Response to Letter to the Editor regarding Franzblau et al., Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit, from Prof. Arthur Frank, MD, PhD

Our plain-English summary of Response to Letter to the Editor regarding Franzblau et al., Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit, from Prof. Arthur Frank, MD, PhD, by A. Franzblau, A.H. Demond, S.K. Sayler, et al (The Science of the Total Environment, 2020).

The study

• Authors: A. Franzblau, A.H. Demond, S.K. Sayler, H. D'Arcy, R.L. Neitzel
• Journal: The Science of the Total Environment
• Published: 2020;739:139165
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item is a letter, not a research study, and reports no new data. The authors of an earlier study of asbestos-containing materials in abandoned Detroit homes replied to a letter about that study from Dr. Arthur Frank, which is not included here. The authors wrote that Dr. Frank's only criticism of their study's design was the lack of air measurements during demolition. The authors said their study was not designed to include air measurements and drew no conclusions about them. They noted they had already said that air measurements during demolition would be critical. They said they had not recommended against removing all asbestos. They wrote that Dr. Frank's conclusion about the costs of asbestos removal appeared to rest on personal opinion. Their reason was that he had neither performed nor cited relevant air measurements, nor conducted a risk assessment or cost-benefit analysis. The authors stated their belief that a risk assessment based on measured demolition emissions would give a reasoned basis for identifying where abatement is needed. They referred readers to their second paper, which includes air measurements.

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 original study's authors replying to a critical letter from Dr. Arthur Frank
• Who was studied: No population was studied in this letter. It discusses the authors' earlier study of asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in abandoned residential dwellings (ARDs) in Detroit
• Exposure: Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit and possible asbestos emissions during demolition. No fiber types or doses are given in this letter
• Main results:
  • The authors stated that Dr. Frank's only concern with their study design was the lack of air measurements during demolition. Apart from that, he offered no criticism of their design, methods, sampling, data collection or analyses
  • The authors wrote that they agree with Dr. Frank that air measurements of asbestos emissions are critical in this context
  • The authors stated that they did not recommend against removing all asbestos, as they said Dr. Frank had inferred
  • The authors wrote that Dr. Frank's conclusion that the risk justifies the cost of asbestos removal appeared to rest on personal opinion. They said he had neither performed nor cited relevant air measurements, and had not conducted a risk assessment or cost-benefit analysis
  • The authors referred readers to a second paper they had published that includes air measurements during demolition (Neitzel et al., 2020)
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated their belief that a risk assessment based on measured emissions from demolitions will give a reasoned basis for identifying where asbestos abatement is needed to protect the public's health
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors acknowledged that their original study did not include air measurements, though they said this does not diminish its results

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos-Containing Material (ACM).

Related studies

• Letter to Editor regarding Franzblau et al. 2020: Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit, Science of Total Environment, v714,1-8 — A.L. Frank (2020)
• Asbestos-containing materials in abandoned residential dwellings in Detroit — A. Franzblau, A.H. Demond, et al. (2020)
• Measurement of asbestos emissions associated with demolition of abandoned residential dwellings — R.L. Neitzel, S.K. Sayler, et al. (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)
• Response to a letter to the editor by Dr. Murray M. Finkelstein regarding the article by Finley et al. (2012) — B.L. Finley, J.S. Pierce, et al. (2013)
• 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)

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