Quoted from http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/20/oemed-2011-100229.abstract

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Lung cancer mortality in North Carolina and South Carolina chrysotile asbestos textile workers

• Accepted 9 December 2011
• Published Online First 20 January 2012

Abstract

Objectives Studies of workers in two US cohorts of asbestos textile workers exposed to chrysotile (North Carolina (NC) and South Carolina (SC)) found increasing risk of lung cancer mortality with cumulative fibre exposure. However, the risk appeared to increase more steeply in SC, possibly due to differences in study methods. The authors conducted pooled analyses of the cohorts and investigated the exposure-disease relationship using uniform cohort inclusion criteria and statistical methods.

Methods Workers were included after 30days of employment in a production job during qualifying years, and vital status ascertained through 2003 (2001 for SC). Poisson regression was used to estimate the exposure-response relationship between asbestos and lung cancer, using both exponential and linear relative rate models adjusted for age, sex, race, birth cohort and decade of follow-up.

Results The cohort included 6136 workers, contributing 218?631 person-years of observation and 3356 deaths. Cumulative exposures at the four study facilities varied considerably. The pooled relative rate for lung cancer, comparing 100f-yr/ml to 0f-yr/ml, was 1.11 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.16) for the combined cohort, with different effects in the NC cohort (RR=1.10, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.16) and the SC cohort (RR=1.67, 95% CI 1.44 to 1.93).

Conclusions Increased rates of lung cancer were significantly associated with cumulative fibre exposure overall and in both the Carolina asbestos-textile cohorts. Previously reported differences in exposure-response between the cohorts do not appear to be related to inclusion criteria or analytical methods.

 

Quoted from http://thorax.bmj.com/content/67/2/98.extract

The asbestos disease epidemic: here today, here tomorrow

 

Thorax 2012;67:98-99 doi:10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-201180

• Editorial

1. Paul Cullinan1,
2. Neil Pearce2

+ Author Affiliations

1. 1Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, London, UK
2. 2Epidemiology and Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

1. Correspondence to Dr Paul Cullinan, Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, 1b Manresa Road, London SW3 6LR, UK; p.cullinan@imperial.ac.uk

 

In what may be the best ever use of a Wellcome grant, Geoffrey Tweedale, in his fascinating history of the multinational asbestos company Turner & Newall,1 reminds us that asbestos was once known as the ‘magic mineral’. Indeed, in many ways, it is the ideal construction material: tough, durable, light in weight, fire-resistant and very cheap. Unfortunately, asbestos is also, as every respiratory physician knows, highly toxic when inhaled. Total bans on its use are in place in 52 countries including those of the European Union, Australia, Japan and South Africa2; and its use is tightly restricted in the USA, New Zealand and Canada—the last, ironically, among the world’s largest exporters of the material.

Readers from these countries may be surprised to learn that elsewhere the production, sale and use of asbestos continue to flourish and even increase. In 1994, one of us (NP) edited a book3 on occupational cancer in developing countries for the International Agency for Research on Cancer and reported that global asbestos production and use had not declined; rather, the problem was simply being moved from Western countries to emergent economies. Unhappily, the situation has not improved in the intervening 17years. In India, for example, the use of asbestos has doubled in the last decade to about 300?000 tonnes a year by an industry that now employs an estimated 100?000 workers.4 Other major users include China, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. In these parts of the world, where occupational exposures may be difficult to control and enforce, the great majority of asbestos …

[Full text of this article]

Quoted from http://annhyg.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/1/55.abstract

Asbestos-Related Diseases in Automobile Mechanics

Abstract

 

Purpose: Automobile mechanics have been exposed to asbestos in the past, mainly due to the presence of chrysotile asbestos in brakes and clutches. Despite the large number of automobile mechanics, little is known about the non-malignant respiratory diseases observed in this population. The aim of this retrospective multicenter study was to analyse the frequency of pleural and parenchymal abnormalities on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in a population of automobile mechanics.

