Response to Letter to the Editor from Egilman, Castleman and Bird (2020) concerning Bullock (2020), Perspectives on the knowledge of asbestos disease in the United States - what was known, by whom and when

Our plain-English summary of Response to Letter to the Editor from Egilman, Castleman and Bird (2020) concerning Bullock (2020), Perspectives on the knowledge of asbestos disease in the United States - what was known, by whom and when, by W.H. Bullock (Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2020).

The study

• Author: W.H. Bullock
• Journal: Critical Reviews in Toxicology
• Published: 2020;50(10):955-956
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it presents no new data. The author replied to a letter by Egilman, Castleman and Bird (2020) about the author's earlier commentary (Bullock 2020) on what was known about asbestos disease in the United States. The author said the commentary was not meant as a comprehensive literature review. It was based mainly on the publications of Alice Hamilton, plus McCord's 1945 autobiography. The author reported three things about Hamilton's work. The Hamilton publications reviewed did not reference the early asbestos publications of Cooke or Merewether. Her 1943 autobiography did not list asbestos among the dangerous trades. Her Industrial Toxicology had no asbestos section until the 1974 third edition. McCord's book named silica as the chief dust hazard. The author noted that other McCord publications were outside the scope of the literature search. The author concluded that asbestos did not rise to the same level of risk as other hazards in Hamilton's writings, and that research articles were scarce for U.S. researchers in that era.

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 (the author's reply to a critical letter about the author's earlier commentary); no new data
• Who was studied: Not a study of people. The author reviewed historical publications, mainly those of Alice Hamilton (1910 to 1974), and McCord's 1945 autobiography, A Blind Hog's Acorns
• Exposure: Whether early U.S. occupational medicine and industrial hygiene writers referred to asbestos, or to trades using asbestos, as dangerous or hazardous trades
• Main results:
  • The author found no references to Cooke or Merewether in the Hamilton publications reviewed
  • The author reported that Hamilton's 1943 autobiography did not include asbestos, or trades working with asbestos, among the dangerous trades
  • The author reported that Hamilton's Industrial Toxicology had no asbestos section in the 1934 or 1949 editions, and that the 1974 third edition was the first to include asbestos in a specific toxicology section
  • The author reported that McCord's 1945 autobiography named silica as the most important hazardous dust
  • The author stated that the conclusion about a lack of scholarly works available to U.S. researchers came from Hamilton's own writings
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, in Hamilton's publications, asbestos did not rise to the same level of risk as the other occupational hazards she identified
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the original commentary was not intended to be a comprehensive literature review
  • The author stated that other McCord publications were not within the scope of the literature search

Related studies

• Perspectives on the knowledge of asbestos disease in the United States - what was known, by whom, and when — W.H. Bullock (2020)
• Response to Letter to the Editor Regarding "Ambient Asbestos Fiber Concentrations and Long-Term Trends in Pleural Mesothelioma Incidence Between Urban and Rural Areas in the United States (1973-2012)" by Finkelstein — K.A. Keeton, M.E. Glynn, et al. (2018)
• Author's response to: "Letter to the Editor" regarding content of "Mesothelioma from asbestos exposures: Epidemiologic patterns and impact in the United States" by R. A. Lemen, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B 2016; 19: 250-265 — (2017)
• Letter Concerning: Glynn ME, Keeton KA, Gaffney SH, Sahmel J. Ambient Asbestos Fiber Concentrations and Long-Term Trends in Pleural Mesothelioma Incidence Between Urban and Rural Areas in the United States (1973-2012). Risk Analysis 2018;38(3):454-471 — M.M. Finkelstein (2018)
• Letter to the Editor regarding Bullock 2020 — D. Egilman, B. Castleman, et al. (2020)
• Letter to the editor on commentary: malignant mesothelioma incidence among talc miners and millers in New York state by M M Finkelstein — R.P. Nolan, J.F. Gamble, et al. (2013)

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