Chrysophiles versus chrysophobes: The white asbestos controversy, 1950s-2004

ISIS

Volumn 95, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 239-259

  Tweedale, Geoffrey ^a   McCulloch, Jock ^b  

^a MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b RMIT UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AMPHIBOLE; ASBESTOS; CHRYSOTILE; CROCIDOLITE;

ARTICLE; ASBESTOSIS; CHEMICALLY INDUCED DISORDER; HEALTH; HISTORY; HUMAN; LUNG TUMOR; MESOTHELIOMA; RISK FACTOR;

ASBESTOS; ASBESTOS, AMPHIBOLE; ASBESTOS, CROCIDOLITE; ASBESTOS, SERPENTINE; ASBESTOSIS; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; LUNG NEOPLASMS; MESOTHELIOMA; RISK FACTORS; WORLD HEALTH;

EID: 7444223381     PISSN: 00211753     EISSN: 15456994     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/426196     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Richard Stone, "No Meeting of Minds on Asbestos, " Science, 15 Nov. 1991, 254:928-931, on p. 928. The "first wave" of ARD was caused by occupational exposure to asbestos; the "second wave" was caused by indirect occupational exposure (such as in the construction trades); and the "third wave" is due to exposure in the environment (among, e.g., office staff and housewives exposed to dusty overalls).
2. Asbestos fibers, after processing from the host ore, can be used in a variety of products (textiles, cement, brake linings, insulation products) that take advantage of the valuable properties of asbestos: high tensile strength, flexibility, resistance to chemicals and high temperatures, and high electrical resistance. See CatherineW. Skinner, Malcolm Ross, and Clifford Frondel, Asbestos and Other Fibrous Minerals (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1988).
3. J. C. McDonald, "Unfinished Business: The Asbestos Textiles Mystery, " Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1998, 42:3-5, on p. 3.
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5. Reginald Tage, a trade unionist at the Cape Asbestos Company in the United Kingdom, raised the issue as to whether "amphibole asbestos has a greater risk factor to the employees than the serpentine varieties": Reginald Tage to Sir T. Legge, 25 Jan. 1932, MSS 292/144.3/6, University of Warwick Modern Records Centre, United Kingdom. The Cape company physician, meanwhile, observed that workers believed that the amphiboles (blue asbestos and brown asbestos) were more hazardous than chrysotile. See H. Wyers, "That Legislative Measures Have Proved Generally Effective in the Control of Asbestosis" (M.D. thesis, Glasgow Univ., 1946), p. 48.
6. B. Dewey (Dewey & Almy Chemical Company) to Manfred Bowditch, 19 Feb. 1938.
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8. In the twentieth century Britain imported 150,000 tons of crocidolite, 600,000 tons of amosite, and 5 million tons of chrysotile. In 1964 the United Kingdom imported 7,500 tons of crocidolite (used mostly in car batteries and asbestos cement), 22,500 tons of amosite, and 154,000 tons of chrysotile. See Ministry of Labour and HM Factory Inspectorate, Problems Arising from the Use of Asbestos: Memorandum of the Senior Medical Inspector's Advisory Panel (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 8. In comparison, in 1973 America used 18,000 tons of crocidolite, 4,000 tons of amosite, and 840,000 tons of chrysotile. See Irving J. Selikoff and Douglas H. K. Lee, Asbestos and Disease (New York: Academic Press, 1978), p. 56.
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10. Jock McCulloch was given information about the mixing of amosite and crocidolite by former miners during a visit to Penge in November 2002. On the amphibole in "pure" chrysotile see A. Churg and B. Wiggs, "Fiber Size and Number in Workers Exposed to Processed Chrysotile Asbestos, Chrysotile Miners, and the General Population, " American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1986, 9:143-152.
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22. "Tackling Asbestos, " Johannesburg Financial Mail, 30 Apr. 1976 (1976 figures).
23. Report of the Royal Commission on Matters of Health and Safety Arising from the Use of Asbestos in Ontario, 3 vols. (Toronto: Queen's Printer, 1984).
