The discovery of mesothelioma on South Africa's asbestos fields

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 16, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 419-436

  Mcculloch, Jock ^a  

^a RMIT UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Asbestos; Asbestosis; Dr J. C. Wagner; Mesothelioma; Mining; South Africa

Indexed keywords

EID: 4043100493     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/16.3.419     Document Type: Review

References (96)

1. K. McConnochie, obituary of John Christopher Wagner, 'His Groundbreaking Research Linked Asbestos with Cancer and Changed the World of Work for Millions', Guardian (London), 1 July 2000. See also Independent, 4 July 2000, Daily Telegraph, 11 July 2000.
2. K. McConnochie, obituary of John Christopher Wagner, 'His Groundbreaking Research Linked Asbestos with Cancer and Changed the World of Work for Millions', Guardian (London), 1 July 2000. See also Independent, 4 July 2000, Daily Telegraph, 11 July 2000.
3. K. McConnochie, obituary of John Christopher Wagner, 'His Groundbreaking Research Linked Asbestos with Cancer and Changed the World of Work for Millions', Guardian (London), 1 July 2000. See also Independent, 4 July 2000, Daily Telegraph, 11 July 2000.
4. See, for example, G. Tweedale, Magic Mineral to Killer Dust: Turner & Newall and the Asbestos Hazard (Oxford, 2000). This is the first full-length history of an asbestos company which shows clearly the industry's response to medical knowledge. See also P. Bartrip, The Way to Dusty Death: Turner & Newall and the regulation of Occupational Health in the British Asbestos Industry 1890s-1970 (London, 2001).
5. See, for example, G. Tweedale, Magic Mineral to Killer Dust: Turner & Newall and the Asbestos Hazard (Oxford, 2000). This is the first full-length history of an asbestos company which shows clearly the industry's response to medical knowledge. See also P. Bartrip, The Way to Dusty Death: Turner & Newall and the regulation of Occupational Health in the British Asbestos Industry 1890s-1970 (London, 2001).
6. H. M. Murray, Department Committee on Compensation for Industrial Diseases, Minutes of Evidence, London: Wyman and Sons, 1907, pp. 127-8.
7. W. E. Cooke, 'Fibrosis of the Lungs due to the Inhalation of Asbestos Dust', British Medical Journal, 26 July 1924, vol. 2, 147.
8. These include T. Oliver, 'Clinical Aspects of Pulmonary Asbestosis', British Medical Journal, 3 December 1927, vol. 3, 1026-7; F. W. Simson, 'Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa', British Medical Journal, 26 May 1928, vol. 1, 885.
9. These include T. Oliver, 'Clinical Aspects of Pulmonary Asbestosis', British Medical Journal, 3 December 1927, vol. 3, 1026-7; F. W. Simson, 'Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa', British Medical Journal, 26 May 1928, vol. 1, 885.
10. W. B. Wood, 'Pulmonary Asbestosis', British Journal of Radiology, 7 (1934), 277-80.
11. E. R. A. Merewether and C. W. Price, Report on the Effects of Asbestos Dust on the Lungs and Dust Suppression in the Asbestos Industry: Part I Occurrence of Pulmonary Fibrosis and other Pulmonary Affliction in Asbestosis Workers: Part II: Processes Giving Rise to Dust and Method for its Suppression (London, 1930).
12. Ibid., p. 9.
13. Ibid., p. 11.
14. Tweedale, Magic Mineral, p. 142.
15. For a brief discussion of Nordmann, see B. Castleman, Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, 4th edn (New Jersey, 1996), p. 51.
16. For an intriguing account of occupational health and safety legislation in Nazi Germany, see R. Proctor, The Nazi War on Cancer (New Jersey, 1999), pp. 107-13.
17. Castleman, Asbestos, p. 74.
18. H. Wyers, 'Asbestosis', Postgraduate Medical Journal, 25 (1949), 631-8.
19. E. R. A. Merewether, Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories, 1947 (London, 1949), p. 66-81.
