Tobacco and asbestos litigation

Our plain-English summary of Tobacco and asbestos litigation, by K. Anderson, F. Moran (Lancet, 1986).

The study

• Authors: K. Anderson, F. Moran
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1986;2(8514):1038
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001194).

In plain English

This letter to The Lancet, replying to an earlier letter by Dr Goffe, reported preliminary results of a study at the Centre for Respiratory Investigation, Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The study questioned 201 men who had been exposed to asbestos at work, and to varying degrees to cigarette smoke. Of the 201, 121 were certain asbestos had affected their health, 56 were unsure and 24 did not consider their exposure harmful. For smoking, 81 thought cigarettes had been harmful, 26 were unsure and 94 were certain smoking had no effect on them. Asked to name conditions linked to each, 142 (70.6%) named lung cancer for smoking. For asbestos, 71 (35.3%) named asbestosis, 54 named lung cancer and 10 (4.9%) named mesothelioma, while 59 (given in the text as 29.3%) could name none. The authors concluded that these workers were more aware of the risks of smoking. They also said their results did not suggest that public perception or knowledge explained the decline of asbestos. They called the results preliminary.

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: Letter to the editor reporting preliminary results of a survey in which men were asked about their opinions and knowledge of health risks from asbestos and smoking
• Who was studied: 201 men occupationally exposed to asbestos, and to varying degrees to cigarette smoke, studied at the Centre for Respiratory Investigation, Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Dates are not given.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure and cigarette smoking. Fiber types, jobs and doses are not stated.
• Main results:
  • Of the 201 men, 121 were certain asbestos had affected their health, 56 were unsure, and 24 did not consider their exposure harmful
  • Of the 201 men, 81 thought cigarettes had been harmful, 26 were unsure, and 94 were certain smoking had no effect in their case
  • Asked to name conditions related to cigarette smoking, 142 men (70.6%) named lung cancer
  • Asked to name conditions related to asbestos, 71 men (35.3%) named asbestosis
  • Almost one-third of the men (29.3%; 59 men in the table) could not state any complication of asbestos, whereas it was very unusual for a man not to name at least one complication of smoking
  • Mesothelioma was named as an asbestos-related condition by 10 men (4.9%). The authors said awareness of mesothelioma in the area was perhaps less than one might expect.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, despite their earlier opinions on whether asbestos or smoking had harmed them, these workers were more aware of the risks of cigarette smoking. They also concluded that their results did not suggest that public perception or knowledge was responsible for the decline of asbestos.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The results were described as preliminary
  • The authors noted that the men's differing opinions may be related to the type of patient involved

Related studies

• Tobacco and asbestos litigation — T.R. Goffe (1986)
• Perspectives in the development of asbestos litigation and its future implications — A.H. Parnell (1986)
• The Public Health Value of Opioid Litigation — R.L. Haffajee (2020)
• The interactions of tobacco smoking and other agents in cancer etiology — R. Saracci (1987)
• Arsenic, tobacco smoke, and occupation: associations of multiple agents with lung and bladder cancer — C. Ferreccio, Y. Yuan, et al. (2013)
• Asbestos, dental X-rays, tobacco, and alcohol in the epidemiology of laryngeal cancer — M.W. Hinds, D.B. Thomas, et al. (1979)

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