The third wave of asbestos disease: exposure to asbestos in place. Public health control. Introduction

Our plain-English summary of The third wave of asbestos disease: exposure to asbestos in place. Public health control. Introduction, by P.J. Landrigan (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1991).

The study

• Author: P.J. Landrigan
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 1991;643:xv-xvi
• Cited by: 23 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This introduction opened the proceedings of a conference on asbestos in place, held in New York on June 6–8, 1990, under the auspices of the Collegium Ramazzini. The author recalled two earlier New York Academy of Sciences reports, Biological Effects of Asbestos (1965) and Health Hazards of Asbestos Exposure, which documented links between asbestos exposure and asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. He described a first phase of asbestos disease among workers in mining, milling and product manufacture, recognized from the 1920s. A second phase occurred among people who used asbestos products. A potential third phase could affect people repairing, renovating or demolishing ageing buildings containing asbestos, and building users such as school children, office workers and maintenance workers. He stated that epidemiologic studies had shown that all forms of asbestos could cause these diseases, in a positive dose-response relationship with cumulative exposure, and that even short-term or low-level exposures posed risk. He cited an estimate of 30,000 to 50,000 premature deaths in New York State by the end of the century from occupational exposures before 1980. He also cited a projection of about 1,000 cases of mesothelioma and lung cancer over the next 30 years among people exposed to asbestos in school buildings as children. The conference was called to better understand the consequences of low-level exposure. The author argued that carefully reviewed scientific information offered the best basis for meeting this challenge.

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 is the introduction to the proceedings of a conference held in New York on June 6, 7 and 8, 1990, under the Collegium Ramazzini. It is not a research study and reports no new data. The author described a first phase of asbestos disease among workers who mined, milled and manufactured asbestos, and a second among users of asbestos products. The author wrote that a third phase could arise as buildings made with asbestos age and deteriorate. It could affect people repairing, renovating or demolishing them, and users such as school children and office workers. The author gave an unsourced estimate of 30,000 to 50,000 premature deaths in New York State by the century's end from occupational exposures before 1980. The author also cited a projection by the Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It projected about 1,000 cases of mesothelioma and lung cancer over the next 30 years among persons in the United States exposed to asbestos in school buildings as school children. The author wrote the conference aimed to better address low-level exposure.

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: Introduction to conference proceedings (commentary; no original research)
• Who was studied: No population was studied. The author described groups at potential risk from asbestos in buildings: people repairing, renovating and demolishing buildings, and residents, tenants and users such as school children, office workers, maintenance workers and the general public.
• Exposure: Asbestos in place in buildings constructed with asbestos that are aging and deteriorating; low-level and short-term exposures
• Main results:
  • Background statement by the author, not a finding of this article: the first phase of asbestos disease was among workers in mining, milling and manufacture of asbestos products.
  • Background statement by the author, not a finding of this article: the second phase was among persons who used asbestos products.
  • Background statement by the author, not a finding of this article: even very short-term and/or low-level exposures pose risk.
  • Estimate stated by the author, with no source given in this text: 30,000 to 50,000 premature deaths in New York State by the end of the century from occupational asbestos exposures before 1980.
  • Projection attributed by the author to the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: about 1,000 cases of mesothelioma and lung cancer over the next 30 years among persons in the United States exposed to asbestos in school buildings as school children.
  • The conference was held in New York on June 6, 7 and 8, 1990, under the Collegium Ramazzini, to better address low-level exposure and its possible consequences.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that carefully analyzed and reviewed scientific information offers the best chance of deciding how to meet this next challenge from a public health point of view.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Collegium Ramazzini, Asbestos Exposure, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Dose-response relationship, Cumulative Exposure, Occupational Exposure.

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• The Third Wave of Asbestos Disease: Exposure to Asbestos in Place--Public Health Control. Conference. New York, New York, June 7-9, 1990 — (1991)
• Public health control of environmental asbestos disease: consumer products — B.H. Franklin (1979)
• Asbestos-related diseases in Italy: epidemiologic evidences and public health issues — P. Comba, E. Merler, et al. (2005)
• The Public Health Value of Opioid Litigation — R.L. Haffajee (2020)
• Asbestos in the air of public buildings: a public health risk? — J. Whysner, V.T. Covello, et al. (1994)
• The art of perpetuating a public health hazard — M. Greenberg (2005)

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