Asbestos Induced Tumors in White Leghorn Fowls

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos Induced Tumors in White Leghorn Fowls, by P.R. Peacock, A. Peacock (1965).

The study

• Authors: P.R. Peacock, A. Peacock
• Published: Annals New York Academy of Sciences (1965)
• Type of article: Conference paper
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This was an animal experiment in White Leghorn fowls. The authors injected asbestos suspended in tributyrin into the axillary air sac, which connects to the lungs. In a first experiment, six birds aged 2 to 6 years received 0.5 ml of a suspension of asbestos of unknown origin. One six-year-old bird died a year later with a massive tumor involving the right lung that had invaded nearby organs. In further experiments, 12 three-month-old pullets received amosite and 12 received crocidolite. In the amosite group, one bird killed after 42 months had a tumor in the left axilla, judged to be neoplastic. In the crocidolite group, one bird killed after 40 months had a tumor classified as a reticulosarcoma that may have been of mesothelial origin. A second crocidolite bird had a mass that proved to be granulomatous, not cancerous. The authors reported no such tumors in some hundreds of control birds over 36 years. The authors concluded that, although the numbers were small, it seemed reasonable to think the tumors had some significance.

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.

What the study did and found

• Design: animal experiment (injection of asbestos suspension into the air sac of fowls)
• Who was studied: Line-bred White Leghorn fowls at the Royal Beatson Memorial Hospital, Glasgow: six birds aged 2 to 6 years in a first experiment; 12 three-month-old pullets in an amosite group and 12 in a crocidolite group
• Exposure: 0.5 ml of a suspension in tributyrin of "asbestos" of unknown origin, injected into the right axillary air sac (first experiment). In the further experiments, apparently 1 ml of amosite (Penge PRS 1) suspension or 1 ml of crocidolite (Westerberg RS 2,34) suspension in tributyrin was injected into the left axillary air sac. The amount of asbestos in each suspension is not given.
• Main results:
  • First experiment: the six-year-old bird, No. 4531, died a year after injection with a massive tumor involving the right lung, which extended to and invaded surrounding organs including the oesophagus, proventriculus and ovary
  • Amosite group: of ten birds that died or were killed, one (No. 5822), killed after 42 months, had a large tumor in the left axilla involving the air sac, pectoral muscles and left lung
  • Amosite group: no asbestos fibers were recognized in this tumor, and its cells were thought to be neoplastic; the tumor grew when grafted into one of three young pullets
  • Crocidolite group: of 6 birds that died or were killed, one (No. 5814), killed 40 months after the first injection, had a tumor in the left axilla
  • Crocidolite group: that tumor was classified as a reticulosarcoma but may have been of mesothelial origin; it grew in one of six young pullets it was grafted into
  • Crocidolite group: a second bird (No. 5811), killed at 44 months with a large axillary mass, had a granulomatous tumor with abundant asbestos fibers and no neoplastic tissue
  • Some fibers had lost their birefringence, and many asbestos bodies similar to those found in asbestos workers were identified in the lung
  • No such tumors were observed in some hundreds of control birds, mostly breeding stock, over 36 years
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, although the numbers were small, it seemed reasonable to think the tumors had some significance, and that the technique was satisfactory for studying how fowl tissues react to asbestos
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The numbers of birds were small, and further tumors might still develop in the seven surviving birds
  • Asbestos was sometimes injected into connective tissue instead of the air sac, as clearly happened in bird No. 5811

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Amosite, Crocidolite.

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