Industrial Hygiene Perspectives in Control of Asbestos Exposure

Our plain-English summary of Industrial Hygiene Perspectives in Control of Asbestos Exposure, by W. Renz (1979).

The study

• Author: W. Renz
• Published: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (page 24 shown in running head); Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colorado (1979)
• 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 is not a research study but a short opening statement by the cochairman of a session titled "Industrial Hygiene Perspectives in Control of Asbestos Exposure," printed in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The author worked for the Johns-Manville Corporation in Denver, Colorado. The author's name cannot be read reliably in the supplied text. The author wrote that asbestos has a dose-response relationship, with exposure levels below which no adverse health effects can be measured. The author argued that North Americans had misread British work on the asbestos textile industry. In the author's account, British records showed that not all plants were below 2 fibers per cubic centimeter, and British fiber counts were mostly area samples, while later simultaneous personal samples read much higher. The author said the membrane filter method loses reliability and precision below 2 fibers per cubic centimeter, and called electron microscope methods for air and water grossly imprecise. The author stated that all asbestos stations in Johns-Manville's United States manufacturing plants were well below 2 fibers per cubic centimeter, and that progress was slower in the construction industry. The author concluded that efforts must continue so that no worker is exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos fibers.

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: Opinion statement (session chairman's opening remarks); no new study or data
• Who was studied: No study population. The statement discusses the United Kingdom asbestos textile industry and United States asbestos plants, including Johns-Manville's own operations. The author was affiliated with Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colorado.
• Exposure: Airborne asbestos fibers in the workplace, discussed against the 2 fibers per cubic centimeter standard; fiber types not named
• Main results:
  • The author stated it is generally accepted that there are asbestos exposure levels below which no adverse human health effects can be measured
  • The author said British industrial hygiene records show it is not true that all United Kingdom plants operated below 2 fibers per cubic centimeter after the 1969 regulations
  • The author said British textile fiber counts were mostly area samples, and later simultaneous personal samples read much higher than area samples
  • The author said the membrane filter method's reliability and precision fall off rapidly below 2 fibers per cubic centimeter
  • The author said electron microscope methods used for ambient air and water must be considered grossly imprecise
  • The author stated that all asbestos stations in Johns-Manville's United States manufacturing plants were well below the 2 fibers per cubic centimeter level
  • The author stated that Johns-Manville applied United States standards to its foreign operations
  • The author said progress had been slower in the construction industry
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that efforts must continue so that no worker is exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos fibers

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Industrial Hygiene, Asbestos Exposure, Johns-Manville, Dose-response relationship, Asbestos Textile Industry, Fibers per Cubic Centimeter (f/cc), Personal Breathing Zone Sample, Membrane Filter Method.

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