David N. Weissman, M.D.;
Risk analyses of asbestos exposure and disease

Read more from the testimony of Dr. Weissman, who spoke before the Senate’s Committee. In this section, he discusses the likelihood that people with asbestos exposure will develop a related disease.

The risk analyses upon which the OSHA PEL and MSHA’s proposal to revise its PEL are based were recently detailed by MSHA in its proposed rule.

It should be noted that these risk analyses make the maximally protective assumption that exposure would be at the PEL every work day over an entire 45-year working lifetime.

Over such a working lifetime, exposure at the OSHA asbestos PEL is estimated to be associated with an excess risk of cancer (lung, mesothelioma, and gastrointestinal) of 3.4 cases per 1,000 exposed individuals and an excess risk of asbestosis of 2.5 cases per 1,000 exposed individuals.

In mining, the current MSHA PEL for asbestos is 20-fold higher at two fibers per cc air. Were exposure to the current MSHA PEL to occur every day over a 45- year working lifetime, it would be associated with an excess risk of cancer of 64.1 cases per 1,000 exposed individuals and an excess risk of asbestosis of 49.7 cases per 1,000 exposed individuals.

Fortunately, the U.S. mining industry does not currently mine or produce asbestos and asbestos sampling data presented in MSHA's proposed rule showed low exposures for the mining population. MSHA has proposed to reduce its PEL to make it consistent with the OSHA PEL, and NIOSH has provided public comments in support of this proposed rule.

Courtesy of EPA.

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