Exposure to Metals in the Manufacture of Asbestos Textile Products (1967)

This 1967 study measured nickel, chromium, cobalt and manganese in asbestos textile manufacturing. It did not examine workers' health. Mine-milled Canadian chrysotile averaged 0.10% nickel, and African chrysotile had about 50 to 100% more nickel and chromium. Metals were concentrated in the smaller size fraction of milled asbestos, and adjoining serpentine rock held 10 times the nickel of cleaned fiber. In a ventilation-off test run at one plant, imitating 1930s practice, airborne dust carried more metal than the bulk fiber. At carding, for example, it held 2.7 times the nickel. The authors identified wear on metal processing equipment as a second source. In seven plants in 1961-65, average airborne nickel ranged from 0.72 micrograms per cubic meter at weaving to 8.14 at twisting. The authors estimated pre-1930-35 carding levels at 330 micrograms of nickel per cubic meter, using a method they said had many limitations. Laboratory grinding added metal from the mills to chrysotile. The authors concluded that the role of metals in asbestos-related disease should not be ignored, while stating that their significance was not clear.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 002528.