Smoking, coal, asbestos, and the lungs

Our plain-English summary of Smoking, coal, asbestos, and the lungs (British Medical Journal, 1981).

The study

• Journal: British Medical Journal
• Published: 1981;283(6289):457-8
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001819).

In plain English

This item was an unsigned editorial in the British Medical Journal, not a research study, and it reported no new data. It discussed lung disease in British coal mining and in the asbestos industry, drawing on earlier published work. The editorial stated that pneumoconiosis among British coalminers had fallen substantially over the previous 20 years, though some 500 men a year were still diagnosed by the pneumoconiosis medical boards. Asbestosis was diagnosed by these boards in about 200 people a year, with no decline yet seen. Citing other studies, the editorial said asbestos and cigarette smoking seem to act in a multiplicative manner in causing lung cancer, and that asbestos exposure probably has a linear relation with lung cancer risk. It described this risk as very high in the heavily exposed smoker but also substantial in a heavily exposed non-smoker. It concluded that reducing both asbestos levels and smoking would cut lung cancer in workers, that cutting smoking would have more effect in asbestos-exposed workers than in the general population, and that banning tobacco advertising would be a sensible next step.

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 (unsigned commentary drawing on earlier published research; no original data)
• Who was studied: British coalminers and asbestos industry workers, discussed in general terms; no study sample
• Exposure: Asbestos (fiber type not specified), coal dust, and cigarette smoking
• Main results:
  • The number of British coalminers with pneumoconiosis had fallen substantially over the past 20 years, but some 500 men a year were still diagnosed by the pneumoconiosis medical boards
  • Asbestosis was diagnosed by the pneumoconiosis boards in about 200 people a year in Britain, with no decline in incidence yet seen
  • Citing other studies, the editorial stated that asbestos and smoking seem to act in a multiplicative manner on lung cancer risk, and that asbestos exposure probably has a linear relation with lung cancer risk
  • Lung cancer risk was described as very high in heavily exposed smokers and also substantial in heavily exposed non-smokers
  • Cutting the proportion of smokers would have more effect in asbestos-exposed workers than in the general population
• The authors' conclusion: The editorial concluded that lung cancer in asbestos workers (and chronic bronchitis in miners) would fall substantially only when public and governmental pressure was applied to smoking as to dust control, and that banning tobacco advertising would be a sensible next step

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer.

Related studies

• Respiratory symptoms and functional status in workers exposed to silica, asbestos, and coal mine dusts — X.R. Wang, D.C. Christiani (2000)
• Investigative techniques in the laboratory study of coal workers' pneumoconiosis: recent advances at the cellular level — J.S. Harington (1972)
• Diesel exhaust and coal mine dust: lung cancer risk in occupational settings — B. Hoffmann, K.H. Jöckel (2006)
• Molecular basis for differences in susceptibility to coal workers' pneumoconiosis — P.J. Borm, R. Schins, et al. (1992)
• Ventilatory function after exposure to various respirable hazards in a population of former coal miners — G.M. Calvert, M. Moore, et al. (1991)
• A battle for compensation for Welsh coal miners: JS Haldane v "Sericite" Jones, 1932-1934 — M. Greenberg (1997)

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