Historical Asbestos Measurements in Denmark—A National Database

Objectives: Due to the long lag-time for health outcomes, historical asbestos exposure measurements are valuable to support assessments of associated occupational health effects, and also to assess time trends and effects of preventive measures. Methods: Different sources of stored data were collated, assessed and refined to create a harmonized database on historical asbestos fibre concentrations measured in specific work tasks and different industries. The final database contains 9236 asbestos measurements from Danish workplaces collected from 1971 to 1997. Results: The geometric mean of asbestos concentrations in different occupations and tasks ranged from 0.003 to 35 fibres cm−3. Highest concentrations were registered during handling of asbestos products in the construction services during the period 1981–1997. Although all the measured asbestos exposures without the use of respiratory equipment by the worker in the period of 1971–1997 exceeded the current 8-h time-weighted average exposure limit of 0.1 fibres cm−3, the majority of samples collected in the earlier period of 1971 to 1980 did not exceed the exposure limit of 2 fibres cm−3, which was in place at the time. All exposure data obtained from 1980 and onwards were found to be one seventh of the mean fibre concentrations in the previous measurement period. The impact of time shows a clear exponentially decreasing trend-line. Conclusions: Despite limitations in coverage of different occupations and tasks associated with the inventoried historical asbestos measurements, the data are helpful to identify specific work scenarios within an industry, where relatively high asbestos exposure levels may still occur or have occurred from 1971 to 1997.

Assessment of asbestos and asbestos waste quantity in the built environment of transition country

Managing asbestos streams in developing and transition countries is particularly challenging. Deficiencies are often present for adequate procedures for the management of asbestos waste; solid quality data or databases on the quantities of asbestos production and usage are missing and asbestos inventories or the registry of asbestos-related diseases following European Union (EU) or other regulations are not in place. This paper aims to develop a model for determining and assessing the quantity of asbestos in the built environment of a transition country. Quantities of asbestos products and life expectancy of those products were assessed to develop a model that forecasts flows and stocks of asbestos products and wastes. The overall objective is to evaluate the model and show the manifestation of asbestos in the waste stream in a case study on a country with a transition economy, such as Serbia. Results show that total quantities of asbestos fibre consumption are approximately 0.5 million tonnes; the largest amount of waste generation is expected in the 2020s. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for the forthcoming quantities of waste by improving legal procedures, implementation of existing regulations, and provision of economic resources. An important link for the adequate management of asbestos waste is to raise public awareness of the dangers and importance of proper and timely disposal of asbestos products.

Trends in Airborne Chrysotile Asbestos Fibre Concentrations in Asbestos Cement Manufacturing Factories in Zimbabwe from 1996 to 2016

Zimbabwe has two major factories that have been manufacturing chrysotile asbestos cement products since the 1940s. Exposure monitoring of airborne fibres has been ongoing since the early 1990s. This study examines trends in personal exposure chrysotile asbestos fibre concentrations for the period 1996–2016. Close to 3000 historical personal exposure measurements extracted from paper records in the two factories were analysed for trends in exposure. Exposure over time was characterised according to three time periods and calendar years. Mean personal exposure chrysotile asbestos fibre concentrations generally showed a downward trend over the years in both factories. Exposure data showed that over the observed period 57% and 50% of mean personal exposure chrysotile asbestos fibre concentrations in the Harare and Bulawayo factories, respectively, were above the OEL, with overexposure being exhibited before 2008. Overall, personal exposure asbestos fibre concentrations in the factories dropped from 0.15 f/mL in 1996 to 0.05–0.06 f/mL in 2016—a decrease of 60–67%. These results can be used in future epidemiological studies, and in predicting the occurrence of asbestos-related diseases in Zimbabwe.

Crystal structure determination of a lifelong biopersistent asbestos fibre using single-crystal synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction

The six natural silicates known as asbestos may induce fatal lung diseases via inhalation, with a latency period of decades. The five amphibole asbestos species are assumed to be biopersistent in the lungs, and for this reason they are considered much more toxic than serpentine asbestos (chrysotile). Here, we refined the atomic structure of an amosite amphibole asbestos fibre that had remained in a human lung for ∼40 years, in order to verify the stability in vivo. The subject was originally exposed to a blend of chrysotile, amosite and crocidolite, which remained in his parietal pleura for ∼40 years. We found a few relicts of chrysotile fibres that were amorphous and magnesium depleted. Amphibole fibres that were recovered were undamaged and suitable for synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction experiments. Our crystal structure refinement from a recovered amosite fibre demonstrates that the original atomic distribution in the crystal is intact and, consequently, that the atomic structure of amphibole asbestos fibres remains stable in the lungs for a lifetime; during which time they can cause chronic inflammation and other adverse effects that are responsible for carcinogenesis. The amosite fibres are not iron depleted proving that the iron pool for the formation of the asbestos bodies is biological (haemoglobin/plasma derived) and that it does not come from the asbestos fibres themselves.

Everyday Suffering and the Abstract Time-Reckoning of Law

How does time structure the allocation of responsibility in the context of large-scale corporate crimes? Focusing on the Processo Eternit – a criminal case brought against the former main investor in Europe’s largest asbestos-processing factory in Casale Monferrato (Italy) – this article compares the temporal order of the lived experience of the asbestos disaster in the affected community with the abstract time-reckoning of law. The everyday suffering in the form of the long-term health effects, inscribed in the body through the asbestos fibre, collides with the statute of limitation of the alleged crimes, as stipulated in law and endorsed in the court room. It examines how these incommensurable temporalities reconfigure the allocation of moral and legal responsibility for an industrial disaster and shows how these contradictions are related to the victims’ expectations of justice and their experience of injustice.

