Re: Attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1934-1965

Our plain-English summary of Re: Attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1934-1965, by J.M. Harrington (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1993).

The study

• Author: J.M. Harrington
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1993;23(3):505-6
• Type of article: Comment
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a short commentary, not a research study, and it presents no new data. The author responded to a 1991 article by Enterline on changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1934-1965. The author noted Enterline's account that the earliest published reports linking asbestos and lung cancer came from Nazi Germany and received less attention than they deserved. Citing a personal communication, the author added that in January 1932 a British trade unionist suggested to Sir Thomas Legge, then Chief Medical Inspector of Factories, that cancer might be a complication of asbestosis. The author wrote that the "economic" reasons in Enterline's conclusions were not explained in detail, and that possible industry pressure to suppress reports of harm received little attention. The author argued that proof for common tumors is hard to obtain and that case reports are no substitute. The author supported the IARC approach of giving epidemiological data more weight than animal data and case reports. Citing Sir Austin Bradford Hill, the author concluded that action by society need not wait for epidemiologists' demand for incontrovertible evidence.

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 (letter responding to a previously published historical article); no new data
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure and lung cancer, as discussed in the history of medical opinion covered by Enterline's article
• Main results:
  • The author highlighted Enterline's point that the earliest published accounts linking asbestos and lung cancer came from Nazi Germany and received less attention and credence than they deserved
  • Citing a personal communication, the author reported that in January 1932 a British trade unionist suggested to Sir Thomas Legge that cancer might be a complication of asbestosis
  • The author criticized Enterline's article for not explaining in detail the 'economic' reasons given in its conclusions, including possible industry pressure to suppress reports of adverse health effects
  • The author argued that proof for common tumors is hard to obtain and that case reports and case series cannot replace it
  • The author supported the IARC approach, in which epidemiological data outweigh animal data and case reports
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, although epidemiologists may want incontrovertible evidence, action by society need not wait for it. The author supported this with a passage from Sir Austin Bradford Hill's 1965 address.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Re: Attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1934-1965 — M.A. Schneiderman (1993)
• Re: Historical reasons for attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1934-1965 — M. Corn, J.K. Corn (1993)
• Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965 — P.E. Enterline (1991)
• Re: Attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer, 1937-1965 — D.J. Kilpatrick, M. Kottek (1994)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — J. Keane (1992)
• How are we going to change our attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer in the next 20 years? — J. Bignon (1992)

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