Preliminary Air Pollution Survey Of Asbestos: A Literature Review

Our plain-English summary of Preliminary Air Pollution Survey Of Asbestos: A Literature Review, by R.J. Sullivan, Y.C. Athanassiadis (1969).

The study

• Authors: R.J. Sullivan, Y.C. Athanassiadis
• Published: Washington, Dc: Public Health Service, Consumer Protection And Environmental Health Servce; Contract No. Ph-22-68-25 (1969)
• Type of article: Government report
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 004510.

In plain English

This 1969 report was a literature review on asbestos as an air pollutant, prepared by Litton Systems for the National Air Pollution Control Administration. It summarized published studies on health effects, sources, control and measurement without trying to reconcile conflicting data. The review reported that inhaling asbestos may cause asbestosis, pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma, or lung cancer. It cited an estimate that 50 to 60 million particles per cubic foot-years produced asbestosis, and said no dose information was available for cancer. It described autopsy studies finding "asbestos bodies" in one-fourth to one-half of urban lungs. It said these bodies probably contained some asbestos, but no experimental evidence yet showed what fraction did. The only U.S. estimate it found was for urban air near heavily traveled streets: 600 to 6,000 particles per cubic meter, a figure its originators called highly suspect. The review said the dust-counting methods used in the asbestos industry did not apply to ambient air, for which no proven satisfactory method existed. The authors wrote that apparent asbestos air pollution reaches a large number of people. The report's summary and conclusions section was withheld from this version.

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: Literature review (preliminary air pollution survey), supplemented by discussions with knowledgeable individuals; no new data collected
• Who was studied: Published literature on asbestos as an air pollutant, covering effects on humans, animals, plants and materials, sources, abatement, economics and methods of analysis. Prepared by Litton Systems, Inc. under contract PH 22-68-25 for the U.S. National Air Pollution Control Administration, October 1969.
• Exposure: Asbestos minerals (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, and the less important tremolite and actinolite), from occupational sources and from nonoccupational sources such as mines, factories and construction
• Main results:
  • The review reported that inhalation of asbestos may cause asbestosis, pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma, or lung cancer.
  • The review reported an estimated dose of 50 to 60 million particles per cubic foot-years needed to produce asbestosis.
  • The review stated that no information was available on the dose needed to induce cancer.
  • Autopsy studies reviewed found "asbestos bodies" in the lungs of one-fourth to one-half of samples from urban populations.
  • The review said the "asbestos bodies" found in the general population probably contained some asbestos. It also said there was not yet experimental evidence showing what fraction contained asbestos, or whether they contained any.
  • In a study by Selikoff et al. cited in the review, 24 of 370 asbestos insulation workers died of lung cancer, and all 24 had a history of smoking.
  • The only U.S. estimate of environmental air concentrations found (a rough estimate by Smith and Tabor) was for urban air near heavily traveled streets: 600 to 6,000 particles per cubic meter.
  • No measurements were reported of asbestos concentrations near likely sources in the United States.
  • The review reported that no proven satisfactory method existed for collecting, detecting and identifying asbestos fibers in the 0.1 to 5.0 micron range in ambient air. It said none of the dust-counting methods used in the asbestos industry applied to atmospheric pollution.
  • The review found no information on the effects of asbestos air pollution on plants or materials.
• The authors' conclusion: The formal Summary and Conclusions section was withheld from this version. In the abstract, the authors stated that apparent air pollution by asbestos reaches a large number of people.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The report is a summary of the literature and does not attempt to interpret or reconcile conflicting data.
  • For some pollutants, the discussion of health effects is limited to occupational exposures.
  • The only U.S. estimate of urban air concentrations was described by its originators as highly suspect.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, Million Particles per Cubic Foot (mppcf), Autopsy, Asbestos Bodies.

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