Pulmonary mineral fibers after occupational and environmental exposure to asbestos in the Russian chrysotile industry
✍ Scribed by Antti Tossavainen; Evgeny Kovalevsky; Esa Vanhala; Timo Tuomi
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 120 KB
- Volume
- 37
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0271-3586
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Background As an indicator of occupational, domestic, and environmental exposure, the level and type of asbestos ®bers were determined from lung tissue samples of workers and residents who resided in the area of the world's largest asbestos mine at Asbest, Russia. Methods Electron microscopy was used to analyze and measure the concentration of asbestos ®bers in a series of 47 autopsies at the Asbest Town Hospital. Work histories were obtained from pathology reports and employment records. Results In 24 chrysotile miners, millers, and product manufacturers, the pulmonary concentrations of retained ®bers (over 1 mm in length) were 0.8±50.6 million f/g for chrysotile, and < 0.1±1.9 million f/g for amphiboles (tremolite and anthophyllite). The concentrations were lower in 23 persons without any known occupational contact with asbestos; 0.1±14.6 million f/g for chrysotile, and < 0.1±0.7 million f/g for amphiboles.
On average, 90% of all inorganic ®bers were chrysotile, and 5% tremolite/anthophyllite. No amosite or crocidolite ®bers were detected in any of the samples. Conclusions The mean and range of pulmonary chrysotile concentrations were about the same as reported previously from the Canadian mining and milling industry. In the Russian samples, the mean concentration of tremolite ®bers were less by at least one order of magnitude. Occupational contact was the most important source of asbestos exposure.