Document Ra0Dm86dOKw8GYkx7oODNmxLz

usiria-' Hvjiene Digest tend to succumb to mesothelioma, after man/ years of such contact. A number -:i examples ar giver., includinc those of carpenters and vr.s:r-utior. workers, who do not realize that their relatively brief contact ir. sawing or handiir.; asbestos materials car. lead to lung cancer rr.ar.y years later. The great increase ir. asbestos production and in asbestosis in recent years is tabulated; the need for utilization of alternate materials in industry, and for further research on biological effects is emphasized. The presence ir. asbestos of carcinogenic oils and other components, including benzopyrene and chromium, is mentioned. --APCA Absts. 283 Asbestos Exposure and Pteurai Mesotheliomas. R. H. Mortimer and C. 3. Campbell. Med. J. Australia 2. 720-722 (Oct. 26, 19o6). Diffuse pleural mesothelioma is reported in two patients exposed to asbestos dust. The neoplasmas were dissimilar in macroscopic and histological appearances. Criteria for classi fication as mesotheliomas are presented. Asbestos bodies were found in the lungs of both patients, but minimal interstitial fibrosis was present. --J. Am. Med. Assn. References U Reviews 284 Prevalence of Asbestos Bodies in Basal Lung Smears. A. Polliack and M. I. Sacks. Israeli. Med. Scl. (Jerusalem) 4, 223-226 (March-April, 1968). Asbestos bodies were found in basal Lung smears in 26 of 100 consecutive adult autopsies in Jerusalem. They were present in 29.1% of males and 22. 2% of females, and were more fre quently encountered in Ashkenazi than in non-Ashkenazi Jews. Asbestos bodies, when present- were usually scanty (less than 10), and in only two males were more than 30 bodies found unde.* low power. The five subjects with more than ten asbestos bodies each were all Ashkenazi Jew The prevalence of asbestos bodies is compared with Cape Town, Pittsburgh, Miami, Montreal. Glasgow, and Jerusalem. Highest frequency found is in Montreal (48%) and may reflect dif ferences in the degree of atmospheric pollution. --APCA Absts. 285 Pathological Symptoms Due to Inhalation of Asbestos Dust. H. Bohllg. Zentr. Arbeitsmed. u. Arbeitsschutz. 1_6. 353-355 (Dec., 1966). In brief literature review, in which authors are mentioned but no references cited, the probls' of asbestos dust as a carcinogenic substance ts surveyed. Despite greatly increased preventi'4 measures taken in many asbestos plants, and the resultant reductions in cases of asbestosis problems of asbestos inhalation have acquired new significance during the past five years. T*1'. retrospective examination of mesothelioma autopsy material in various :ountries has impH69"' asbestos dust as a malignant-tumor inducing agent, not only in asbestos workers but even Is ^ others. The well-known "pleura-plaques" of asbestosis and diffuse mesotheliomas have I**' observed in individuals who had never had occupational contact with asbestos but who had r* sided in the vicinity of asbestos plants or mines. It can be stated with assurance that pollutj5 of the ambient air (emission) by asbestos factories--which were relatively late in utilizes tn^ asbestos dust of their dedusting Installations instead of simply releasing it to the atmosph*rf has been a causative factor in a significant increase in the rate of appearance of both Pleur*' plaques and mesotheliomas. Whether or not the quantities of asbestos dust released into * atmosphere from brake linings of automobiles are also responsible for these malignanei**^ a question which has yet to be determined: however, asbestos was detected histologically the lungs of city dwellers not exposed occupationally in the following percentages; Pitts^u-v 41.0%; Miami, 27.9%; Cape Town, 26.4%. Individuals endangered by asbestos, in addlt'0^. those just cited, Include persons who have occasional contact with asbestos In construeti<*n other activities (such as roofers, insulation specialists). The properties of asbestos ore ' including their benzopyrene content, are briefly mentioned. --APCA A 286 Asbestos 3odies in the Lungs ar.c Mesothelioma. A Retrospective Examination of a Autopsy Material. I. Kagerstrand, L. Meurman, and B. Odlur.d. Acta Pathol. Microbiol, Scand. (Copenhagen: 72. (2). 177-15. ;i9os). \ ,, Ir. 12,763 autopsies performed during 1^5"-o6 at the General Hospital, M'alm.o, Sweden. , cases of mesothelioma were iour.c (2" of the pleura, i of the peritoneum) for a : reoucAC- 9.27**. (C. V if children under .5 years of age are excluded). Of these, 34 were re-5*8" i >