Asbestosis

Our plain-English summary of Asbestosis, by B. Mann (1980).

The study

• Author: B. Mann
• Published: Radiography 46(551):250-252, November (1980)
• Type of article: Conference paper
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 004044. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article is the text of a lecture the author gave at the 1980 College of Radiographers Annual Conference. It describes what the author called an epidemic of asbestosis at the Acre Mill plant near Halifax, Yorkshire, owned by the Cape Asbestos Company. The plant used crocidolite and chrysotile, opened in 1939 and employed 2,200 workers until it closed in 1970. A table listed 279 asbestos patients from that workforce and 86 deaths attributable to asbestos, 53 of them from lung cancer and mesothelioma and 18 from heart failure. The author reported that 14 staff who had never handled asbestos in manufacturing developed asbestosis, as did wives and daughters who brushed and laundered work overalls. At least four, possibly five, residents living downwind had X-ray abnormalities very highly suggestive of asbestosis. Among the author's patients, over 60% of those dying of asbestosis developed cancer. The author said the figures underestimate the harm because many former workers could not be traced, and urged that pleural involvement be included in the definition of asbestosis.

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: Conference lecture describing the author's clinical experience with workers and others connected to one asbestos factory. It is not a formal study and gives no methods section.
• Who was studied: The workforce of the Acre Mill asbestos plant near Halifax, Yorkshire, which employed 2,200 workers between 1939 and 1970. The workforce included local Yorkshire people, people from European Displaced Persons Camps, Hungarian refugees after 1956 and Pakistani immigrant workers. The lecture also covers non-production staff, family members and nearby residents, and the author's own patients.
• Exposure: Crocidolite (blue) and chrysotile (white) asbestos, delivered in hessian sacks. It was carded, spun and woven into asbestos textiles or made into respirator filters, insulation material and pipes. Dust was released from torn sacks and from manufacturing processes.
• Main results:
  • Table II recorded 279 asbestos patients out of the workforce of 2,200.
  • Table II recorded 86 deaths attributable to asbestos.
  • Of the deaths attributable to asbestos, Table II attributed 53 to lung cancer and mesothelioma.
  • Of the deaths attributable to asbestos, Table II attributed 18 to heart failure. The figures for broncho-pneumonia and other pulmonary deaths are garbled in the scan.
  • At least 14 factory staff who had never handled asbestos in the manufacturing process developed asbestosis. They were largely office and canteen workers, painters and lorry drivers.
  • In some of these staff who never handled asbestos, asbestosis developed 15 to 20 years after they started work at the factory.
  • Wives and daughters who brushed and laundered working overalls contracted asbestosis.
  • At least four and possibly five residents living downwind of the factory had radiological abnormalities very highly suggestive of asbestosis. These were pleural changes, usually in both lungs, and the residents had no symptoms or only minimal symptoms.
  • The author found asbestosis, later confirmed by lung biopsy, in five asbestos workers who had apparently normal chest X-rays but worsening breathlessness and breathing tests.
  • Among the author's own patients with asbestosis, over 60% of those who died developed cancer as a complication.
  • The author described poor working conditions: respirators often not issued, dust extractors often out of order, and inadequate protective clothing.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that an apparently normal chest X-ray cannot rule out asbestosis in a worker with lung disability. The author also concluded that people who never handled asbestos may contract asbestosis and even mesothelioma. The author urged that the definition of asbestosis be widened to include pleural involvement, and that this be accepted as an Industrial Injury where lung disability has occurred.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the figures underestimate the true harm. Many European employees emigrated and many Pakistani workers returned home, and these people could not be traced, so their health was unknown.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Cape Asbestos, Crocidolite, Chrysotile, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma.

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