RE: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Why asbestos should be banned

Our plain-English summary of RE: Call for an International Ban on Asbestos: Why asbestos should be banned, by R.A. Lemen (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2000).

The study

• Author: R.A. Lemen
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 2000;37(2):236-7
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item is a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reports no new data. The author wrote in support of the Collegium Ramazzini's call, published and endorsed by the journal, for an international ban on asbestos. The letter also replied to Professor McDonald, who the author said had argued that asbestos can be used safely. The author argued that all forms of asbestos, not only the amphibole types, can cause disease. The letter quoted a 1998 International Programme for Chemical Safety document: exposure to chrysotile asbestos poses increased risks for asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. It cited the author's own 1996 review with Stayner and Dankovic, which concluded that chrysotile exposure carries an increased risk of both lung cancer and mesothelioma. It also cited a study by Suzuki and colleagues of 92 consecutive mesothelioma cases. In that study, only 28.3% of the asbestos fiber type in the lung was chrysotile, but chrysotile was the major fiber type in the mesothelial tissue. The author concluded that the journal was right to publish and endorse the call for a ban.

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 and commentary citing other publications; no original study)
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter responds to Professor McDonald and supports the Collegium Ramazzini's call for an international asbestos ban.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, with a focus on chrysotile versus amphibole types and on tremolite contamination of chrysotile. The letter also discusses asbestos-containing construction materials sold to other countries.
• Main results:
  • Not this letter's own finding. The letter quotes the IPCS 1998 Environmental Health Criteria 203 document, which concluded that exposure to chrysotile asbestos poses increased risks for asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma in a dose dependent manner, and that no threshold had been identified for carcinogenic risks.
  • Not this letter's own finding. The letter cites the author's 1996 review with Stayner and Dankovic of the amphibole hypothesis, which concluded that chrysotile asbestos exposure carries an increased risk of both lung cancer and mesothelioma.
  • Not this letter's own finding. The letter cites Suzuki et al. (1998), a review of 92 consecutive cases of mesothelioma. In those cases only 28.3% of the asbestos fiber type in the lung was chrysotile, but chrysotile was the major fiber type identified in the mesothelial tissue.
  • Citing Pigg (1994), the letter states that chrysotile made up about 98.5% of US asbestos consumption in 1992.
  • The author argued that lung-burden studies, the main evidence for the amphibole hypothesis, are hard to interpret. One reason given is that chrysotile exposure is highly correlated with the lung burden of amphiboles such as tremolite.
  • The letter lists countries that had banned asbestos, including Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, among others.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that scientists have a moral and ethical responsibility to call for a ban on asbestos use, and that the journal was right to publish and endorse the Collegium Ramazzini's call for an international ban.

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: 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 — W.J. Nicholson (2000)
• South African asbestos: production, exports, and destinations, 1959-1993 — J.S. Harington, N.D. McGlashan (1998)

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