The cell transforming ability of asbestos dusts was investigated using C3H10T1/2 murine fibroblasts. In a series of experiments, crocidolite and amosite caused no increase in the number of transformed colonies over that seen in cultures from untreated cells. The dusts were, however, capable of augmenting the oncogenic effect of benzo(a)pyrene. This synergistic effect was evident when fibers and...

There has been speculation that the ingestion of asbestos in food and drinking water may play some role in the etiology of cancer of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. An important question in the evaluation of the possible human cancer risk associated with asbestos ingestion is whether fibers can penetrate into and through the GI tract in sufficient numbers to cause adverse systemic or local eff...

Asbestos is the generic commercial designation for a group of naturally occurring mineral silicate fibres of the serpentine and amphibole series. These include the serpentine mineral chrysotile (also known as ‘white asbestos’), and the five amphibole minerals – actinolite, amosite (also known as ‘brown asbestos’), anthophyllite, crocidolite (also known as ‘blue asbestos’), and tremolite (IARC, ...