The fallout from asbestos

Our plain-English summary of The fallout from asbestos, by G.R. Wagner (Lancet, 2007).

The study

• Author: G.R. Wagner
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 2007;369(9566):973-4
• Type of article: Comment
• Cited by: 10 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

In this Comment, the author discussed an ecological study by Lin and colleagues that analysed the experience of 33 countries. That study showed that national asbestos consumption was followed, after a latent period of 30–40 years, by a proportional number of deaths from mesothelioma and asbestosis. The author noted that other known outcomes of asbestos exposure were not counted: lung cancer, laryngeal tumours and perhaps malignant disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. He described the study's ability to detect the relation with crude national measures of exposure and response as surprising. He observed that the richest countries, which historically used the most asbestos, were now paying the greatest mortality and economic price and were dealing with compensation, citing the UK and the USA. He summarised international action. The European Union had banned asbestos and started a programme to prevent exposure, the International Labour Organization had endorsed a ban in 2006, and at least 40 countries had forbidden or severely restricted new use. He noted that so-called safe use of chrysotile was still promoted and that countries with the least developed worker health protection tended to have the least restrictive policies. He stressed hazards across the whole life cycle of asbestos, including maintenance, renovation, demolition, ship dismantling and waste disposal. He concluded that countries with little historical use could help avoid a future epidemic of asbestos-related deaths by deciding soon to restrict or eliminate asbestos importation and use.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This article was a short commentary, not an original study. The author discussed an ecological study by Lin and colleagues, published in The Lancet in 2007. As the author described it, that study analysed 33 countries and showed that national asbestos consumption, measured as an estimate of consumption per person, was followed after a latent period of 30–40 years by a proportional number of deaths from mesothelioma and asbestosis. The author noted that the study did not count other known outcomes of asbestos exposure: lung cancer, laryngeal tumours, and perhaps malignant disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. The author also described policy developments. The International Labour Organization endorsed a ban in June 2006, and at least 40 countries had forbidden or severely restricted new asbestos use. Meanwhile, so-called safe use of chrysotile asbestos continued to be promoted. The author concluded that countries with the least historical asbestos use could keep that status if they decided soon to restrict or eliminate its importation and use.

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: Commentary (Lancet Comment) on another group's ecological study; no original data
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The comment discussed Lin and colleagues' international ecological analysis of 33 countries.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, including chrysotile. In the study discussed, exposure was measured as estimated national asbestos consumption per person.
• Main results:
  • Not this article's finding: the author reported that Lin and colleagues found national asbestos consumption was followed by proportional numbers of deaths from mesothelioma and asbestosis after a latent period of 30–40 years.
  • The author noted that other known outcomes of asbestos exposure were not counted by Lin and colleagues: lung cancer, laryngeal tumours, and perhaps malignant disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
  • The author stated that at least 40 countries had forbidden or severely restricted new use of asbestos.
  • The author stated that the International Labour Organization endorsed a ban on future asbestos use in June 2006.
  • The author stated that so-called safe use of chrysotile asbestos continued to be promoted.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that Lin and colleagues' findings showed an opportunity to blunt a future epidemic of asbestos-related deaths. Countries with the least historical asbestos use could keep that status if they decided soon to restrict or eliminate importation and use.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Lung Cancer, Chrysotile.

Related studies

• Community health risk assessment after a fire with asbestos containing fallout — S. Bridgman (2001)
• Global mesothelioma deaths reported to the World Health Organization between 1994 and 2008 — V. Delgermaa, K. Takahashi, et al. (2011)
• Epidemiology of lung cancer: looking to the future — A.J. Alberg, M.V. Brock, et al. (2005)
• Malignant mesothelioma: global incidence and relationship with asbestos — C. Bianchi, T. Bianchi (2007)
• Ecological association between asbestos-related diseases and historical asbestos consumption: an international analysis — R.T. Lin, K. Takahashi, et al. (2007)
• The global spread of asbestos — A.L. Frank, T.K. Joshi (2014)

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