A study in the March 2009 Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests textile workers were exposed to chrysotile asbestos in at least four plants in North Carolina.
The purpose of the study was to describe mortality among workers exposed to chrysotile asbestos and evaluate the relationship between lung cancer and asbestos fiber exposure.
Workers employed for at least 1 day between January 1950 and December 1973 in any of four plants in North Carolina that produced asbestos textile products were included. Historical exposures to asbestos fibers were estimated from work histories and 3578 industrial hygiene measurements were taken from 1935–1986.
Follow-up of 5770 workers included in the cohort resulted in 2583 deaths from all causes and 277 from lung cancer. Mortality from all causes, all cancers and lung cancer was significant higher than expected. The risk of lung cancer and asbestosis increased with cumulative exposure.
Conclusion? More evidence that exposure to chrysotile asbestos in textile manufacturing is associated with increased risk of lung cancer, asbestosis cancer of the pleura and mesothelioma.
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