Document zzXVnNY76w2p9rXQJ5M4R8yv3

jh * ~ry Reprinted from tltc A. M. A. Archives of Industrial Hcalflt June 195S, Vol. 17, pp. 634-653 ( `------ > Copyright 195S, by American Medical Associatioh An Epidemiological Study of FROM Lung Cancer in Asbestos Miners INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDAT/O# 4400 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh AS, p*. DANIEL C. BRAUN, M.D., and T. DAVID TRUAN, M.A., Pittsburgh Ever since the pronounced increase in the incidence of lung cancer among males became apparent, there have been attempts to associate it with one or another of the various elements in the environment of man. The approach used by some workers has been to suspect one or several sub stances and then set about in an intensive whose work is also frequently referred to as establishing a connection between asbes tosis and cancer of the lung, reported in 1951 that cancer of the lung was present in 14.1% of asbestosis cases examined by him.'j In 1941, Nordmann and Sorge78 claWed to have produced lung cancer in mice which they exposed to asbestos dust.^ search for lung cancer among persons who have had any exposure to those materials. In this connection, Smith82 writes: "The tendency of authors reporting the coinci dental occurrence of primary lung cancer with silicosis or with any other theoretical etiologic conditions, has been to emphasize the percentage relationship in extremely small series of cases, with control cases which are not in any way comparable." Since 1951, additional cases of'cancer'' the lung coexisting with asbestosis have been reported, and, according to Hueper88 about 100 such casesTiad"l>een reported ujT to 1955. As a result, an association between the two diseases appears to have been ac cepted by many authors, and several writers were using the term "asbestosis cancer", of the lung, Werber,82 in 1952, stated cate- "orically that in 7% to 17% of cases of It would seem inevitable that asbestos _ ''asbestosis, after a latent period of about should come under scrutiny in this manner/ 1J4 to 20 year3, carcinoma becomes estabbecause prolonged exposure to this material LishedjnrtheriungT' is known to cause a specific type of pneu moconiosis, and because persons who show this form of pneumoconiosis often come to . autopsy and provide a ready source of ^-material for study. It was in this way that ' reports of the simultaneous occurrence of lung cancer and asbestosis began to accu mulate after the report of a case by Lynch and Smith in 1935. Within the next 10 years, about 15 additional cases were re\ ported, and in 1954 Merewether 28 reviewed all deaths from asbestosis recorded in Eng- I land since March, 1924, Lung cancer oc- (ycurred in 16% of these cases. (jGloyne,41 On the other hand, not all authors ac cepted this alleged association without reservation. Saupe80 in 1939 reported that he had discovered no cases of lung cancer among 620 cases of asbestosis which he had examined; and in 1942, Holleb and Angrist48 expressed the opinion that the number of cases of asbestosis with lung cancer was too small for statistical evalua tion. In^l94Z^.Wegelius 88 --26-' radioiogically diagnosed cases of ash<stn<U. among__476 workers in Finland, and found no cases of lung cancer in this group. GoIffiSatt and Goldblatt"in their section^ of Accepted for publication Jan. 20. 1958. This study was made possible through a grant from the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association. Medical Director (Dr, Braun) and Statistical Consultant (Mr. Truan), Industrial Hygiene Foundation. Merewether's latest book,44 state: "But at no stage in all these impressive researches was any clue obtained which might have offered any support to the possibility that asbestos could act as a carcinogen. There 634 SPNY 000293