Document GzzbvxOQYzEkjdO7L3rve8DOY

FILE NAME Manville JMA DATE 1966 June 1 DOC JMA211 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Industrial Hygiene Foundation of America Fibrous Dust Study INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA MELLON INSTITUTE 4400 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh 15213 June 1 1966 Prospectus for THF An Investigation of Fibrous I study a The Specificity of Asbestos Bodies and b The Biologic Effects of Trace Substances Associated with Chrysotile Asbestos INTRODUCTION Thomson found that about 30 of the people that had died in hospitals in Capetown 500 consecutive autopsies had asbestos bodies in the lungs The same author found a similar prevalence of asbestos bodies among the hospital deaths in Miami Florida Cauna Totten and Gross examined the lungs of 100 selected hospital deaths for which autopsy permission had been obtained and found that 40 of these had asbestos bodies in their lungs Ian Webster recently reported a 47 | prevalence in Johannesburg | There is at present a reasonable doubt that asbestos bodies are specific indicators of the inhalation of asbestos fibers Such bodies have been found in coal miners and talc workers where they have been called asbestos bodies Recently Davis and Collet have demonstrated the intracellular development of asbestos bodies secondary to amorphous material AN ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HEALTHFUL WORKING CONDITIONS INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERIC^ INC 3 that the chrysotile dust that produced lung cancer was significantly different from that which did not have this effect It is possible that this difference is caused by a coating of nickel steel alloy applied to the asbestos dust particles during the continuous hammer milling process used for rendering the dust respirable This method has not been used by previous investigators Nickel has been found capable of producing lung cancer in trace amounts Although asbestos and glass are both silicates the industrial health experience with workers of these two materials has been vastly different No pulmonary disease has been reported in workers exposed to glass dust Nevertheless the dust of filamentous glass has been labeled as highly dangerous in the lay press by association with asbestos is a fact that although the effect of flake glass dust on the lungs of animals has been reported no similar study has been made of the dust of filamentous glass which does not have an associated resin or filler PROPOSAL Phase 1 It is proposed to examine the response of animals lungs to different inorganic fibrous materials of contrasting chemical composition and to characterize the differences and similarities in the response Phase 2 It is proposed to investigate the influence of trace minerals and poly- cyclic hydrocarbons e benzopyrene associated with chrysotile ore or the subsequent processing on the term response of the lung to the dust INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA 5 These materials will be injected intratracheally into hamsters under ether anesthesia Previous experience has demonstrated that asbestos bodies will form in response to chrysotile dust within five months The animals will killed therefore be held for six months and then aa Asbestos bodies will be sought in lung juice as well as in the lung tissues The lungs will be expanded with buffered formalin under a head of 10 cm of water Blocks removed from these lungs will be sectioned at ... after paraffin impregnation These sections will be stained by different methods and photographed sequentially to provide means for studying more completely the tissue reaction to these various materials Search for the called asbestos bodies will be made using routinely stained sections and | sections stained for iron In addition unstained cleared sections will be examined under field conditions for asbestos bodies The latter glow when examined in this manner The difference in tissue reaction between the synthetic chrysotile dust and that which is known to be fibrogenic as well as carcinogenic will point to the contribution to pathogenicity made by one or more of the various trace substances which may be associated with chrysotile asbestos dust as a result of processing The development of asbestos bodies better termed Ferruginous bodies to dusts other than asbestos would point to the specificty of these structures and to the desirability of collecting such asbestos bodies from human lungs in order to subject them to electron analysis Such DRAFT 8-2-66 INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA Cates Filson MELLON INSTITUTE 4400 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15213 Filson Subject Summary of Needs and Plans for Asbestos Research The purpose of this session of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation Management Planning Meeting held in the Hunt Room of the Webster Hall Hotel on July 19 was 1 to help develop a better concept of the asbestos industry's environmental and occupational health research needs and what is being done to meet them and 2 to provide the U.S. Public Health Service _ Surgeon General with a summary report and any recommendations which may be developed from the meeting to aid in setting clarifying and reaching sound and realistic health conservation goals in the national interest ) The meeting was sponsored by the Foundation's Policy and Plan- ning Committee oo Those attending the meeting were Name | . Company Bowman H.M. Colwell M. Cralley L. Davison E.K. ae deTree R.T.P. Edwards F.H. Grant B. Gross P. _ Hatch F. Hazard W.G. Minard D. Schrenk H. | Smith W. Smith W. Smyth F. Truschel Pat Wright W. Thiokol Chemical Corporation Aluminum Company of America U.S. Public Health Service DOH . Davison Sand & Gravel Company Managing Director of