On talc, tremolite, and tergiversation

Our plain-English summary of On talc, tremolite, and tergiversation, by A.M. Langer, R.P. Nolan, J. Addison (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1991).

The study

• Authors: A.M. Langer, R.P. Nolan, J. Addison
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1991;48(5):359-60
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor that reported no new data. The authors were responding to an earlier publication by Reger and Morgan on the health effects of tremolite asbestos. They argued that the asbestos definition used by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) broke with mineralogical science, and that some other US federal agencies did not follow or had not adopted it. That definition took in elongated cleavage fragments of some amphibole minerals. The authors stated that the key question for a tremolite sample is whether it is asbestos by mineralogical criteria, and that tremolite asbestos should be rigorously controlled. They wrote that phase contrast microscopy, OSHA's monitoring method, cannot readily tell asbestos fibres from elongated cleavage fragments. They agreed with Reger and Morgan that no data exist to show that non-asbestos tremolite has the same disease-causing properties as asbestos. The authors concluded that OSHA should not regulate non-asbestos tremolite in the same manner as asbestos without data to justify including such material and without changing the standard's name to show that it is covered.

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 (correspondence) responding to an earlier publication by Reger and Morgan; no new study data
• Who was studied: No study population; the letter discusses how tremolite specimens are defined and regulated in the United States
• Exposure: Tremolite asbestos compared with non-asbestos tremolite and its elongated cleavage fragments, in the context of OSHA's asbestos standard (which OSHA proposed should no longer cover non-asbestos tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite)
• Main results:
  • The authors argued that by redefining asbestos to include elongated cleavage fragments, OSHA and NIOSH broke with mineralogical science
  • The authors stated that other US federal agencies (the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the Mine Safety and Health Administration) either do not follow OSHA's definition or have not adopted it
  • The authors stated that tremolite that is asbestos by mineralogical criteria should be rigorously controlled, like any other amphibole asbestos
  • The authors stated that tremolite that is non-asbestos by mineralogical criteria will be found, on careful transmission electron microscopy, to contain a few hundred ppm of elongated cleavage fragments
  • The authors stated that with phase contrast microscopy, the method OSHA uses, an analyst cannot readily distinguish amphibole asbestos fibres from elongated cleavage fragments
  • The authors supported Reger and Morgan's conclusion that no data exist to show that non-asbestos tremolite has the same pathogenic properties as asbestos
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that OSHA should not regulate non-asbestos tremolite in the same manner as asbestos without having data to justify including such material and without changing the name of the standard to indicate its presence

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Talc and vermiculite, Tremolite.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Talc, Tremolite.

Related studies

• On talc, tremolite, and tergiversation. Ter-gi-ver-sate: 2: to use subterfuges — B.W. Case (1991)
• On talc, tremolite, and tergiversation — R. Reger, W.K. Morgan (1990)
• Association of Metsovo lung and pleural mesothelioma with exposure to tremolite-containing whitewash — A.M. Langer, R.P. Nolan, et al. (1987)
• An epidemiological study in an Anatolian village environmentally exposed to tremolite asbestos — Y.I. Baris, N. Bilir, et al. (1988)
• Radiological survey of past and present vermiculite miners exposed to tremolite — J.C. McDonald, P. Sebastien, et al. (1986)
• The dust hazard in tremolite talc mining — L. Greenburg (1947)

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