Risk assessment in the asbestos cement industry

Our plain-English summary of Risk assessment in the asbestos cement industry, by K. Browne (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1988).

The study

• Author: K. Browne
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1988;45(10):720
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000893).

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The author discussed why studies of two asbestos cement plants, in New Orleans and in Ontario, owned by the same corporation and making similar products, had calculated very different lung cancer risks. The letter noted that an update of the New Orleans study had traced over 95% of workers. It then cited an earlier Ontario paper by Finkelstein and Vingilis giving pathological findings for 26 employees: asbestosis or interstitial fibrosis was described in 16, and in 10 silicosis or nodular fibrosis was also mentioned. The author explained that autoclave curing of asbestos cement requires finely ground silica, and that a forming method needing this cure was patented by the corporation owning both factories. The author suggested that a difference in silica exposure may contribute to the difference in calculated lung cancer risks. The author added that it may be important to establish whether silica was used in New Orleans and whether hygiene precautions there were superior.

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 (correspondence) commenting on published studies; no original data
• Who was studied: No population was studied. The letter discussed published studies of workers at two asbestos cement manufacturing plants, one in New Orleans and one in Ontario, owned by the same corporation.
• Exposure: Asbestos cement manufacture. The letter raised possible exposure to airborne silica, because autoclave curing of asbestos cement requires finely ground silica in the mix. No asbestos fiber type is named.
• Main results:
  • The letter cited the update of the New Orleans study by Hughes et al, which traced over 95% of workers in its cohorts. The author said this removed one possible explanation for the discrepancy between the two plants.
  • The letter cited an earlier paper on the Ontario plant by Finkelstein and Vingilis, not this letter's own data. That paper gave pathological findings from necropsy or open operation for 26 employees.
  • In that earlier paper's 26 Ontario employees, asbestosis or interstitial fibrosis was described in 16 cases, and in 10 cases silicosis or nodular fibrosis was also mentioned.
  • Citing Hodgson, the author stated that a method of forming the raw product that required autoclave curing was patented by the corporation owning the New Orleans and Ontario factories.
• The authors' conclusion: The author suggested that a difference in exposure to silica may contribute to the difference in calculated lung cancer risks between the two studies. The author also said it may be important to establish whether silica was used as a raw material in New Orleans and, if so, whether hygiene precautions were superior.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos-Cement.

Related studies

• Risk assessment of the decay of asbestos cement roofs — A. Campopiano, D. Ramires, et al. (2009)
• Assessment of mortality in the construction industry in the United States, 1984-1986 — C. Robinson, F. Stern, et al. (1995)
• Incidence of cancer and mortality among employees in the asbestos cement industry in Denmark — E. Raffn, E. Lynge, et al. (1989)
• A cohort study on mortality among wives of workers in the asbestos cement industry in Casale Monferrato, Italy — C. Magnani, B. Terracini, et al. (1993)
• Evaluation of exposure to the airborne asbestos in an asbestos cement sheet manufacturing industry in Iran — D. Panahi, H. Kakooei, et al. (2011)
• Job Exposure Matrix for Chrysotile Asbestos Fibre in the Asbestos Cement Manufacturing (ACM) Industry in Zimbabwe — B. Mutetwa, D. Moyo, et al. (2022)

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