20. See R. Doll, 'Mortality from Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers', British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 12 (1955), 81-6; S. Roodhouse Gloyne, 'Pneumoconiosis: A Histological Survey of Necropsy Material in 1205 Cases', Lancet, 1 (1951), 810-14; L. Breslow et al., 'Occupations and Cigarette Smoking as Factors in Lung Cancer', American Journal of Public Health, 44 (1954), 171-81.
21. See R. Doll, 'Mortality from Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers', British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 12 (1955), 81-6; S. Roodhouse Gloyne, 'Pneumoconiosis: A Histological Survey of Necropsy Material in 1205 Cases', Lancet, 1 (1951), 810-14; L. Breslow et al., 'Occupations and Cigarette Smoking as Factors in Lung Cancer', American Journal of Public Health, 44 (1954), 171-81.
22. See R. Doll, 'Mortality from Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers', British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 12 (1955), 81-6; S. Roodhouse Gloyne, 'Pneumoconiosis: A Histological Survey of Necropsy Material in 1205 Cases', Lancet, 1 (1951), 810-14; L. Breslow et al., 'Occupations and Cigarette Smoking as Factors in Lung Cancer', American Journal of Public Health, 44 (1954), 171-81.
23. For a brief account of Wilfred-Wedler's work, see Proctor, The Nazi War on Cancer, p. 111.
24. G. M. Bonser, J. S. Faulds, and M. J. Stewart, 'Occupational Cancer of the Urinary Bladder in Dyestuffs Operatives and of the Lung in Asbestos Textile Workers and Iron-ore Miners', American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 25 (1955), 126-34.
25. See I. Webster, 'Methods by which Mesothelioma can be Diagnosed', in H. W. Glen (ed.), Asbestos Symposium (Johannesburg, 1978), 3-8.
26. Crocidolite and amosite are known as amphiboles.
27. For a history of mining, see J. McCulloch, Asbestos Blues: Labour, Capital, Physicians and the State in South Africa (Oxford, 2002).
28. See Annual Report Department of Mines for the year ending 31 December 1960 (Pretoria, 1961), p. 40.
29. Young mine-workers with no previous exposure were contracting asbestosis after less than 6 months employment at Cape mines. See Report on Health Conditions at Asbestos Mines to Pietersburg, Dr G. B.Peacock, Assistant Health Officer, June 1952, NTS 2258 695/280, vol. 1.
30. See F. W. Simson, 'Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa', The British Medical Journal, 26 May 1928, vol. 1, 885-7.
31. Slade does not identify the mine but it was almost certainly T & N's New Amianthus. See G. F. Slade, 'The Incidence of Respiratory Disability in Workers Employed in Asbestos Mining with Special Reference to the Type of Disability Caused by the Inhalation of Asbestos Dust' (unpublished MD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1930).
32. Interview with Ian Webster, 3 December 1997, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
33. See J. McCulloch, Asbestos: Its Human Cost (St Lucia, 1986).
34. See Report on the Progress of Mesothelioma Survey as at 30th April 1962, Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, unpublished NCOH Papers.
35. 'Kimberley's Fight Against Tuberculosis', Diamond Fields Advertiser, 29 April 1948.
36. 'Kimberley's Fight'.
37. Interview with Bill Harrison, 15 October 1999, Killara, Sydney.
38. For details of his biography, see P. Marchand, 'In Memoriam: Christopher "Kit" Sleggs', The South African Medical Journal, 72 (21 November 1987), p. 728; idem, 'The Discovery of Mesothelioma in the North-western Cape Province in the Republic of South Africa', The American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 19 (1991), 241-6.
39. For details of his biography, see P. Marchand, 'In Memoriam: Christopher "Kit" Sleggs', The South African Medical Journal, 72 (21 November 1987), p. 728; idem, 'The Discovery of Mesothelioma in the North-western Cape Province in the Republic of South Africa', The American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 19 (1991), 241-6.
40. Interview with Kathleen Sleggs, 20 November 1998, Clovelly, Cape Town.
41. C. A. Sleggs, P. Marchand, and C. Wagner, 'Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma in South Africa', The South African Medical Journal, 35 (1961), 28-34.
