Risks of environmental exposure to asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Risks of environmental exposure to asbestos (British Medical Journal, 1978).

The study

• Journal: British Medical Journal
• Published: 1978;1(6121):1164-5
• Type of article: Editorial
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 002144).

In plain English

This unsigned editorial reviewed evidence on whether environmental asbestos fibres, inhaled or swallowed, carry a cancer risk; it reported no new research. In one earlier London Hospital series, 11 of 76 patients who died with a mesothelial tumour had no occupational or domestic exposure but lived within half a mile of a large asbestos factory. Duluth tap water held 1-30 million amphibole asbestiform fibres per litre from iron ore tailings dumped in Lake Superior. A Duluth study found no detectable excess of gastrointestinal cancer, but contamination had been present for only 14-17 years. A Connecticut study found no association between risk factors based on asbestos cement pipes and gastrointestinal tumour incidence. In two Quebec asbestos mining towns, death rates from lung and stomach cancer in men and pancreatic cancer in women were raised. The men's excess may have been occupational, so drinking water could not be definitely blamed. The editorial suggested a European Communities report may be a little too tentative. It concluded that, with growing knowledge and stricter control of industrial use and disposal, the community at large seemed most unlikely to face a perceptible risk.

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: Editorial (leading article) reviewing published studies and a European Communities report on environmental (non-occupational) asbestos exposure; no new data
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. It discussed earlier studies of people living near crocidolite mines, London Hospital mesothelioma patients, London residents examined after death, and residents of Duluth (Minnesota), 22 towns in Quebec, and Connecticut
• Exposure: Environmental asbestos fibres, inhaled or ingested. These included living near mines or factories (including crocidolite mines), drinking water contaminated by taconite tailings or asbestos cement pipes, beverages clarified with asbestos filters, and fluids for injection
• Main results:
  • Earlier research by Wagner and colleagues found patients who had been exposed to crocidolite only by living near the mines or playing on mine dumps as children
  • In an earlier London Hospital series of 76 patients who died with a mesothelial tumour, 11 had no occupational or domestic exposure but had lived within half a mile of a large asbestos factory
  • An earlier London study found asbestos body counts in the lung were higher in people living in industrial and dockyard areas near the Thames, but no higher in people with lung cancer than in those dying of other diseases
  • Electron microscope studies found 1-30 million amphibole asbestiform fibres per litre of Duluth tap water, from taconite tailing waste dumped in Lake Superior from 1955
  • Levy and colleagues found no detectable excess of gastrointestinal cancer in Duluth (1969 to 1972) compared with Minneapolis and St Paul, but the water contamination had been present for only 14-17 years
  • Wigle, studying mortality in 22 Quebec towns, found an excess mortality rate from lung and stomach cancer in men and pancreatic cancer in women in the two high-exposure towns. The excess in men may have been due to occupational exposure, as these were asbestos mining towns, so the higher cancer mortality could not be definitely attributed to asbestos in drinking water
  • Harrington and colleagues, using Connecticut cancer registry records and risk factors calculated from the age of asbestos cement pipes, the ability of the water to leach fibre and the length of pipe used, found no association between those risk factors and the incidence of gastrointestinal tumours
  • A European Communities report argued that ambient exposure carries no definite risk, but that too many uncertainties exist to deny such a risk
• The authors' conclusion: The editorial considered the European Communities report possibly a little too tentative and said special areas such as Duluth must remain under surveillance. It nevertheless concluded that, with increasing knowledge of the hazard and increasingly strict control of industrial use and disposal of asbestos, the community at large seemed most unlikely to be exposed to a perceptible risk
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The editorial noted that people developing cancer now would have been exposed to the conditions of 20-50 years earlier

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Environmental Exposure.

Related studies

• Contribution of environmental factors to cancer risk — P. Boffetta, F. Nyberg (2003)
• Health implications of environmental exposure to asbestos — J.C. McDonald (1985)
• A case-control study of asbestos in drinking water and cancer risk — L. Polissar, R.K. Severson, et al. (1984)
• Report on cancer risks associated with the ingestion of asbestos. DHHS Committee to Coordinate Environmental and Related Programs — (1987)
• Risk-based indicators of Canadians' exposures to environmental carcinogens — E. Setton, P. Hystad, et al. (2013)
• Cancer risk from asbestos in drinking water: summary of a case-control study in western Washington — L. Polissar, R.K. Severson, et al. (1983)

Browse more research in British Medical Journal, or return to medical research.