Document 2Rr56B6bX205J3jbrzZKbLQKg

K ? produ| i frictioj age ah| i made ,of i^ jplying^ death 960 to.l byagh ios of id 3 idardize calculai; i Table"! notshq| )rtality|| extremelj 91 ' is the un| d 50 asllx otal ni cordedi entire 1 eriod isd iort cont ite mqlejjj a thirdj United es whichf 1 by causj lin eachJ is. It is| le bias ikl iver, in vie ite death! instance ight be js were id 15 to 60 Cotton ; utile Produolfj 1953t 1957. i 29,258 Z% ) 2,249l ' 9,333 i 7,845^. . 6,423 !, 3,4os;sS I V-'' `i ASBESTOS-DUST EXPOSURES--ENTERLINE & KENDRICK H185 andardized Mortality Ratios for total in Table 4 show a remarkable similar- ietween building products, friction ma lls, and cotton textile products workers, [ite the fact that workers in industries asbestos exposures are possible show eased SMRs for cancer of the respiratory ppi and for "all other diseases of the re ctory system." There is a sharp contrast jben SMRs for lung cancer and other relory diseases among asbestos products :ers as compared with cotton textile ?kers. The very low respiratory cancer I among cotton textile workers is of in>st and could bear further investigation. ^ the case of asbestos friction material 'fasbestos textile products workers the ex| in deaths from respiratory diseases was areiy due to deaths from asbestosis. On other hand, among asbestos building ducts workers the excess in deaths from |iiratory diseases is not due solely to asktosis and it seems likely that other respi|jry disease hazards exist in that industry, ths for other diseases were not remarkain the asbestos building products and. motion materials industries, although in the asbestos textile products industries cancer of the digestive system appears to be high, as was the category "all other heart disease" (which includes cor pulmonale). Conclusion For the asbestos products industries stud ied, health hazards as a result of the inhala tion of asbestos dust have been concentrated mainly in the asbestos textile industry in the United States and have apparently caused the overall mortality of workers in that in dustry to be 21% above that which might be expected based upon the experience of the US white male population as a whole. Ex cess mortality among asbestos textile work ers can be entirely accounted for by elevated death rates for cancer of the respiratory and digestive systems, a category of heart dis ease which includes cor pulmonale, and as bestosis. Asbestos dust has apparently had some effect on certain causes of death in the other asbestos products industries studied, although this effect has not been great and has not appreciably disturbed overall mor tality rates. If one were to assume an ex pected mortality rate for all causes in the as- im Table 4.--Standardized Mortality Ratios, White Males Aged 15 to 64 Who Worked in Selected US Asbestos and Cotton Textile Plants at Some Time During 1948-1951, by Cause oi Death and Type of Product* BRv v Cause of Death |jl*deaths ^Tuberculosis (001-019) Pcancer (140-205) jjjfe; Digestive system (150-159) Respiratory system (160-164) All other cancer (residual) IpStroke (330-334) gfvHeart disease (400-443) Coronary heart disease (420) pHypertensive heart disease (440-443) i|t, All other heart disease Rfe. (residual) pjDiseases of the respiratory & system (470-527) p: Influenza and pneumonia (480-493) &:. All other diseases of the Pi'- respiratory system (residual) jfoAccidents (800-962) ^.Suicides and homicides p (963-964, 970-985) jpAH other causes (residual) Asbestos Building Products 88.5 47.4 88.1 88.8 130.4 60.4 65.8 93.7 96.5 98.5 76.3 149.6 97.4 240.5 94.4 84.2 72.0 Asbestos Friction Material 88.8 (28.4) 102.3 119.2 123.7 74.1 83.8 90.1 90.8 (60.8) 98.0 150.9 (45.8) 287.1 96.1 84.2 63.5 Asbestos Textile Products' 120.6 (88.2) 148.4 146.3 228.6 96.2 (89.7) 118.3 98.6 Cotton Textile Products. 88.2 99.2 69.7 96.3 (31.1) 75.5 125.8 87.9 91.5 ... (264.7) 76.3 ' 176.5 72.1 392.9 59.4 (60.6) (70.8) 833.3 82.9 (100.0) 84.0 (44.4) 113.4:, 100.0 79.4. w, : ifgg.use as those located. Parentheses are used when the number of deaths observed is less than 10. Arch Environ Health--Vol 15, Aug 1967