Pathology of the Pneumoconioses (1960)

This book chapter, not a new study, is by a research pathologist at the Industrial Hygiene Foundation. It reviewed the pathology of silicosis, asbestosis, anthracosis and diatomite dust pneumoconiosis. The author described the hallmark of human asbestosis as diffuse fibrosis of air-space walls with asbestos bodies. The author stated asbestos bodies alone indicate exposure, not disease. The author argued that Saranac Laboratory animal lesions bore little resemblance to lesions in symptomatic asbestos workers. Citing Lynch and Cannon's 40 autopsied cases and incineration studies, the author held that asbestosis does not progress beyond a limited time after exposure ends, meaning no new inflammatory dust foci develop. The author noted that patients may still grow more breathless, commonly from emphysema and cor pulmonale. On lung cancer, the author summarized others' work. A Quebec study found no etiologic relationship between pulmonary cancer and asbestosis among asbestos miners. Doll found that 113 male workers employed 20 years or more at a large English asbestos textile plant had a lung cancer risk about 10 times that expected in the general population. The author called for fuller study of early human lesions.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It is a copy from J-M's medical library.

We publish pages from a book for research and commentary: it shows what the medical literature in a leading asbestos company's own library said on the subject, and when. Our summary above is our own reading of it. The copyright stays with the publisher.