Health effects of asbestos - analysis of lung burden

The lung burden of asbestos-related cases and controls in the UK in 1976 were investigated [52]. The data were produced from electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis by Professor Fred Pooley and this paper was the first in another fruitful partnership, led by Dr Wagner. A further paper of lung contents in the UK in 1977 was published two years later [63].

The power of lung burden analysis was demonstrated in [61] using post mortem material from the Rochdale asbestos textile factory in England. This factory processed primarily chrysotile asbestos, although it was known that some crocidolite was used. In this paper it was shown that the chrysotile content of the lungs was 10 times greater than for the general UK population but the crocidolite content was 300 times. Given that the majority of fibre processed was chrysotile this finding was very important in demonstrating the preferential retention of amphibole fibre in the lungs and the rapid clearance of chrysotile, and in showing that the mesotheliomas that had occurred at this factory could not necessarily be attributed to the chrysotile exposure.

In [100] the results of lung burden determinations from the UK, Australia and North America are brought together. It was shown that the differences in lung burden of asbestos between mesotheliomas and population controls were much less than the difference in mesothelioma rates. It was shown that this apparent conflict could be explained in terms of a slow rate of clearance of amphibole asbestos from the lungs so that the amount found at death in mesothelioma cases was less than the original amount deposited.

In 2002 [162] a paper was published comparing asbestos lung burden in the UK between 1976/77 and 1990-96. The differences, particularly a reduction in crocidolite content, were shown to be compatible with the use of the different types of asbestos in the UK over the years.

Lung fibre burden was determined for a sample from the Nottingham gas mask workers cohort [192]. The annual rate of elimination was estimated by regression as 7.5% but there was evidence that shorter fibres were eliminated more rapidly than the longer fibres (>6um) which are the more carconogenic. Hence it is unclear to what extent the clearance explains the slowing down of the increase in mortality after about 40 years from exposure [see 182].

52. JONES, J.S.P., POOLEY, F.D., CLARK, N.J., OWEN, W.G., ROBERTS, G.H., SMITH, P.G., WAGNER, J.C., BERRY, G. & POLLOCK, D.J. (1980). The pathology and mineral content of lungs in cases of mesothelioma in the United Kingdom in 1976. In: Biological Effects of Mineral Fibres, ed. J.C. Wagner, 187-99. IARC Scientific Publications No. 30, Lyon.

61. WAGNER, J.C., BERRY, G. & POOLEY, F.D. (1982). Mesotheliomas and asbestos type in asbestos textile workers: a study of lung contents. Br. med. J., 285, 603-6. PDF

63. WAGNER, J.C., POOLEY, F.D., BERRY, G., SEAL, R.M.E., MUNDAY, D.E., MORGAN, J. & CLARK, N.J. (1982). A pathological and mineralogical study of asbestos related deaths in the United Kingdom in 1977. Ann. occup. Hyg., 26, 423-31.

100. BERRY, G., ROGERS, A.J. & POOLEY, F.D. (1989). Mesotheliomas asbestos exposure and lung burden. In: Non Occupational Exposure to Mineral Fibres, eds. J. Bignon, J. Peto & R. Saracci, 486-96. IARC Scientific Publications No. 90, Lyon.

105. ROGERS, A.J., LEIGH, J., BERRY, G., FERGUSON, D.A., MULDER, H.B. & ACKAD, M. (1991). Relationship between lung asbestos fiber type and concentration and relative risk of mesothelioma. Cancer, 67, 1912-20.

121. ROGERS, A.J., LEIGH, J., BERRY, G., FERGUSON, D.A., MULDER, H.B., ACKAD, M. & MORGAN, G.G. (1994). Dose-response relationship between airborne and lung asbestos fibre type, length and concentration, and the relative risk of mesothelioma. Ann. Occup. Hyg., 38 (Suppl. 1), 631-638.

162. BERRY, G. (2002). Asbestos lung fibre analysis in the United Kingdom, 1976 to 1996. Annals of Occupational Hygiene 46, 523-526.

192. BERRY, G., POOLEY, F., GIBBS, A., HARRIS, J.M. & McDONALD, J.C. (2009). Lung fibre burden in the Nottingham gas mask cohort. Inhal. Toxicol. 21, 168-172. Abstract

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