Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Trust me, I'm a doctor

Our plain-English summary of Re: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Trust me, I'm a doctor, by M. Greenberg (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2000).

The study

• Author: M. Greenberg
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 2000;37(2):232-4
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor, not a research study. Responding to a call for an international ban on asbestos, the author recounted, from 1906 onward, physicians who, in the author's view, failed to appreciate the size of the health problem and gave reassurance at odds with the facts. Much of the letter concerned chrysotile mining in Quebec. For example, the author set a 1948 report that Thetford mill workers did not suffer from asbestosis against a senior executive's death in 1949 from malignant mesothelioma of the right pleura. Similarly, a 1958 study whose authors concluded Quebec miners had no significantly higher lung cancer death rate was set against a 1964 report of 29 lung cancer and 4 mesothelioma cases in 843 deaths. The author described physicians and scientists rallying to defend chrysotile. The author noted that a 1999 IPCS document called chrysotile hazardous and advised against its use. The author concluded that evidence-based deliberations between balanced groups of medical and non-medical scientists consulted by international bodies such as WHO had replaced earlier authoritative pronouncements and come out against 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 (historical commentary); not an original study
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter discussed published statements and reports by physicians about asbestos from 1906 to 1999, with emphasis on Quebec chrysotile miners and millers.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, mainly chrysotile; crocidolite and amosite were mentioned in relation to bans
• Main results:
  • The author argued that the history of asbestos includes physicians who seriously failed to appreciate the size of the health problem
  • The author noted that after a 1948 report said Thetford mill workers did not suffer from asbestosis, a senior executive died in 1949 aged 63 of malignant mesothelioma of the right pleura
  • The author cited Cartier (1955), who reported 128 cases of asbestosis among Thetford Mines workers, 121 of them diagnosed by radiography
  • The author described a 1958 study (Braun and Truan) in which, among Quebec miners followed to 1955, 187 had died, 9 of lung cancer and 3 of questionable lung cancer. The study's authors concluded there was no significantly higher lung cancer death rate.
  • The author reported that in 1964 the Thetford clinic's medical director told a British company doctor he knew of 29 lung cancer and 4 mesothelioma cases in 843 deaths
  • The author noted that the 1999 IPCS Environmental Health Criteria document considered chrysotile hazardous and advised against its use
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that evidence-based deliberations between balanced groups of medical and non-medical scientists, as consulted by international bodies such as WHO, had replaced earlier authoritative pronouncements and had come out against chrysotile.

Topics

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

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 — C. Maltoni (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)
• South African asbestos: production, exports, and destinations, 1959-1993 — J.S. Harington, N.D. McGlashan (1998)

Browse more research in American Journal of Industrial Medicine, or return to medical research.