Why pretend that "non-asbestos" fibrous silicates are not "asbestos"?

Our plain-English summary of Why pretend that "non-asbestos" fibrous silicates are not "asbestos"?, by T.L. Guidotti (Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2013).

The study

• Author: T.L. Guidotti
• Journal: Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health
• Published: 2013;68(4):187-9
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article is an editorial by the journal's editor-in-chief, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The author argued that the definition of asbestos is arbitrary. In the author's view, it covers six commercially used fibrous silicates but leaves out similar minerals, so that exposures equivalent to asbestos go essentially unregulated. Drawing on earlier published work, the author pointed to Libby mineral, which contaminates vermiculite in Libby, Montana, and was described as mimicking the effects of tremolite with high potency. The author also pointed to fibrous zeolites such as fibrous erionite, described as probably more toxic than crocidolite. Fibrous mordenite was described as seeming less toxic in animal studies but having disturbing effects on cells in laboratory tests. The author stated that there are approximately 70 such minerals. The author proposed that, for regulatory purposes, nonvitreous fibrous silicates simply be deemed asbestos until evidence showed lower toxicity. The author expected this was unlikely to happen, partly because natural sources are difficult or impossible to control at mandated exposure levels.

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 (opinion piece); no original data
• Exposure: Fibrous silicates not legally defined as asbestos, including Libby mineral (similar to tremolite, varying to fibrous winchite, richterite and magnesioriebeckite), fibrous zeolites such as fibrous erionite, and fibrous mordenite, discussed against the six minerals called asbestos (chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, tremolite, actinolite)
• Main results:
  • The author argued that the definition of asbestos is arbitrary
  • The author stated that exposures equivalent to asbestos exposure go essentially unregulated
  • The author stated, citing earlier work, that Libby mineral mimics the effects of tremolite with high potency
  • The author stated, citing earlier work, that fibrous zeolites such as fibrous erionite are highly toxic, probably more so than crocidolite
  • The author stated, citing earlier work, that fibrous mordenite seems less toxic in animal studies but has disturbing cytotoxic properties in vitro
  • The author stated there are approximately 70 such non-asbestos fibrous silicates among natural minerals
  • The author expected the proposal was unlikely to be adopted, partly because natural sources are hard to control at mandated exposure levels
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, for regulatory purposes, nonvitreous fibrous silicates should simply be deemed asbestos and regulated under asbestos standards, in keeping with the wording of the National Academy of Sciences definition, until evidence showed lower toxicity

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Silicate.

Related studies

• International symposium on the health hazard evaluation of fibrous particles associated with taconite and the adjacent duluth complex. Introduction — R.P. Nolan (2008)
• Rat lung reactivity to natural and man-made fibrous silicates following short-term exposure — I. Lemaire, P.G. Dionne, et al. (1989)
• CT patterns of pleuro-pulmonary damage caused by inhalation of pumice as a model of pneumoconiosis from non-fibrous amorphous silicates — C. Costa, G. Ascenti, et al. (2016)
• Bilateral environmental and occupational health program with India — M. Allred, S. Campolucci, et al. (2003)
• The export of hazardous industries in 2015 — B. Castleman (2016)
• Preparation and characteristics of a calcium magnesium silicate (bredigite) bioactive ceramic — C. Wu, J. Chang, et al. (2005)

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