Re: Controlled use of asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Re: Controlled use of asbestos, by D. Egilman, M. Roberts (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2004).

The study

• Authors: D. Egilman, M. Roberts
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2004;10(1):99-103
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 13 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

In this letter, written in response to Castleman's article on the "controlled use" of asbestos, the authors argued that controlled use was the latest in a series of corporate misrepresentations of asbestos risk. They examined Union Carbide Corporation's (UCC) claims that Calidria, a chrysotile mined from the Coalinga deposit in California, was an innocuous short-fiber asbestos and that no mine or mill workers had developed asbestos-related disease. They drew on UCC documents produced in litigation in which one author was a consultant. They reported that Pinkerton's 1982 thesis found 48% of aerosolized Calidria fibers longer than 5 µm, compared with 25% of Canadian and UICC B chrysotile. They also reported that internal UCC studies from 1975, 1977 and 1983 showed long fibers and fine fibers missed in counting. UCC-funded Mellon Institute animal studies from 1966 and 1971, which were not published, reported fibrotic lesions or lung damage; in 1966 the Coalinga sample produced the most severe reaction. The authors stated that UCC consultants misrepresented Pinkerton's data. Their review of King City mine and mill workers' medical records found many chest x-ray findings compatible with asbestosis. Four workers had been diagnosed with asbestosis and four others had possible asbestos-related chest malignancies. One worker's death certificate was changed from asbestosis to non-specific pulmonary fibrosis. The authors concluded that Calidria causes asbestos-related disease.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study. Responding to an earlier article on "controlled use" of asbestos, the authors described Union Carbide Corporation documents, many produced in litigation, about Calidria, a chrysotile asbestos mined from the Coalinga deposit in California. The authors reported that a 1982 PhD thesis by another researcher found 48% of aerosolized Calidria fibers were longer than 5 micrometres, compared with 25% of Canadian (Jeffrey) and UICC B chrysotile. They also reported that an unpublished 1966 Mellon Institute animal study found the Coalinga sample produced the most severe reaction of three products tested, and that a company re-check of its air sampling found 20 to 40 fibers per cc had been missed. From their review of medical records of King City mine and mill workers, the authors reported that many workers had chest x-ray findings compatible with asbestosis, and four of them were diagnosed with asbestosis. Four other employees had possible asbestos-related lung cancers or other chest malignancies. The authors concluded that this medical information proves Calidria causes asbestos-related disease.

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 presenting company documents (many obtained through litigation) and the authors' own review of company medical records; not a formal study
• Who was studied: Workers at the Union Carbide Calidria (King City) asbestos mine and mill in California, whose company surveillance medical records and x-ray reports the authors reviewed; the letter does not give a total number of workers reviewed
• Exposure: Calidria, a chrysotile asbestos mined from the Coalinga deposit in California and sold by Union Carbide Corporation
• Main results:
  • Among King City mine and mill workers, the authors reported that many had chest x-ray findings compatible with asbestosis, and four were diagnosed as having asbestosis
  • Four other employees had possible asbestos-related lung cancers or other chest malignancies; one had "lung cancer" listed on his death certificate
  • As reported by the authors, a 1982 PhD thesis by another researcher (Pinkerton) found 48% of aerosolized Calidria fibers were longer than 5 micrometres, compared with 25% of Canadian (Jeffrey) and UICC B chrysotile
  • As quoted by the authors, an unpublished 1966 Mellon Institute animal study found that the Coalinga sample (CMS-100) produced the most severe reaction of three asbestos products tested
  • After 1977 customer and OSHA sampling found fiber levels 20 to 40 times higher than earlier Union Carbide counts, the company re-checked its sampling method and found 20 to 40 fibers per cc had been missed, according to company documents cited by the authors
  • In the 1984 company radiograph review, one worker's x-ray progressed from 0/1 to 1/1 profusion between 1969 and 1983
  • For one worker who died in 1991, the treating thoracic surgeon listed asbestosis as a contributing cause of death on the original death certificate; the authors reported that the coroner later replaced "asbestosis" with "non-specific pulmonary fibrosis"
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the medical information they reviewed proves that Calidria causes asbestos-related disease, and that the case illustrates how corporations have used science to escape liability

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Controlled Use, Union Carbide, Calidria, Chrysotile, UICC, Chest X-Ray, Death Certificate, Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Related studies

• How conflicted authors undermine the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to stop all use of asbestos: spotlight on studies showing that chrysotile is carcinogenic and facilitates other non-cancer asbestos-related diseases — X. Baur, C.L. Soskolne, et al. (2015)
• Thinking about Occupation-Response and Exposure-Response Relationships: Vehicle Mechanics, Chrysotile, and Mesothelioma — K. Teschke (2016)
• Asbestos in Canada: time to change our legacy — T. Dummer, C. Gotay (2015)
• Potential toxicity of nonregulated asbestiform minerals: balangeroite from the western Alps. Part 1: Identification and characterization — C. Groppo, M. Tomatis, et al. (2005)
• The importance of fiber biopersistence and lung dose in determining the chronic inhalation effects of X607, RCF1, and chrysotile asbestos in rats — T.W. Hesterberg, G.A. Hart, et al. (1998)
• Potential toxicity of nonregulated asbestiform minerals: balangeroite from the western Alps. Part 3: Depletion of antioxidant defenses — E. Gazzano, C. Riganti, et al. (2005)

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