42. In 1983, Leibman's wife also died of mesothelioma. See Marchand, 'Discovery of Mesothelioma', p. 246.
43. See J. C. Wagner, The Pathology of Asbestosis in South Africa (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1962), p. 71.
44. Wagner, Pathology of Asbestosis, p. 71.
45. See Marchand, 'In Memoriam', p. 728.
46. Interview with Kathleen Sleggs, 20 November 1998, Clovelly, Cape Town.
47. Wagner, Pathology of Asbestosis, pp. 69-70.
48. Marchand, 'Discovery of Mesothelioma'.
49. Interview with Ian Webster, 3 December 1997, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
50. Interview with Dr Chris Wagner, 22 March 1998, Weymouth, Dorset.
51. J. C. Wagner, Memorandum: Visit to Head Offices of Cape Blue Asbestos Company, Johannesburg, 30 September 1958. General Arrangements. The MS Survey Files, 1201/1 NCOH Papers.
52. Interview with Dr Chris Wagner. In his Ph.D. thesis he confirms that the first case in the series was from 1956. The subject was a black male, thought to have tuberculosis and emphysema. The autopsy showed pleural mesothelioma which was identified by Professor B. Becker. There was also evidence of asbestosis and asbestos fibres in the lungs. See Wagner, Pathology of Asbestosis, pp. 69-70.
53. Interview with Ian Webster, 3 December 1997, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
54. Cobbing was the hand processing of asbestos, which was always done by women.
55. It is clear from his correspondence with Ian Webster at the PRU, and from his personal papers, that Sleggs never accepted the idea that mesothelioma was a primary form of cancer.
56. Interview with Dr Chris Wagner, 1998. The PRU's Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 1958, tells us that, during his sabbatical leave in Europe, Wagner spoke with Dr J. F. Knox, at Turner Brothers Asbestos Factory at Rochdale, and with officers at the Cape Blue Asbestos factory at Barking. It is almost certain that at Barking he spoke with Cape's senior medical officer, Walter Smither. See The Pneumoconiosis Research Unit Annual Report for the year 1st April, 1957 to 31 March, 1958, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
57. See R.A. Willis, Pathology of Tumours, 4th edn (London, 1967). See also Castleman, Asbestos, p. 125.
58. See R.A. Willis, Pathology of Tumours, 4th edn (London, 1967). See also Castleman, Asbestos, p. 125.
59. I. Selikoff and D. Lee, Asbestos and Disease (New York, 1978), p. 243.
60. Interview with Paul Marchand, 29 November 1997, Bedford, Mpumalanga.
61. Marchand, 'Discovery of Mesothelioma', p. 243.
62. Interview with Roy Baragawanath, 3 December 1999, Pietersburg.
63. M. A. Felix, 'Environmental Asbestos and Respiratory Disease in South Africa' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of the Witwatersand, 1997), p. 20.
64. C. A. Sleggs, 'Clinical Aspects of Asbestosis in the Northern Cape', in A. J. Orenstein (ed.), Proceedings of the Pneumoconiosis Conference held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 9-24 February 1959 (London, 1960), 383-90.
65. J. C. Wagner, 'Some Pathological Aspects of Asbestosis', in Orenstein (ed.), Proceedings of the Pneumoconiosis Conference, 373-81, p. 378.
66. Interview with Ian Webster, 3 December 1997, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
67. The paper was submitted in April 1960. See J. C. Wagner, C. A. Sleggs, and P. Marchand, 'Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure in the North West Cape Province', The British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 17 (1960), 260-5.
68. R. Murray, Asbestos: A Chronology of its Origins and Health Effects (Guildford, 1989), p. 5.
69. J. C. Wagner, 'Epidemiology of Diffuse Mesothelial Tumours: Evidence of an Association from Studies in South Africa and the United Kingdom', in H. E. Whipple (ed.), Biological Effects of Asbestos: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 132 (31 December 1965), 575-8, p. 576.
70. This was suggested to me by Professor Tony Davies who, for more than a decade, directed a tuberculosis eradication programme in Zimbabwe. Interview with Professor Tony Davies, 21 November 1998, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
