On the statement by Jacques Dunnigan

Our plain-English summary of On the statement by Jacques Dunnigan, by J.M. Davis (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1988).

The study

• Author: J.M. Davis
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1988;14(5):629-30
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000208).

In plain English

This was a short commentary, not a research study. It responded to a 1988 article by Jacques Dunnigan on whether chrysotile asbestos can cause mesothelioma, and it reported no new data. The author wrote that, to the author's knowledge, fewer than 20 mesothelioma cases had been reported in workers for whom it seemed certain that exposure was to chrysotile-based materials only. Almost all of them had worked in chrysotile mining or milling. Citing earlier work by Pooley (1976) and Churg and colleagues (1984), the author noted that the main fiber found at autopsy in the lungs of many chrysotile miners was tremolite, an amphibole contaminant, not chrysotile. The author also described chrysotile fibers as relatively soluble in lung tissue and amphiboles as extremely durable. Turning to a legal case involving a shipyard worker, the author saw two possible explanations for the mesothelioma: chrysotile, or unsuspected amphibole exposure. In the author's view, a lung dust analysis after autopsy could have settled the question, and the author wrote that apparently none was done. The author concluded that such analyses should be automatic in cases of this type.

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: Commentary (opinion piece responding to an article by Jacques Dunnigan); no original data
• Who was studied: No study population. The commentary discussed published reports on chrysotile miners and millers, and a legal case brought on behalf of a shipyard worker with mesothelioma.
• Exposure: Chrysotile asbestos and its tremolite (amphibole) contaminant, compared with the amphiboles crocidolite and amosite
• Main results:
  • The author stated that, to the author's knowledge, fewer than 20 mesothelioma cases had been reported in workers for whom it seemed certain that exposure was to chrysotile-based materials only. Almost all of these were in chrysotile mining or milling.
  • Citing Pooley (1976) and Churg et al. (1984), not this article's own findings: the predominant fiber in the lungs of many chrysotile miners at autopsy was tremolite, not chrysotile
  • The author described chrysotile fibers as relatively soluble in lung tissue, most lasting 2 or 3 years, and amphiboles as extremely durable
  • Citing Churg (1986): build-up of tremolite in lung tissue was confined largely to chrysotile miners
  • For the shipyard worker's case, the author saw two possibilities: the mesothelioma was caused by chrysotile, or it was caused by unsuspected amphibole exposure. The author did not determine which.
  • In the author's view, a lung dust analysis after autopsy could have settled the question. The author wrote that apparently no analysis was done.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that lung dust analyses should be automatic in cases of this type, and that failure to provide them should weigh heavily against the claimant unless there are extremely convincing reasons the analysis was not performed

Topics

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

Related studies

• Reply to Dr. Dunnigan. Chrysotile as a mesothelial carcinogen in man — A. Churg (1988)
• On Dr. Dunnigan's commentary linking chrysotile asbestos with mesothelioma — M.R. Becklake (1988)
• Response to Dr. Dunnigan's commentary. The role of chrysotile in the pathogenesis of mesothelioma — J.M. Craighead (1988)
• Obfuscation: a reply to Dr. Dunnigan — D.E. Lilienfeld (1988)
• Statement in response to asbestos industry efforts to prevent a ban on asbestos in Pakistan: chrysotile asbestos use is not safe and must be banned — G. Aguilar Madrid, M. Beaudry, et al. (2013)
• Guidelines for Pathologic Diagnosis of Malignant Mesothelioma 2017 Update of the Consensus Statement From the International Mesothelioma Interest Group — A.N. Husain, T.V. Colby, et al. (2018)

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