Recently, the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the Societies of Epidemiology (SE), a consortium of national and international epide‑ miologic societies and organizations, released a statement calling for the global ban of asbestos use (JPC‑SE 2012). This is not the first such call for an international ban (Collegium Ramazzini 2010), but it is a signi‑ fi cant one because it is endorsed by 10 mem...

Lung asbestos burden was compared with exposure indices derived from job history interviews in 42 male subjects originating from the Montréal Case-Control Study project, 12 of whom had documented asbestos exposed job histories. Job interview data consisting of a chronological timetable of job histories were translated into detailed exposure indices by an expert group of hygienists and chemists....

Many asbestiform minerals exhibit temperature-dependent thermoluminescence. Since thermoluminescence involves electronic transitions within crystalline materials, the effect of temperature on asbestos cytotoxicity was evaluated. Heat pretreatment of Canadian chrysotile asbestos reduces its cytotoxicity towards cultured human fibroblasts and bovine alveolar macrophages. When monitored 44 hr afte...

The objectives of this study was to review many epidemiological risk factors on the occurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma among occupational and nonoccupational asbestos-exposed men and women mentioned in several previous studies. Asbestos exposure is a well-documented etiological factor of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The majority of cases are men and only 40% of female cases are occ...

The pathogenesis of asbestos-related lung diseases is complicated and still poorly understood. Studies on animal models and cell cultures have indicated that asbestos fibres generate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and cause oxidation and/or nitrosylation of proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid as a marker of cell injury. These effects are potentiated by the inflammation caused by the fibres...

In Poland, the use of asbestos was banned in 1997 and asbestos plants have been closed since then. Despite their closure, cases of asbestos-related occupational diseases among former asbestos workers are still being recorded in the Central Register of Occupational Diseases. Between 2001 and 2014, there were 2726 asbestos-related illnesses, classified and reported as diseases associated with occ...

Asbestos is an important occupational and environmental toxicant that affects several cell types in the respiratory tract. In an effort to understand how asbestos causes cell injury and/or altered proliferation and differentiation of cells, this laboratory has focused on reactive oxygen species as mediators of asbestos-induced biological effects. A compendium of experimental results reported by...

An Italian appeal court has increased the sentence of two leading asbestos industrialists from sixteen to eighteen years in prison for criminal conduct in covering up the hazards of asbestos. Yet, unbelievably, at the May 2013 meeting of the UN Rotterdam Convention, Russia perpetuated the same deadly deception in order to export asbestos, while covering up its hazards. What is shocking is that ...

BACKGROUND Malignant mesothelioma is a rare pleural tumour associated with asbestos exposure. The proportion of malignant mesothelioma unrelated to asbestos exposure, and any differentiating features between exposed and unexposed cases, are not well described. This study describes occupational, clinical, and pathological features in a large cohort of cases of malignant mesothelioma from south e...

UNLABELLED To elucidate the features of the asbestos fibers contributing to the induction of human malignant mesothelioma, we used high-resolution analytical electron microscopy to determine the type, number, and dimensions of asbestos fibers in lung and mesothelial tissues in 168 cases of mesothelioma. RESULTS 1. Asbestos fibers were present in almost all of the lung and mesothelial tissues ...