Response to RE: Gordon R, Fitzgerald S, and Millette J. Asbestos in commercial cosmetic talcum powder as a cause of mesothelioma in women. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2014;20(4):318-332

Our plain-English summary of Response to RE: Gordon R, Fitzgerald S, and Millette J. Asbestos in commercial cosmetic talcum powder as a cause of mesothelioma in women. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2014;20(4):318-332, by R.E. Gordon (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2015).

The study

• Author: R.E. Gordon
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2015;21(4):342-6
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

In this letter to the editor, Ronald E. Gordon replied, with input from co-authors James Millette and Sean Fitzgerald, to a letter by Dr. Lee and Mr. Van Orden of the R J Lee Group (Lab D). That letter criticized the authors' 2014 paper on asbestos in a brand of cosmetic talcum powder as a cause of mesothelioma in women. Gordon stated that the paper had been peer reviewed and that three of the four laboratories had found asbestos, Lab D being the outlier. He said that later, more sensitive analyses by Lab C confirmed Lab A's findings. He said fibers were identified by morphology, energy dispersive spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction under accepted agency methods, and that re-examination of RJLG's own grids found countable asbestos structures. He argued that a draft ASTM method should not be relied upon, that polarized light microscopy is inadequate for talc, and that the >20:1 aspect-ratio definition comes from an EPA light-microscopy glossary never officially adopted. He reported that Lab A counted fibers 5 μm or longer, with aspect ratios mostly 15:1 or >20:1. He stated that lung fibers RJLG called amosite were iron- and protein-coated anthophyllite, based on EDS peak heights. He noted that women who used the powder had developed mesothelioma without other known asbestos exposure. The letter disclosed that both letter authors and Gordon were working for attorneys on opposite sides of a civil lawsuit.

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 new study. The author, lead author of a 2014 paper reporting asbestos in one brand of cosmetic talcum powder and in a woman with mesothelioma who used it, replied to criticism from Dr. Lee and Mr. Van Orden. Their laboratory, called Lab D, had not found asbestos. The author stated that Lab C's later, more sensitive analyses did find asbestos, and that countable asbestos structures were found when the critics' own grids were re-examined. The author also stated that the critics' light-microscopy work identified anthophyllite, tremolite and serpentine but did not call them asbestiform. The author argued that fibers in the woman's lung tissue that the critics reported as amosite were actually anthophyllite. Lab A counted only fibers 5 μm or longer, with aspect ratios mostly 15 to 1 or above 20 to 1. The author acknowledged not keeping count sheets or recording grid openings, and that Lab A did no releasability testing. The author concluded that the tested talc contained anthophyllite, tremolite or chrysotile asbestos. The letter discloses that the author and Dr. Lee work for attorneys on opposite sides of a civil lawsuit.

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 2014 published paper
• Who was studied: No new population was studied. The letter discusses the 2014 paper's testing of containers of one brand of talcum powder and the lung tissue of one woman who used it and died of mesothelioma.
• Exposure: Cosmetic talcum powder of one brand, which the author states contained anthophyllite, tremolite and/or chrysotile asbestos
• Main results:
  • The author stated that Lab C's initial analyses did not find asbestos in a few bulk samples, but its later analyses at greater sensitivity did find asbestos fibers.
  • The author stated that when two authors of the original paper re-examined grids prepared and analyzed by the critics' laboratory (RJLG), they found countable asbestos structures in the same grid openings RJLG had examined.
  • The author stated that the critics' polarized light microscopy analyses identified anthophyllite, tremolite and serpentine, but the analysts did not consider them asbestiform.
  • Based on iron, silica and magnesium peak heights by EDS, the author argued that fibers in the woman's lung tissue that RJLG reported as amosite were anthophyllite.
  • In the talcum powder analyses, Lab A counted only fibers 5 μm or longer, with aspect ratios mostly 15 to 1 or above 20 to 1.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the original paper had shown, beyond a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, that the cosmetic talc tested contained asbestos (anthophyllite, tremolite or chrysotile, or a combination).
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author does not keep count sheets or record the specific grid openings in which asbestos is identified.
  • Lab A did not do releasability (airborne release) testing.
  • The author's grids often cannot be re-examined later because the carbon support film breaks.
  • Conflict of interest disclosed: the author and Dr. Lee work for attorneys on opposite sides of a civil lawsuit.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma, Talc and vermiculite.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED), Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Talc, Aspect Ratio (Length-to-diameter ratio), Amosite, Anthophyllite.

Related studies

• Asbestos in commercial cosmetic talcum powder as a cause of mesothelioma in women — R. Lee, D. Van Orden (2015)
• Letter concerning: Burns AM, Barlow CA, Banducci AM, Unice KM, Sahmel J. Potential Airborne Asbestos Exposure and Risk Associated with the Historical Use of Cosmetic Talcum Powder Products — M.M. Finkelstein (2019)
• Commentary on "Assessment of Health Risk From Historical Use of Cosmetic Talcum Powder" — D. Egilman, J. Steffen (2018)
• Fibrous and mineral content of cosmetic talcum products — L.J. Cralley, M.M. Key, et al. (1968)
• Evaluation of the presence of asbestos in cosmetic talcum products — J.S. Pierce, A.S. Riordan, et al. (2017)
• Serous Ovarian Cancer Caused by Exposure to Asbestos and Fibrous Talc in Cosmetic Talc Powders-A Case Series — J.E. Steffen, T. Tran, et al. (2020)

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