Malignant mesothelioma among employees of a Connecticut factory that manufactured friction materials using chrysotile asbestos.
There is ongoing argument about the potency of chrysotile asbestos to cause malignant mesothelioma. Risk assessment for chrysotile is influenced by the alleged absence of mesotheliomas among workers at the Raybestos Manhattan friction products plant in Connecticut, a plant that essentially used only chrysotile asbestos. Regrettably, the statement that there is an absence of mesothelioma deaths in the Connecticut plant is false. In this paper, we report on our review of the work histories and pathological reports of five individuals from the Connecticut plant who were diagnosed with mesothelioma. We discuss the Connecticut plant in relation to the most recent epidemiological information for chrysotile. Calculation suggests that mesothelioma rates at this plant were similar to those observed among Quebec miners and the South Carolina textile plant. We urge everyone concerned with the risk assessment of chrysotile asbestos to make use of all available data.
Finkelstein
Murray M
MM
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. murray.finkelstein@utoronto.ca
Meisenkothen
Christopher
C
D000368:Aged; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis*; D017632:Asbestos, Serpentine / Q000032:analysis*; D003237:Connecticut / Q000453:epidemiology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008420:Manufactured Materials; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000401:mortality*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D017632:Asbestos, Serpentine