IHF Corning Fiberglas Corporation Pittsburgh Plate Glass Director of IHF Research Laboratory University of Pittsburgh retired Illinois Glass Company | University of Pittsburgh Mine Safety Appliances Company Mine Safety Appliances Company Manville Corporation Mellon Institute Special Assistant IHF St. Luke's Hospital AN ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HEALTHFUL WORKING CONDITIONS INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA Dr. J. C. McDonald Montreal Quebec Dr. Arthur J. Vorwald Detroit Michigan Dr. Leo Noro Helsinki Finland Dr. J. C. Wagner Penarth Glamorgan Wales Dr. Sherman S. Pinto Tacoma Washington Dr. George W. Wright Cleveland Ohio Prof. Paul Sadoul Nancy France Dr. Philip Enterline Montreal Quebec Dr. K. W. Smith New York New York Dr. Philippe Duval Noranda Quebec Dr. J. A. Vidal Montreal Quebec Dr. Eugene Pendergrass Philadelphia Pa Prof. E. C. Vigliani Milan Italy Mr. K. W. Nelson Salt Lake City Utah In the course of the meeting a transcript of which has been distributed to participants much of what is known was reviewed and discussed Dr. Wright found the meeting very valuable from a personal standpoint chiefly from the standpoint of the second and third questions however e What we need to know and what is unknown For example he stated that the word asbestos is as general a term as bacteria and that it is not possible to translate data from one type to another The types vary with origin and chemical composition and almost never exist in pure form It is very difficult to categorize an exposure environment because of the need to capture identify recognize and quantitate the material we now call asbestos During processing asbestos which is not indestructible may undergo dissolution or change in form Is the material redisseminated identical to the original or does it differ ? Finally Dr. Wright indicated that it is sobering to realize the extent to which asbestos is distributed in various forms in the general population INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA 5 The loose thinking concerning asbestos exposure was demonstrated recently in Pennsylvania when the occurrence of mesothelioma in a three- year old child was attributed to the father's working in industry under the union category of an asbestos worker Actually this union category title covers many individuals who have no occupational exposure to asbestos At this point Dr. Treville called on Dr. Lewis J. Cralley to pro- vide a brief report on U.S. Public Health Service Division of Occupational Health plans Dr. Cralley stated that he would like to cover briefly three areas of U.S. Public Health Service Division of Occupational Health interest 1 A prospective longitudinal epidemiological study is now under way in four industry exposure categories a Asbestos textiles b Asbestos friction products c Asbestos cement products d Asbestos insulating materials The aim is to cover at least 2500 workers in each category with a wide range of exposure from office to production worker and with built controls Exposures are being defined in detail including factors other than asbestos In addition the past history of plants regarding asbestos exposure is being recorded in an attempt to develop retrospective studies designed to compli- ment those of a prospective nature Detailed information on each worker is being developed using a questionnaire approach which includes occupations hobbies and smoking history These studies will be carried out over the INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA.INC 7 Dr. Treville then requested Dr. Gross to provide a detailed des- cription of IHF's Fibrous Dust Research Proposal Dr. Gross said that Thomson has found that about 30 of the people that had died in hospitals in Capetown 500 consecutive autopsies had asbestos bodies in the lungs The same author 2 had found a similar prevalence of asbestos bodies among the hospital deaths in Miami Florida Cauna Totten and Gross 3 examined the lungs of 100 selected hospital deaths for which autopsy permission had obtained and found that 40 of these had asbestos bodies in their lungs Ian Webster recently reported a 47 prevalence in Johannesburg There is at present a reasonable doubt that asbestos bodies are specific indicators of the inhalation of asbestos fibers Such bodies have been found in coal miners and talc workers where they have been called 1 Thomson J.G. et al Asbestos as Modern Urban Hazard Med J. 77-81 1963 S. Afr 2 Thomson J.G. et al Asbestos as an Urban Air contaminant Arch Pathol 458-464 May 1966 3 Cauna Dzidra Totten Robert .; and Gross Paul Asbestos Bodies in Human Lungs at Autopsy JAMA 371-373 May 3 1965 4 Webster Ian Report of progress quoted in the Annual Report of the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit of the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1965 ; INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA.INC AMERICA.INC 9 which indicated a greatly increased risk of lung cancer among British workers exposed to asbestos dust while fabricating the asbestos 2. In recent investigation in the laboratory of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation lung cancers were found in rats exposed for 18 months to high concentrations of chrysotile dust 9 Because rats exposed to chrysotile dust by other investigators failed to develop lung cancer there is a good probability that the chrysotile dust that produced lung cancer was significantly different from that which did not have this effect It is possible that this difference is caused by a coating of nickel steel alloy applied to the asbestos dust particles during the continuous hammer milling process used for rendering the dust respirable This method has not been used by previous investigators Nickel has been found capable of producing lung cancer in trace amounts Although