Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos, by C. Maltoni (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2000).

The study

• Author: C. Maltoni
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 2000;37(2):230-1
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study. The author, Secretary General of the Collegium Ramazzini, supported the Collegium's Call for an International Ban on Asbestos. The author stated that asbestos harm is proven but underestimated in the scientific literature, because many cases go unreported or are incorrectly diagnosed. As an example, the author wrote that 92 cases of mesothelioma among people exposed to asbestos on the railways had been reported internationally up to 1986, and 141 in total by the time of writing. The author's group had gathered another 183 cases in Italy alone since 1986. The author reported having tested chrysotile and various amphiboles in rats under the same experimental conditions without observing meaningful differences in carcinogenic potency. The letter gives no detailed protocol and no numerical results for these experiments. The author also described a 1907 Italian lawsuit in which medical records showed that 8 of 10 deaths among workers between 1902 and 1906 were due to lung diseases. The author criticized defenders of chrysotile.

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 (opinion/commentary)
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter refers to mesothelioma cases in people exposed to asbestos on railways, including 183 cases the author's group gathered in Italy from 1986 onward, and to workers in an asbestos-factory town in Piedmont, Italy, 1902 to 1906.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, with particular discussion of chrysotile compared with amphiboles. Also railway asbestos exposure and 'family contact' with an exposed family member.
• Main results:
  • Railway-related mesothelioma: 92 cases reported in the international literature up to 1986, and 141 in total reported internationally by the time of writing.
  • In Italy alone, the author's group gathered another 183 railway-related mesothelioma cases from 1986 onward, through an investigation the author described as diligent but not sufficient.
  • The author reported that rat experiments under the same conditions showed no meaningful differences in carcinogenic potency between chrysotile and various amphiboles. The letter gives no detailed protocol and no numerical results for these experiments.
  • The author stated that the scientific literature underestimates asbestos disease, partly because many cases are not reported or are incorrectly diagnosed.
  • In a 1907 Italian lawsuit, medical documentation showed that 8 of 10 deaths among workers between 1902 and 1906 were due to lung diseases.
• The authors' conclusion: The author considered the burden of asbestos on exposed workers and citizens proven and stated pride in the Collegium Ramazzini's Call for an International Ban on Asbestos.

Related studies

• Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Why not ban asbestos? — J.C. McDonald (2000)
• Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Trust me, I'm a doctor — M. Greenberg (2000)
• Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Why not ban asbestos? — B. Castleman (2000)
• RE: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Why asbestos should be banned — R.A. Lemen (2000)
• Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos — W.J. Nicholson (2000)
• International jurisprudence on trade and environmental health: one step forward, two steps back? — K. Timmermans (2008)

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