Methods: The study population consisted of 103 automobile mechanics with no other source of occupational exposure to asbestos, referred to three occupational health departments in the Paris area for systematic screening of asbestos-related diseases. All subjects were examined by HRCT and all images were reviewed separately by two independent readers; who in the case of disagreement discussed until they reached agreement. Multiple logistic regression models were constructed to investigate factors associated with pleural plaques.

Results: Pleural plaques were observed in five cases (4.9%) and interstitial abnormalities consistent with asbestosis were observed in one case. After adjustment for age, smoking status, and a history of non-asbestos-related respiratory diseases, multiple logistic regression models showed a significant association between the duration of exposure to asbestos and pleural plaques.

Conclusions: The asbestos exposure experienced by automobile mechanics may lead to pleural plaques. The low prevalence of non-malignant asbestos-related diseases, using a very sensitive diagnostic tool, is in favor of a low cumulative exposure to asbestos in this population of workers.

Quoted from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/canadas-chronic-asbestos-problem/article2243428/

Canada’s chronic asbestos problem

John Gray and Stephanie Nolen

From Friday’s Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 11:07AM EST

Last updated Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 1:48PM EST

For a place of modest size, Asbestos has made an impressive imprint on the Canadian psyche. In 1949, the Asbestos Strike—which took place at the mines in Asbestos and nearby Thetford Mines—helped to usher in the Quiet Revolution that shaped the modern Quebec. And in 2011, the place’s eponymous product is giving a black eye to Canada’s international reputation as a fair dealer.

More related to this story

• Growing number of Tories question Harper’s position on asbestos
• WHO rebukes would-be Quebec asbestos magnate
• Canada’s asbestos industry strikes back at critics in high-stakes PR battle

Most of the world, including the medical community, agrees that asbestos is desperately dangerous. The World Health Organization reports that more than 100,000 people die every year from lung cancer and other respiratory diseases due to asbestos exposure. And many more will die, because 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in their workplaces today and every day.

No surprise, then, that the stuff is effectively banned in Canada. And a surprise, to observers, that Canada exports it to other countries, most notoriously India, where public-health regimes are less vigorous than in Canada.

But that fact is no more mysterious than two forces that are as well known in India as they are in Canada. One is the power of supply and demand. The other is the vacuum of political indifference.

[Article continues at original source]

 

Quoted from http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Politics/20111120/more-tories-uneasy-with-government-position-on-asbestos-111120/

More Tories uneasy with gov’t position on asbestos

The Canadian Press

Date: Sunday Nov. 20, 2011 9:05 PM ET

A growing number of Conservative MPs are questioning their government’s position on the export of asbestos, with a group of them independently summoning industry experts to a meeting on Parliament Hill last week.

Solid caucus discipline has been one of Stephen Harper’s political achievements over six years in power. While open revolt over asbestos hasn’t erupted, clear faultlines over government resistance to having the substance listed as hazardous internationally suggest the prime minister may be forced to deal with a rare case of internal dissent.

The first public cracks in the Conservative party line came on Nov. 1, when five Tory MPs broke ranks and abstained from an NDP vote that would have banned asbestos exports.

That was followed last Monday with a private Parliament Hill meeting that saw about a dozen Conservative parliamentarians ask some pointed questions of the Chrysotile Institute and industry scientists over several hours.

British Columbia MP Mark Warawa, who has expressed his concerns about asbestos in the past, organized the meeting. He said in an interview that he is simply looking for more facts.

[Article continues at original source]

Quoted from http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/call-for-tv-asbestos-warnings/story-e6frfku0-1226192146140

Call for TV asbestos warnings

• From: AAP
• November 11, 2011 8:06AM

ASBESTOS warnings should be broadcast by all television networks during home renovation programs, says the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (ADFA) says.

The call comes after the Nine Network announced it would broadcast warnings about the dangers of asbestos on The Block.

“We’ve been worried for some time that the home renovation craze could produce a second wave of asbestos-related illness, so Channel Nine’s decision is absolutely vital,” ADFA president Barry Robson said in a statement today.

“The other networks need to show a similar level of responsibility.”

Unions NSW has also welcomed Nine’s decision.

“There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, and Channel Nine’s decision is crucially important,” Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon said in a statement.

Seven hundred Australians die every year from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.