Asbestos is Unique and Indispensable

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos is Unique and Indispensable (1969).

The study

• Published: The Engineer. April 24, 1969
• Type of article: Trade journal article
• 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 not a research study. It was a short feature article in the British trade magazine The Engineer, written by the magazine's materials editor (no individual is named), describing the engineering uses of asbestos. It studied no people and reported no exposure measurements or health data, and it did not mention any health effects of asbestos. The article explained that asbestos is a mineral fibre that does not burn and can be spun and woven much like cotton. It named chrysotile (serpentine asbestos) as the most important type and crocidolite as the most important of the amphibole group. It said chrysotile came mainly from Canada, Russia and Rhodesia, and that most amphibole asbestos came from South Africa. It listed uses including asbestos-cement sheets, sprayed insulation and fireproofing, packings, pipe jointing, brake and clutch linings, and woven asbestos cloth, including aluminium-coated cloth for protective clothing. The article's title called asbestos "unique and indispensable." The scanned text is badly damaged and also contains unrelated pages.

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: Descriptive trade magazine feature article on the industrial uses of asbestos; not a research study
• Exposure: No exposure was studied. The article described asbestos types: chrysotile (serpentine asbestos) and the amphibole group, of which it called crocidolite the most important.
• Main results:
  • The article stated that chrysotile is found mainly in three areas: Canada, Russia and Rhodesia.
  • The article stated that most amphibole asbestos comes from South Africa.
  • The article listed uses relying on heat and fire resistance, including packings, pipe jointing and wrapping, and brake and clutch linings.
  • The article stated that asbestos-cement sheeting had passed the British Standard test for non-combustibility.
  • The article described asbestos cloth with a bonded metallic aluminium layer, used for thermal insulation and in protective clothing such as for fire fighting.
• The authors' conclusion: The article, in its title, described asbestos as unique and indispensable, with many important engineering uses.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Chrysotile, Serpentine Group, Crocidolite, Amphibole Group, Amphibole Asbestos, Asbestos-Cement.

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