On the Need for A New Distinct Terminology For Inorganic Fibres

Our plain-English summary of On the Need for A New Distinct Terminology For Inorganic Fibres, by I. Öhberg, W. Hartung (1980).

The study

• Authors: I. Öhberg, W. Hartung
• Published: BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MINERAL FIBRES (J.C. WAGNER, EDITOR), LYON: IARC SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS, VOLUME 30, PP. 927-930 (1980)
• 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 short paper, published in an IARC volume on the biological effects of mineral fibres, was a commentary rather than a study. It reported no new data on workers, patients or animals. The authors noted it was hard to know whether evidence on some asbestos types applied to other types, or to other fibre products such as mineral wool. They collected definitions of the word "asbestos" from randomly chosen English-language books and articles and showed that they varied. One, for example, listed crocidolite, amosite, chrysotile and fibrous anthophyllite. The authors argued that these definitions came from industrial and mineralogical sources and were bound to cause misunderstandings when used to interpret medical findings. They warned this could lead to bans on reasonably safe materials, or to a lack of regulation for hazardous ones. As an example, they gave fibrous zeolite. They said it seemed to cause very high mesothelioma rates in a Turkish village but falls outside most asbestos definitions. They asked whether chemical composition, solubility, crystallinity and morphology matter. The authors concluded that an internationally accepted terminology related to health hazard was needed, based on properties such as morphology, size and solubility. They noted they had looked only at definitions in English.

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: Commentary (position paper) comparing published definitions of asbestos; no original data
• Who was studied: No people or animals studied; the material examined was definitions of 'asbestos' from English-language books, articles and official sources
• Exposure: Terminology for asbestos and other inorganic fibre products such as mineral wool, not an exposure measured in people
• Main results:
  • The authors stated it is not easy to establish whether evidence of carcinogenic or fibrogenic potential for some asbestos types has any relevance for other inorganic fibre products such as mineral wool
  • The definitions collected differed. One official definition (HM Factory Inspectorate) listed crocidolite, amosite, chrysotile, fibrous anthophyllite and mixtures containing them.
  • The authors stated that existing definitions came from industrial and mineralogical sources and, when used to interpret medical findings, were bound to cause misunderstandings
  • The authors saw one pitfall as bans on valuable materials that are reasonably safe, and a worse one as a lack of regulation for materials that must be judged hazardous
  • The authors pointed out that fibrous zeolite, which they said seemed to be the cause of the extremely high occurrence of mesothelioma in a Turkish village, does not fall within most asbestos definitions
  • The authors posed questions to be assessed, including whether chemical composition, solubility, fibre breakdown into finer fibres, crystallinity and morphology are relevant
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that a distinct, internationally acceptable terminology related to health hazard was needed, based on properties such as morphology, size and solubility
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors looked only at definitions in English and noted that more variations exist in other languages

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: IARC, Crocidolite, Amosite, Chrysotile, Anthophyllite, Zeolite, Mesothelioma.

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