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

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

The study

• Author: G. Berry
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1992;22(3):447-8
• Type of article: Historical article
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a short commentary, not an original study. The author responded to a 1991 article by Philip Enterline about the delay in reaching agreement that asbestos causes lung cancer. The author questioned whether earlier agreement alone would have improved working conditions sooner, noting that changes in work practices and laws followed 1964 over the next 20 years. The author described the delay between exposure and disease as probably the most critical element in linking risk to working conditions at the time. Turning to man-made mineral fibers (MMMF), the author cited a US study by Marsh and colleagues. Among workers more than 20 years past first employment, there were 58 respiratory cancer deaths in mineral wool plants against 43 expected, and 280 in fibrous glass plants against 247 expected. Considering European and Canadian studies and possible confounding as well, the author saw little evidence of any effect except in early rockwool or slagwool manufacture. The author concluded that caution was necessary, but that the MMMF research was sufficient to conclude that any excess cancer risk under current controls must be small.

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 (a response to another published article); no original data collected
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the commentary discusses Enterline's 1991 article on the history of opinion about asbestos and cancer, and published mortality studies of man-made mineral fiber workers
• Exposure: Asbestos (historical exposure and lung cancer) and man-made mineral fibers (MMMF), including mineral wool, fibrous glass, rockwool and slagwool
• Main results:
  • The author noted that if 1964 is taken as the year the asbestos and lung cancer question was settled, changes in work practices and legislation followed in many countries over the next 20 years. The author questioned whether earlier scientific consensus alone would have brought these changes sooner.
  • The author noted that in the 1955 study by Doll, the effect was mainly confined to workers employed before the 1931 UK Asbestos Industry Regulations. It was therefore unclear at the time whether current exposure was also a problem.
  • The author considered the delay between exposure and effect probably the most critical element in relating the size of the risk to working conditions at the time.
  • The author cited Marsh et al. (1990), a study of US MMMF plant workers. Among those with more than 20 years since first employment, there were 58 respiratory cancer deaths in mineral wool plants against 43 expected (SMR = 134), and 280 in fibrous glass plants against 247 expected (SMR = 114). These are Marsh et al.'s figures, not the author's own data.
  • Taking the European and Canadian studies and possible confounding into account as well, the author judged there was little evidence of any effect except in the early manufacture of rockwool or slagwool.
  • The author noted that, even without a clear-cut dose-response effect, much effort had been put into limiting MMMF exposures in North America, Europe, and particularly Australia.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that caution is necessary. They also concluded that the reported studies on MMMF give far more information than was available on asbestos by 1964, and are sufficient to conclude that any excess cancer risk to those exposed to MMMF under current controls must be small.

Topics

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

Related studies

• 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)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions regarding asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — R. Ehrlich, J. Myers (1992)
• Re: "Changing attitudes and opinions: asbestos and cancer 1934-1965" — G.W. Schepers (1992)
• 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.E. Craighead (1992)

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