Skip to main content
PMC home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 1998 Mar;55(3):155–160. doi: 10.1136/oem.55.3.155

Tyler asbestos workers: mortality experience in a cohort exposed to amosite

J L Levin, J W McLarty, G A Hurst, A N Smith, A L Frank
PMCID: PMC1757563  PMID: 9624266

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine the causes of death among 1130 former workers of a plant in Tyler, Texas dedicated to the manufacture of asbestos pipe insulation materials. This cohort is important and unusual because it used amosite as the only asbestiform mineral in the production process. High level exposure of such a specific type was documented through industrial hygiene surveys in the plant. METHODS: Deaths were ascertained through various sources including data tapes from the Texas Department of Health and the national death index files. As many death certificates as possible were secured (304/315) and cause of death assigned. After select exclusions, 222 death certificates were used in the analysis. Causes of death were compared with age, race, and sex specific mortalities for the United States population with a commercial software package (OCMAP Version 2.0). RESULTS: There was an excess of deaths from respiratory cancer including the bronchus, trachea, and lung (standardised mortality ratio (SMR) 277 with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 193 to 385). Four pleural mesotheliomas and two peritoneal mesotheliomas were identified. The analysis also showed an increasing risk of respiratory malignancy with increased duration of exposure including a significant excess of total deaths from respiratory cancer with less than six months of work at the plant (SMR 268 with 95% CI 172 to 399). CONCLUSIONS: The importance of the cohort lies with the pure amosite exposure which took place in the plant and the extended period of latency which has followed. The death certificate analysis indicates the pathogenicity of amosite, the predominant commercial amphibole used in the United States. These data confirm a link between amosite asbestos and respiratory malignancy as well as mesothelioma.

 

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (116.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Acheson E. D., Gardner M. J., Winter P. D., Bennett C. Cancer in a factory using amosite asbestos. Int J Epidemiol. 1984 Mar;13(1):3–10. doi: 10.1093/ije/13.1.3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Churg A., Vedal S. Fiber burden and patterns of asbestos-related disease in workers with heavy mixed amosite and chrysotile exposure. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1994 Sep;150(3):663–669. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.150.3.8087335. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dodson R. F., O'Sullivan M., Corn C. J., McLarty J. W., Hammar S. P. Analysis of asbestos fiber burden in lung tissue from mesothelioma patients. Ultrastruct Pathol. 1997 Jul-Aug;21(4):321–336. doi: 10.3109/01913129709021930. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dodson R. F., O'Sullivan M., Corn C. J. Relationships between ferruginous bodies and uncoated asbestos fibers in lung tissue. