a raised lung cancer risk: making hexavalent chromium compounds from chromite ore, refining nickel by decomposing nickel carbonyl gas, and using asbestos or asbestos-containing products. It noted controversy over whether the high lung cancer rate in clinical asbestosis also applied to asbestos-exposed workers without asbestosis. It said there seemed little doubt that pleural mesothelioma was related to asbestos exposure, particularly crocidolite ("blue asbestos"). It reported H. S. Osburn's suggestion that arsenical dust and smoking may have acted together in lung cancers among African gold miners in Gwanda, Rhodesia. It also described Selikoff and co-workers' study of 370 asbestos insulation workers. They put the lung cancer risk of asbestos workers who regularly smoked cigarettes at not less than 90 times that of non-smokers not exposed to asbestos. The editorial said more information was needed on these combined effects. It suggested smoking may enhance the action of all inhaled respiratory carcinogens, perhaps through paralysis of ciliary action.

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: Unsigned editorial (leading article) commenting on published studies and official reports; not an original study
• Who was studied: No population was studied. The editorial discussed workers in occupations with a raised lung cancer risk, mainly in Britain. It also discussed studies of gold miners in Rhodesia and of asbestos insulation workers.
• Exposure: Occupational lung carcinogens were discussed: manufacture of hexavalent chromium compounds from chromite ore, refining of nickel by decomposition of nickel carbonyl, and use of asbestos or asbestos-containing products. Crocidolite was mentioned in connection with pleural mesothelioma. Arsenic was also discussed. Each exposure was considered in combination with cigarette smoking.
• Main results:
  • The editorial stated that in Britain the hazardous jobs for lung cancer were principally the manufacture of hexavalent chromium compounds from chromite ore, the refining of nickel by decomposition of the gaseous compound nickel carbonyl, and asbestos use.
  • The editorial noted a controversy. The question was whether the high incidence of lung cancer in patients with clinical asbestosis extends to asbestos-exposed workers who have neither clinical nor pathological asbestosis.
  • The editorial stated there seemed little doubt that mesothelioma of the pleura is related to asbestos exposure, particularly crocidolite ("blue asbestos").
  • Cited work by H. S. Osburn (not this article) found a substantially higher incidence of lung cancer in African gold miners in Gwanda, Rhodesia, than in the adult male non-mining population. Osburn suggested that smoking and arsenical dust may have acted in association.
  • A cited study by Selikoff and co-workers (not this article) examined 370 asbestos insulation workers. It put the lung cancer risk of asbestos workers who smoked cigarettes regularly at not less than 90 times that of non-smokers not exposed to asbestos.
  • The editorial said more information was needed to determine the combined effects of smoking and occupational respiratory carcinogens.
  • The editorial proposed a possible mechanism: smoking might delay elimination of inhaled carcinogens through paralysis of ciliary action.
• The authors' conclusion: The editorial suggested it is possible that smoking may enhance the action of all inhaled respiratory carcinogens.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Occupational lung cancer and smoking: a review in the light of current theories of carcinogenesis — A.C. Chovil (1979)
• Relative importance of cigarette smoking in occupational lung disease — P.C. Elmes (1981)
• Review of occupational lung carcinogens — K. Steenland, D. Loomis, et al. (1996)
• Relation between exposure to asbestos and smoking jointly and the risk of lung cancer — P.N. Lee (2001)
• K-ras mutations in human adenocarcinoma of the lung: association with smoking and occupational exposure to asbestos — K. Husgafvel-Pursiainen, P. Hackman, et al. (1993)
• Alcohol, smoking, and occupational factors in cancer of the larynx: a case-control study — W. Ahrens, K.H. Jöckel, et al. (1991)

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