Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965"

Our plain-English summary of Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965", by J.E. Craighead (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1992).

The study

• Author: J.E. Craighead
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1992;22(2):271-3
• Type of article: Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This commentary reported no new data. The author responded to Philip Enterline's 1991 article on changing attitudes toward asbestos and cancer from 1934 to 1965. According to the author, Enterline showed that clinical and autopsy case reports linked asbestos exposure to both bronchogenic carcinoma (lung cancer) and mesothelioma long before scientists in the United States accepted causation. The author asked what role case reports should play in judging environmental risk. The author argued that individual cases are not a suitable basis for sweeping public health measures but could reasonably prompt epidemiological studies. For comparison, the author described research on so-called Hard Metal Disease, linked to occupational exposure to hard metal particles such as tungsten carbide combined with cobalt salts. In the author's assessment, that research was almost entirely reports of individual cases or clusters. Early reports, from as long ago as 1940, were not followed by systematic epidemiological studies designed to define the syndrome and its risk factors. The author concluded that case reports by alert physicians deserve careful attention. The author also wrote that early warning programs, such as the Health Hazards Evaluation Program of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, should be encouraged and adequately funded.

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 responding to another published article (Enterline, 1991); no original data
• Who was studied: None; the commentary studied no people or cases
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure in general (no fiber type named), as discussed in Enterline's article; hard metal particulates (such as tungsten carbide) combined with cobalt salts, discussed as a comparison
• Main results:
  • The author's account of Enterline's article: a link between asbestos and both bronchogenic carcinoma and mesothelioma was recognized from clinical and autopsy case reports long before scientists in the United States accepted causation
  • The author's opinion: observations on individual cases are not an appropriate basis for broad public health measures, but might reasonably prompt epidemiological studies
  • The author's assessment: the research on Hard Metal Disease consists almost exclusively of reports of individual cases or clusters
  • The author's assessment: early reports of Hard Metal Disease, from as long ago as 1940, were not followed by systematic epidemiological studies designed to define the clinical syndrome(s) and the risk factors involved
  • The author's opinion: programs such as the NIOSH Health Hazards Evaluation Program should be encouraged and adequately funded
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that informal and published case reports by alert physicians should be given careful attention, and that early warning systems for limited outbreaks of disease deserve further exploration

Topics

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

Related studies

• Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965 — P.E. Enterline (1991)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — J. Keane (1992)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — R. Ehrlich, J. Myers (1992)
• Re: "Changing opinions and attitudes regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — G. Berry (1992)
• Re: "Attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — D.O. Hourihane (1992)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions: asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — G.W. Schepers (1992)

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