The identification and assessment of asbestos exposure from mineral raw materials in Germany - definitions, conventions, analytical methods, exposure situation and protective measures

<p>In Germany, there has been an exemption for the use of mineral raw materials containing asbestos since 1993 on the basis of the Hazardous Substances Ordinance. While activities involving asbestos or materials containing asbestos are generally prohibited since that time, demolition/maintenance work and working involving asbestos containing mineral raw materials (maximum permissible asbestos content: 0.1 mass%) are permitted, subject to compliance with defined protective measures. Activities involving mineral raw materials containing asbestos (e.g. talcum, gravel) NOA are usually released from tremolite / actinolite or anthophyllite, in a few cases also chrysotile / antigorite. The occurrence of grunerite or riebeckite is the exception. In occupational health and safety, analytical methods for determining exposure are limited to the detection of fibres with critical dimensions (L > 5 µm, D < 3 µm, L:D > 3:1; so-called WHO fibres). For this purpose, an extended definition of asbestos has been laid down in the Special Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances ("TRGS" 517), which concerns the chemical composition and morphology of the NOAs to be determined. It was also necessary to establish a convention by means of which asbestos minerals can be distinguished from other chemically similar minerals. In Germany, the determination of asbestos fibre concentrations is usually carried out by means of SEM-EDX analysis. The convention therefore refers to a distinction based on certain element contents and their ratios. This catalogue of criteria is freely available in the form of an EXCEL sheet. This ensures that different laboratories achieve comparable results. On this basis, exposure measurements have been carried out by the measurement services of the accident insurance institutions since about 1998. Measurement results are presented from the extraction of rocks in quarries, the cold milling of road pavings, the use of talcum and from asphalt mixing plants, among others. Depending on the determined exposure level, protective measures have to be taken for the activities concerned. In addition to general protective measures, special protective measures have been defined for specific industries. For the determination of the asbestos content in mineral raw materials, the TRGS 517 defines four specific determination procedures, including a procedure based on a dustiness test.</p>

Lung Asbestos Fibre Burden and Pleural Mesothelioma in Women with Non-occupational Exposure

Background Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) due to environmental and familial (domestic) asbestos exposure is well recognized. However, information on cumulative asbestos dose in subjects affected by MPM is limited. Objectives To evaluate the residual lung asbestos fibre and asbestos body burden in women with MPM with past environmental and/or familial asbestos exposure. Methods We collected lung samples from autopsies regarding 15 non-occupationally asbestos-exposed MPM cases, divided in three groups: (i) familial exposure from the Fincantieri shipyards in Monfalcone (No. 7), (ii) environmental and familial asbestos exposure from the asbestos-cement plant Fibronit in Broni (No. 6), and (iii) environmental exposure from the Fibronit plant (No. 2). Asbestos body (AB) and fibres (AF) per gram of dry lung tissue were counted by optical and scanning electron microscopy, respectively, and expressed as geometric means and standard deviations (GM, GSD). Results GM/GSD of AB counts were 6123/9.6 (Group 1), 13 800/10.4 (Group 2), and 8400/1.1 (Group 3); GM/GSD of AF were 0.6/2.1 (Group 1), 7.9/2.1 (Group 2), and 6.0/2.3 (Group 3) million. Pleural plaques were observed in 12 cases. Conclusions Exclusive familial exposure to asbestos determined cumulative doses close to those observed in moderate occupational exposure circumstances. Our results also suggest that combined environmental and familial exposures may cause unexpectedly high cumulative fibre doses.

Needles in haystacks: using fast-response LA chambers and ICP-TOF-MS to identify asbestos fibres in malignant mesothelioma models

A prototype time-of-flight mass spectrometer and prototype laser ablation chamber have been used together for the first time, providing differentiation between three forms of harmful asbestos fibre in biological samples.

Investigating the association between occupational exposure to asbestos and ovarian carcinoma: results from a pilot study in Germany

Background The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of a large-scale epidemiologic investigation elucidating the quantitative association between occupational exposure to asbestos and ovarian cancer in former German asbestos workers. Methods Between December 2017 and May 2018, a random sample of one thousand insured woman registered at the health service of a German trade association as formerly occupationally exposed to asbestos were invited to participate in a pilot study. Participation included a phone interview using a standardised questionnaire. The feasibility of the project was evaluated using a priori defined criteria. They included response, number of cases, eligibility of the questionnaire data for exact estimation of asbestos fibre-years, and availability of relevant medical documentation (imaging procedures, medical reports, and histologic materials). Results The response (17%) was clearly below the intended number of 60%. With six tumour suspects, of which two could be confirmed by medical documents, the number of cases was within the expected range of two to eleven cases. Exact asbestos fibre-year estimations could be performed for 29% of all interviewees, but only for one suspected case. Medical documentation could be collected for only few participants, while no histology reports could be obtained for all cases. Thus, only the feasibility criterion of the expected number of cases was fulfilled. Conclusion The results of the pilot study indicate that the planned project is feasible only to a very limited extent. For further planning of the study, measures to improve recruitment of participants are necessary.