Lung disease caused by inorganic and organic dust

Our plain-English summary of Lung disease caused by inorganic and organic dust, by G.W. Schepers (Diseases of the Chest, 1963).

The study

• Author: G.W. Schepers
• Journal: Diseases of the Chest
• Published: 1963;44:133-40
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 002708).

In plain English

This was not a research study but the moderator's written summary of a "Fireside Conference" discussion at the 1962 annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago. It covered coal dust, silica, asbestos, other fibrous minerals, iron, beryllium, aluminum, plastics, farm exposures, textile oils and hair spray. It had no reference list and described no study methods of its own, though it referred generally to experimental and other research.

On asbestosis, the summary described progressive interstitial fibrosis found mainly near veins and under the pleura. Its stated complications were cor pulmonale and lung cancer. Cancer was said to take two forms: lung carcinoma and pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma was described as particularly common in crocidolite workers and mainly reported from South Africa.

It stated asbestosis followed only exposure to dust with a high proportion of fibers longer than 20 micra. It said asbestos ball-milled to smaller sizes produced no disease in experimental animals, and that experiments had not yet produced cancer. It called prevention of exposure the only remedy. The concluding section urged constant vigilance and warned against imprecise diagnosis.

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: Written summary of a moderated conference discussion (Fireside Conference); no reference list and no original study methods
• Who was studied: No study population. The discussion covered a range of occupational and environmental chest diseases, including asbestosis.
• Exposure: Various inorganic and organic dusts. For asbestos, the article discussed asbestos dust in general, crocidolite in connection with mesothelioma, and fiber length (fibers longer than 20 micra).
• Main results:
  • The pathology of asbestosis was described as a progressive interstitial fibrosis located mainly around veins and under the pleura.
  • The complications of asbestosis were stated to be cor pulmonale and lung cancer.
  • Cancer was said to take two forms: alveolar and bronchial carcinoma, and pleural mesothelioma.
  • Pleural mesothelioma was described as particularly common in crocidolite workers and mainly reported from South Africa.
  • Asbestos ball-milled to a smaller particle size was stated to produce no disease in experimental animals.
  • The probability of asbestos disease was said to appear to depend on duration and intensity of exposure plus elapsed time.
  • Lung fibrosis, vascular stenosis and bronchial disease had been induced experimentally with asbestos, but cancer had not yet resulted.
  • The carcinogen 3,4 benzpyrene was stated to have been demonstrated in certain types of asbestos mineral.
  • Tuberculosis was stated not to be facilitated in the asbestotic lung.
  • Prevention of exposure was called the only remedy for asbestosis, and aluminum prophylaxis was said to be of no value.
  • The article warned against combined exposures to silica and asbestos, among other dusts.
  • The article stated that some plastics were being fortified with quartz or asbestos.
• The authors' conclusion: The article concluded that the growing complexity of the industrial environment called for constant vigilance. It also concluded that imprecise diagnosis and too-ready acceptance of new industrial lung diseases can hamper prevention as much as carelessness or ignorance.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Environmental lung disease — M.X. FitzGerald, C.B. Carrington, et al. (1973)
• Inorganic dust pneumonias: the metal-related parenchymal disorders — P. Kelleher, K. Pacheco, et al. (2000)
• Lung exposure to mineral dusts enhances the capacity of lung inflammatory cells to release superoxide — A. Cantin, F. Dubois, et al. (1988)
• Case report: Lung disease in World Trade Center responders exposed to dust and smoke: carbon nanotubes found in the lungs of World Trade Center patients and dust samples — M. Wu, R.E. Gordon, et al. (2010)
• Molecular mechanisms of dust-induced lung disease: exploring the role of physicochemical composition and cellular pathways — Y. Sun, T.D. Waite (2026)
• Characterization of the lower respiratory tract inflammation of nonsmoking individuals with interstitial lung disease associated with chronic inhalation of inorganic dusts — W.N. Rom, P.B. Bitterman, et al. (1987)

Browse more research in Diseases of the Chest, or return to medical research.