David N. Weissman, M.D.’s Testimony: NIOSH Update on Asbestos Disease

Read more from the testimony of Dr. Weissman, who spoke before the Senate’s Committee on the Environment and Public Works about the dangers of asbestos. In this section, he discusses the role of NIOSH in documenting asbestos-related diseases.

NIOSH continues to work actively to address issues related to asbestos-induced lung disease. We are continuing to track asbestosis deaths, mesothelioma deaths, and occupational exposures to asbestos and have plans to include updated findings in an upcoming new edition of the recurring NIOSH document, the “Work-Related Lung Disease Surveillance Report.”

NIOSH recently reported updated information on the occupational respiratory disease mortality among workers who mined, milled, and processed vermiculite contaminated with asbestiform fibers, including winchite, richterite, and tremolite from the mine near Libby, Montana.

These workers had significantly increased rates of death from cancer, including lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. They also had significantly increased rates of death from nonmalignant respiratory disease, including asbestosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Exposure-response relationships were demonstrated, with increasing fiber exposure associated with increasing mortality from lung cancer, asbestosis, and noncancerous chronic respiratory disease.

This report adds to the growing body of literature documenting the adverse effects of exposure to Libby amphibole fibers.

Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2007/06/t20070612c.html

Courtesy of EPA

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