Possible asbestos hazards in clinical allergy

Our plain-English summary of Possible asbestos hazards in clinical allergy, by I.L. Bernstein, J. Moteff (The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1976).

The study

• Authors: I.L. Bernstein, J. Moteff
• Journal: The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• Published: 1976;57(5):489-92
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The potential hazards of biological products contaminated by asbestos fibers are quite properly being reviewed by the food and pharmaceutical industries. We have demonstrated that glycerinated saline solutions can be contaminated with asbestos fibers under certain conditions of simulated clinical use of asbestos-packed syringes. Because the fibrogenic and carcinogenic effects of asbestos are subtle and may not be manifest for a long latent period, the future use of asbestos containing materials in allergy practice might be more harmful than now realized.

In plain English

This brief laboratory report tested whether allergy syringes with asbestos-packed pistons could release asbestos fibers into solutions drawn into them. The authors compared new asbestos-packed syringes with syringes that had rubber-tipped pistons. One-millilitre amounts of physiologic (normal) saline and of 50% glycerinated saline were drawn into the test syringes through a needle and then passed through Millipore filters. This was repeated 100 times for each pairing of solution and syringe type, giving four filter samples. The coded filters were examined by electron microscopy. Only the sample from glycerinated saline drawn through an asbestos-wound syringe showed large numbers of crystals similar in shape to chrysotile asbestos fibers. The other three samples showed only ill-defined amorphous debris. The authors suggested that the greater thickness of glycerinated solutions might increase shedding of asbestos particles. They described their experiments as simple, preliminary and limited, and said they did not rule out contamination of plain aqueous solutions. The authors concluded that future use of asbestos materials in allergy practice would appear to be unnecessarily hazardous and more harmful than now realized.

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: Laboratory experiment (brief communication); simulated clinical use of syringes, with filters examined by electron microscopy. No people were studied.
• Who was studied: Four filter samples: physiologic saline and 50% glycerinated saline, each drawn 100 times (1 ml at a time) through new asbestos-packed syringes and through syringes with rubber-tipped pistons; University of Cincinnati, Ohio, report received 1975 and published 1976.
• Exposure: Allergy syringes with asbestos-packed (asbestos-wound) pistons, compared with syringes with rubber-tipped pistons; use simulated by 100 repeated aspirations per solution and syringe pair.
• Main results:
  • In the sample of glycerinated saline drawn through an asbestos-wound syringe, electron microscopy showed large numbers of crystals morphologically similar to chrysotile asbestos fibers (printed as 'chrysolite' in the scanned text).
  • The other three samples (normal saline through either syringe type, and glycerinated saline through rubber-tipped syringes) showed only ill-defined amorphous debris.
  • The authors suggested that the increased viscosity of glycerinated solutions may increase shedding of asbestos particles, since the same syringe use did not contaminate non-glycerinated saline.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos contamination of glycerinated solutions will occur after 100 aspirations with asbestos-packed syringes, and that future use of asbestos materials in clinical allergy practice would appear to be unnecessarily hazardous and more harmful than now realized.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that their limited experiments do not rule out (do not place absolute constraints on) contamination of aqueous solutions by asbestos-wound syringes.
  • The authors described the experiments as simple and preliminary.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Fibrogenic, Carcinogenic.

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