71. See Marchand, 'Discovery of Mesothelioma', pp. 241-6.
72. See C. A. Sleggs, P. Marchand, and C. Wagner, 'Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma in South Africa', The South African Medical Journal, 35 (1961), 28-34.
73. According to Ian Webster, Chris Sleggs believed that plastic pleurisy developed in tuberculosis patients in the northern Cape, and that interaction with dust produced mesothelioma. See I. Webster, 'Mesotheliomatous Tumours in South Africa: Pathology and Experimental Pathology', in Whipple (ed.), Biological Effects of Asbestos, 623-46. This is also borne out by Sleggs' personal correspondence.
74. Interview with Ian Webster, 4 December 1997, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
75. Report on the Progress of Mesothelioma Survey as at 30th April 1962, Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, unpublished, p. 2. NCOH Papers.
76. Report on the visit to Prieska, J. C. Wagner and C. A. Sleggs, 24-26 October 1960: General Arrangements, The MS Survey Files, 1201/1 NCOH Papers.
77. The final version did not appear until July 1964.
78. Papers at the NCOH show that there were four cases, not three, as stated in the interim report. One case was deleted after protest from industry representatives. See Report on the Progress of Mesothelioma Survey, 1962, p. 2.
79. Ibid., pp. 3-4.
80. Ibid., p. 4.
81. See Merewether and Price, Report, pp. 7, 10.
82. Pneumoconiosis Research Unit Annual report for the year ending 31st March 1963, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Johannesburg.
83. Pneumoconiosis Research Unit Annual Report for the Year ending 31st March 1962, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Johannesburg.
84. Covering letter from I. G. Walters, Director of the PRU, 23 June 1964, in Field Survey in the North-west Cape and at Penge in the Transvaal, (Asbestosis and Mesothelioma) Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Report No 1/64 South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Johannesburg, 1964. NCOH Papers.
85. Interviews with Dr Bill Harrison, Killara, Sydney, 15 October 1999, and Dr Jennifer Tallent at Fish Hoek, South Africa, 16 December 1999. See J. M. Tallent, W. O. Harrison, A. Solomon, and I. Webster, 'A Survey of Black Mineworkers of the Cape Crocidolite Mines', in J. C. Wagner (ed.), Biological Effects of Mineral Fibres, vol. 2, IARC Scientific Publications, no. 30, International Agency for Research into Cancer (Lyons, 1980), 723-9.
86. See McCulloch, Asbestos Blues.
87. Tweedale, Magic Mineral, p. 155.
88. W. J. Smither, Visit to South Africa (Barking, 1962), NCOH Papers, p. 44.
89. In the period from 1954 to 1966, it represented less than 7 per cent of UK asbestos imports. See Ministry of Labour and HM Factory Inspectorate, Problems Arising from the Use of Asbestos (London, 1967), p. 7.
90. Interview with Ian Webster, 4 December 1997. Webster's claims are supported by correspondence currently held at the NCOH. See NCOH Papers.
91. Interview with Dr Chris Wagner, 22 March 1998, Weymouth, Dorset.
92. I b i d.
93. See D. Rosner and G. Markovitz, Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the Politics of Occupational Diseases in Twentieth-Century America (Princeton, 1987).
94. See Tweedale, Magic Mineral; D. Rosner and G. Markovitz (eds), Dying for Work: Workers Safety and Health in Twentieth-century America (Bloomington, 1987); idem, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (Berkeley, 2002).
95. See Tweedale, Magic Mineral; D. Rosner and G. Markovitz (eds), Dying for Work: Workers Safety and Health in Twentieth-century America (Bloomington, 1987); idem, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (Berkeley, 2002).
96. See Tweedale, Magic Mineral; D. Rosner and G. Markovitz (eds), Dying for Work: Workers Safety and Health in Twentieth-century America (Bloomington, 1987); idem, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (Berkeley, 2002).