24. Proceedings of the World Symposium on Asbestos Held on May 25, 26, 27, 1982, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Quebec: Canadian Information Centre, 1982).
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27. On mesothelioma in wine-filter workers see G. Scansetti, F. Mollo, G. Tiberi, A. Andrion, and G. Piolatto, "Pleural Mesothelioma after a Short Interval from First Exposure in the Wine Filter Industry, " Amer. J. Indus. Med., 1984, 5:335-339.
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33. "Editor's Choice, " Brit. J. Indus. Med., 1993, 50:1058.
34. For the complaint about the blanket use of the term "asbestos" see G. W. Gibbs, F. Valic, and K. Browne, eds., "Health Risks Associated with Chrysotile Asbestos: Report of Workshop in Jersey, Channel Islands, 14-17 November 1993, " Ann. Occup. Hyg., 1994, 38:399-646, on p. 401.
35. For the complaint about the blanket use of the term "asbestos" see G. W. Gibbs, F. Valic, and K. Browne, eds., "Health Risks Associated with Chrysotile Asbestos: Report of Workshop in Jersey, Channel Islands, 14-17 November 1993, " Ann. Occup. Hyg., 1994, 38:399-646, on p. 401.
36. J. C. Wagner deposition, Claude Cimino v. Raymark Industries, Stafford Hotel, London, 30 May 1990, in which he stated that "chrysotile does not cause mesothelioma" but that amosite can, "probably with very heavy dosage" (pp. 79-80); and McCulloch, interview with J. C. Wagner, Weymouth, Dorset, 22 Mar. 1998.
37. P. C. Elmes, "Mesotheliomas and Chrysotile, " Ann. Occup. Hyg., 1994, 38:547-553.
38. A. J. Rogers, J. Leigh, G. Berry, D. A. Ferguson, H. B. Mulder, and M. Ackad, "Relationship between Lung Asbestos Fiber Type and Concentration and Relative Risk of Mesothelioma: A Case Control Study, " Cancer, 1991, 67:1912-1927.
39. Neil Smith, American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization (Berkeley: Univ. California Press, 2003).
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41. On IBAS see L. Kazan-Allen, "The Asbestos War, " Int. J. Occup. Environ. Health, 2003, 9:173-193.
42. J. Peto, A. Decarli, C. La Vecchia, F. Levi, and E. Negri, "The European Mesothelioma Epidemic, " Brit. J. Cancer, 1999, 79:666-672 (mortality projection).
43. Neil Smith, American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization (Berkeley: Univ. California Press, 2003).
44. A. Tossavainen et al., "Asbestos, Asbestosis, and Cancer: The Helsinki Criteria for Diagnosis and Attribution, " Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment, and Health, 1997, 23:311-316.
45. B. I. Castleman and R. A. Lemen, "The Manipulation of International Scientific Organizations, " Int. J. Occup. Environ. Health, 1998, 4:53-55.
46. For the 2001 debate see, e.g., M. Camus, "A Ban on Asbestos Must Be Based on a Comparative Risk Assessment, " Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2001, 164:491.
47. Geoffrey Tweedale, "Management Strategies for Health: J. W. Roberts and the Armley Asbestos Tragedy, 1920-1958, " Journal of Industrial History, 1999, 2:72-95 (Armley).
48. See J. T. Hodgson and A. Darnton, "The Quantitative Risks of Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer in Relation to Asbestos Exposure, " Ann. Occup. Hyg., 2000, 44:565-601.
49. This has been defined as "the need to act to reduce potential hazards before there is strong proof of harm, taking into account the likely costs and benefits of action and inaction. " See European Environment Agency, Late Lessons from Early Warnings: The Precautionary Principle, 1896-2000 (Copenhagen: European Environment Agency, 2001), p. 13.
50. On the situation in Canada see Institut National de Sante Publique du Quebec, Rapport épidémiologie des maladies reliées à l'exposition à l'amiante au Québec (Quebec, Sept. 2003), posted at www.inspq.qc.ca/pdf/ publications/222-EpidemiologieExpositionAmiante.pdf.
51. L. V. Harris and I. A. Kahwa, "Asbestos: Old Foe in Twenty-first-Century Developing Countries, " Science of the Total Environment, 2003, 307:1-9
52. A. L. Ramanthan and V. Subramanian, "Present Status of Asbestos Mining and Related Health Problems in India: A Survey, " Indus. Health, 2001, 39:309-315.
53. On the synergism with tobacco see A. L. Frank, R. F. Dodson, and M. G. Williams, "Carcinogenic Implications of the Lack of Tremolite in UICC Reference Chrysotile, " Amer. J. Indus. Med., 1998, 34:314-317.