asbestos and glass are both silicates the industrial health experience with workers of these two materials has been vastly different No pulmonary disease has been reported in workers exposed to glass dust Nevertheless the dust of filamentous glass has been labeled as highly dangerous in the lay press by association with asbestos It is a fact that although the effect of flake glass dust on the lungs of animals has been reported no similar study has been made of the dust of filamentous glass which does not have an associated resin or filler It is proposed to examine the response of animals lungs to different inorganic fibrous materials of contrasting chemical composition and to characterize the differences and similarities in the response 9 Gross P. and Treville T.P. Experimental Asbestosis Studies on the Progressiveness of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Caused by Chrysotile Dust To be published INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA 11 These materials will be injected intratracheally into hamsters under ether anesthesia Previous experience has demonstrated that asbestos bodies will form in response to chrysotile dust within five months The animals will therefore be held for six months and then killed Asbestos bodies will be sought in lung juice as well as in the lung tissues The lungs will be expanded with buffered formalin under a head of 10 cm of water Blocks removed from these lungs will be sectioned at 6H after paraffin impregnation These sections will be stained by different methods and photographed sequentially to provide means for studying more completely the tissue reaction to these various materials Search for the called asbestos bodies will be made using routinely stained sections and sections stained for iron In addition unstained cleared sections will be examined under field conditions for asbestos bodies The latter glow when examined in this manner The difference in tissue reaction between the synthetic chrysotile dust and that which is known to be fibrogenic as well as carcinogenic will point to the contribution to pathogenicity made by one or more of the various trac^substances which may be associated with chrysotile asbestos dust as a result of processing The development of asbestos bodies better termed Ferruginous bodies to dusts other than asbestos would point to the specificty of these structures and to the desirability of collecting such asbestos bodies from human lungs in order to subject them to electron analysis Such INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC 13 III Because of the interest of a number of companies in biologic investigations similar to those planned for chrysotile asbestos but using instead amosite and crocidolite an additional investigation is proposed to be undertaken concurrently As in the proposal dealing with chrysotile asbestos the purpose of this supplemental concurrent investigation is to attempt to pinpoint the cause of the biologic activity of all three main types of asbestos dusts whether this lies in the silicates per se in the associated trace metals or in the associated hydrocarbons Because neither amosite nor crocidolite is available as a pure synthetic material the investigation proposed for these two types of asbestos is necessarily different from that proposed for chrysotile Nevertheless in order to make the investigation complete it is desirable to include also chrysotile in the new investigation since different methods are involved Inasmuch as the biologic activity of asbestos seems to have two components a inflammatory responsible for asbestosis and b neoplastic responsible for lung cancer and mesothelioma it is advisable to investigate both of them This can readily be accomplished within the four year span contemplated for this investigation In order to determine whether the biologic activity of asbestos resides in the silicate in the associated trace metals or in the associated hydrocarbons attempts will be made to remove the trace metals and the hydrocarbons from their respective silicates and to compare the biologic activities of such purified asbestos samples from which these associated materials have been removed INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC 15 3 the dust minus the hydrocarbons solvent extraction Here it is anticipated that the extraction may not be 100 complete . 4 the dust minus trace metals 5 the dust minus trace metals then subjected to solvent extraction to remove most of the hydrocarbons In order to investigate the inflammatory component of the various 15 batches of asbestos dust these will be injected intratracheally into rats and hamsters The lungs of these animals are expected to show definitive changes within one year after the intrapulmonary introduction of the dusts In order to explore the lung cancer aspect of the neoplastic com- ponent of the biologic activity of asbestos dust additional rats will be injected with the same batches of dust as above and allowed to live out their lives Most of the animals however will have died before the end of the third year The other mesotheliomatous aspect of the above neoplastic com- .. ponent will be investigated by injecting the 15 different batches of asbestos dust within the pleural cavity of rats and hamsters and allowing them to live out their lives Most of these animals will also have died before the end of the third year For the investigation of the inflammatory component of asbestos dust a large enough number of animals will be put on test to allow sampling at intervals throughout the year and still have an adequate number remaining to represent the 12 month old lesion The final report covering the entire investigation will be issued toward the end of the fourth year This report will probably be in the form of several manuscripts suitable for publication