Selikoff Speaks Out On Science

Our plain-English summary of Selikoff Speaks Out On Science, by W.E. Bailey (1990).

The study

• Author: W.E. Bailey
• Published: Asbestos Issues 3(4):84, April (1990)
• Type of article: Trade journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 000002. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This is not a research study. It is a news report by William E. Bailey, legal affairs editor of Asbestos Issues, on remarks by Irving J. Selikoff, M.D., at a Feb. 9 asbestos litigation seminar. Selikoff was asked about a Science article on asbestos published Jan. 19. Selikoff said most of its authors had been involved with asbestos manufacturers as medical advisers or consultants or in some similar capacity, and urged listeners to look into its risk data independently. Selikoff said the key issue was recurrent, cumulative exposure, and called the realistic risk from a single fiber minuscule. Selikoff said loose asbestos on a pipe exposing a secretary to relatively heavy fiber concentrations daily required some form of immediate remedial response, either encapsulation or removal. Fibers ending up in a 90-story office building's lobby, by contrast, were like outdoor air, which Selikoff said did not present a material risk. Selikoff also questioned the claim that chrysotile removal is safe, and called exposure to asbestos already in place in buildings the next frontier of major public health risk. These are one speaker's views, not study findings.

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: News report of a seminar presentation (commentary); not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The article reports remarks Irving J. Selikoff made at a Feb. 9 seminar sponsored by Andrews Publications, in response to a Science article published Jan. 19
• Exposure: Asbestos already in place in buildings, and chrysotile during its removal, as discussed by the speaker
• Main results:
  • Selikoff said most of the authors of the Science article had been involved with asbestos manufacturers as medical advisers or consultants or in some similar capacity
  • Selikoff urged the audience to inquire independently about the risk exposure data in the Science report
  • Selikoff noted that the Science authors acknowledged a need for ongoing assessment of 'brief, intense exposure', and said the key issue is recurrent, cumulative exposure
  • Selikoff said the more important question is the dose/response relationship, meaning concentration times duration of exposure, and that the realistic risk from a single fiber is minuscule
  • Selikoff called the point/source theory the only valid basis of risk assessment
  • Selikoff said loose asbestos on a pipe over a secretary's desk that exposed her to relatively heavy concentrations of asbestos fibers on a daily basis required some form of immediate remedial response, either encapsulation or removal
  • Selikoff compared fibers that end up in the lobby of a 90-story office building to the outdoor ambient air, which he said does not present a material risk
  • Selikoff disputed the claim that chrysotile is a safe kind of asbestos that poses no risk to those removing it, saying those who installed it have been dying of cancer
  • Selikoff said that educating workers had been the usual response for 65 years with very little change in risk and exposure conditions, and cited high worker turnover in higher-risk jobs
  • Selikoff said exposure to asbestos already in place in buildings is the next frontier of major public health risk
• The authors' conclusion: The article draws no research conclusion. It reports Selikoff's view that the only valid basis of risk assessment is the point/source theory, with recurrent, cumulative exposure as the key issue

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Cumulative Exposure, Encapsulation, Chrysotile.

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