The 2nd ADAO Asbestos Conference

Our plain-English summary of The 2nd ADAO Asbestos Conference, by L. Kazan-Allen (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2007).

The study

• Author: L. Kazan-Allen
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 2007;50(1):52-62
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

On National Asbestos Awareness Day 2006, a conference was held at Mount Sinai, the home ground of Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, who, more than any other single individual, started the debate about occupational hazards in the U.S. Four decades after the pioneering conference on the Biological Effects of Asbestos was organized by Drs. Selikoff and Churg, asbestos victims and their relatives, public health campaigners, medical professionals, journalists and community representatives convened in New York City to assess the progress that had been made in raising public, professional and political awareness of asbestos-related diseases. The report which follows conveys the substance of their presentations and highlights key issues which were discussed.

(c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

In plain English

This article is a conference report, not a research study. It described the second Asbestos Awareness Day conference, organized by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, on April 1, 2006, and summarized what speakers presented. The figures below are speakers' statements as the author reported them. Professor Landrigan described Mount Sinai studies of asbestos workers. Compared with a non-smoker without occupational asbestos exposure, lung cancer risk was 5 times higher for non-smoking asbestos workers, 10 times for smokers without asbestos exposure, and 55 times for smokers who worked with asbestos. After 40 years of husbands' asbestos employment, 50% of wives had abnormal X-rays. Dr. Markowitz reported 44 lung cancers, mostly Stage I or II, among 6,000 individuals scanned by low-dose CT in a program for at-risk workers. In a presentation on 168 mesothelioma cases, Dr. Suzuki stated that in some cases the asbestos fibers found were exclusively chrysotile. Other speakers covered treatment, regulation, Canadian asbestos exports and victim support. The author concluded that the conference gave asbestos sufferers a high-profile opportunity to share their experiences.

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: Conference report summarizing presentations at a one-day conference; not an original study or a systematic review
• Who was studied: Speakers and delegates (asbestos victims and relatives, campaigners, medical professionals, journalists, community representatives) at the 2nd ADAO Asbestos Awareness Day conference, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, April 1, 2006
• Exposure: Asbestos in general: occupational, take-home and environmental exposure, including chrysotile and amphiboles, as discussed by the speakers
• Main results:
  • Prof. Landrigan, describing Mount Sinai cohort research led by Dr. Selikoff, reported a lung cancer risk relative to a non-smoker without occupational asbestos exposure of 5 times for non-smoking asbestos workers, 10 times for smokers without asbestos exposure, and 55 times for smokers who worked with asbestos
  • In the same presentation, among wives of asbestos workers (take-home exposure), 20% had abnormal X-rays after 20 years of their husbands' asbestos employment and 50% after 40 years
  • Dr. Markowitz reported that the Queens College Early Lung Cancer Detection Program for at-risk workers, using low-dose CT, found 44 lung cancers among 6,000 individuals scanned, the majority at Stages I and II
  • Dr. Miller reported that risk of death from asbestosis rose with the ILO profusion score at baseline: less than 1% for minimal or no findings and 35% for the highest score
  • Dr. Suzuki, presenting fiber analysis of lung and mesothelial tissues from 168 cases of human malignant mesothelioma, stated that in some cases the asbestos fibers detected were exclusively chrysotile
  • Mary Hesdorffer listed, among ongoing peritoneal mesothelioma trials, treatment of 98 patients with Alimta/Cisplatin, with a 23.3% response rate in previously treated patients, a 25% response rate in chemotherapy-naive patients, and 4 complete responses
  • Dr. Reinhartz cited a 1987 Ontario Ministry of Labor report on Holmes Foundry workers in Sarnia who had worked with asbestos, documenting a sixfold increase in lung cancer and a sevenfold increase in respiratory disease mortality
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the conference created a high-profile opportunity for asbestos sufferers to share their experiences

Topics

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

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