Second International Conference on the Biologic Effects of Asbestos: Summary Report (Dresden, East Germany, April 21-25, 1968)

Our plain-English summary of Second International Conference on the Biologic Effects of Asbestos: Summary Report (Dresden, East Germany, April 21-25, 1968), by W. Clark Cooper (1968).

The study

• Author: W. Clark Cooper
• Published: Report prepared for the Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, Montreal, Canada; dated June 12, 1968
• Type of article: Report
• 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 document was not a research study. It was a summary report on the Second International Conference on the Biologic Effects of Asbestos, held in Dresden, East Germany, on April 21-25, 1968. It was written by W. Clark Cooper of the University of California and dated June 12, 1968. About 300 people from more than 20 countries attended, and nearly 75 formal papers were read. The author described papers on asbestosis, asbestos bodies, laboratory and animal experiments, lung cancer, mesothelioma and workplace dust measurement, crediting most findings to the researchers who presented them. For example, Cooper, Balzer and Tabershaw reported 7.9 times the expected number of lung cancer deaths among San Francisco insulating workers who began work before 1945. The author concluded that there were no major breakthroughs. New data added to the existing evidence linking work with asbestos to lung cancer, and mesothelial tumors of the pleura and peritoneum were unusually high in several asbestos-exposed groups. Evidence on gastrointestinal tumors was not conclusive. Whether the types of asbestos differ in their effects was not resolved. The text breaks off mid-sentence.

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: summary report of an international scientific conference (not an original study)
• Who was studied: The 1968 Dresden conference: approximately 300 attendees from more than 20 countries, nearly 75 formal papers plus 15 or 20 further reports introduced during discussion periods
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, described as five major types and many subtypes. The papers covered included chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite and tremolite.
• Main results:
  • The author reported that the conference produced no major breakthroughs.
  • According to the author, the conference added new data to the existing evidence of an association between working with asbestos and an increased risk of lung cancer.
  • According to the author, mesothelial tumors of the pleura and peritoneum were shown to be unusually high in a number of groups with histories of asbestos exposure.
  • The author stated that evidence for a higher than expected incidence of gastrointestinal tumors was still not conclusive.
  • The author stated that the question of whether the major types of asbestos differ in their effects was not resolved, though there was increasing evidence that all major types may be involved in most effects.
  • Among the papers summarized, Cooper, Balzer and Tabershaw reported 7.9 times the expected number of lung cancer deaths in a group of San Francisco insulating workers who had begun work before 1945.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that investigators mostly confirmed and slightly extended relationships already agreed upon, while controversial areas remained essentially unchanged.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author noted that a tight schedule, the wide range of topics and rigid structuring kept discussion to a minimum.
  • The author noted that environmental comparisons were difficult because there was little data on working environments and methods and units were inconsistent.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Bodies, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Pleura, Peritoneum.

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