CONTEXT Occupational and environmental exposures to asbestos remain a public health problem even in developed countries. Because of the long latency in asbestos-related pathology, past asbestos exposure continues to contribute to incident disease. Asbestos most commonly produces pulmonary pathology, with asbestos-related pleural disease as the most common manifestation. Although the pleurae and...

In an update by Checkoway et al. (1) of mortality among diatomaceous earth workers, asbestos exposure misclassification and asbestos-silica interactions may have influenced study results and interpretation. In a reanalysis (2) of the original cohort mortality study to examine confounding by asbestos exposure, workers employed before 1930 were excluded because asbestos was definitely used in the...

Industrial hygiene surveys and epidemiologic studies of auto mechanics have shown that these workers are not at an increased risk of asbestos-related disease; however, concerns continue to be raised regarding asbestos exposure from asbestos-containing brakes. Handling new asbestos-containing brake components has recently been suggested as a potential source of asbestos exposure. A simulation st...

We have read the recently published article under an interesting title " Environmentally Related Diseases and the Possibility of Valuation of Their Social Costs " by I. Hajok et al. [1], the main objective of which was " to estimate the risks of the morbidity of the asbestos-related lung cancer in the general population of Poles as the result of increased exposure to asbestos fibers which occur...

What is the evidence that exposure to asbestos causes colon cancer? This weight-of-evidence review considers epidemiologic evidence from cohort studies of asbestos-exposed workers, case-control studies of colon cancer, animal bioassays, and other corroborative evidence. The major evidence for a causal association at high exposure is a combined colorectal standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 1....

Air quality in underground spaces has seldom been evaluated in Korea. Accordingly, the current study recently evaluated asbestos exposure among Seoul metropolitan subway workers during the renovation of the subway's air-conditioning system. To identify possible routes of asbestos exposure, suspected sources, including gaskets, ceiling boards, ceiling materials, and dust settled inside ducts, we...

OBJECTIVE We sought to estimate the lifetime risk of asbestos-related cancer for residents of Lower Manhattan attributable to asbestos released into the air by the 9/11 attack on New York City's World Trade Center (WTC). METHODS Exposure was estimated from available data and reasoned projections based on these data. Cancer risk was assessed using an asbestos risk model that differentiates asb...

BACKGROUND This study analysed the humoral immune response in asbestos exposed lung cancer patients to identify new surrogate markers of the carcinogenic risk in populations exposed to asbestos. METHODS AND RESULTS A serological analysis identified five distinct antigens reactive with IgG derived from a lung cancer patient with high asbestos exposure. In one of the isolated antigens, quantita...

OBJECTIVE To describe the occupational background of cases with an asbestos-related disease and to present overall mesothelioma risks across industries with historical exposure to asbestos. METHODS For the period 1990-2000, cases were collected from records held by two law firms. Information on jobs held, previous employers, activities performed and specific products used were obtained from p...

OBJECTIVES The study aimed to evaluate the risk of pleural plaques according to the degree of past exposure to asbestos, type of amphibole asbestos, and smoking, as well as to estimate the aetiologic fraction of asbestos as a cause of plaques among urban men. METHODS The occurrence and extent of pleural plaques were recorded at necropsies of 288 urban men aged 33 to 69 years. The pulmonary co...