Exposure to hazardous asbestos fibers has been linked to several deadly diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. One interesting study is called, “Fiber burden and patterns of asbestos-related disease in workers with heavy mixed amosite and chrysotile exposure” by A Churg and S Vedal - Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. - Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 150, No. 3, Sep 1994, 663-669. Here is an excerpt: “To attempt to determine the mineralogic factors that relate to the appearance of specific types of asbestos-related disease in workers with heavy mixed exposure to amphiboles and chrysotile, we analyzed the pulmonary asbestos fiber burden in a series of 144 shipyard workers and insulators from the Pacific Northwest. Amosite was found in all lungs, and tremolite and chrysotile in most lungs, but the vast majority of fibers were amosite. Tremolite and chrysotile concentrations were significantly correlated, indicating that the tremolite originated from chrysotile products, but no correlation was found between tremolite or chrysotile concentration and amosite concentration. Time since last exposure was correlated with decreasing amosite concentration and the calculated clearance half time was about 20 yr. In a multiple regression analysis that accounted for the presence of more than one disease in many subjects, a high concentration of amosite fibers was correlated with the presence of airway fibrosis and asbestosis, whereas subjects with mesothelioma, lung cancer, pleural plaques, or no asbestos-related disease had about the same, much lower, amosite concentration. No relationship was found between the concentration of chrysotile or tremolite and any disease. Analysis of fiber size measures (length, width, aspect ratio, surface, mass) showed that pleural plaques were strongly associated with high aspect ratio amosite fibers and suggested that mesotheliomas were associated with low aspect ratio amosite fibers.”
Another interesting study is called, “Asbestos in Drinking Water and Cancer Incidence in the San Francisco Bay Area – by Marty S. Kanarek, Paul M. Conforti, Lorene A. Jackson, Robert C. Cooper, and Jack C. Murchio - American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 112, No. 1: 54-72. Here is an excerpt: “Age-adjusted, sex- and race-specific 1969–1971 cancer incidence ratios for the 722 census tracts of the San Francisco-Oakland Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared with measured chrysotile asbestos counts in tract drinking waters. The water supplies serving the area have varying contact with naturally occurring serpentine. The t test for multiple regression coefficients and the t test for correlation coefficients showed significant (p
By: Mont Wrobleski
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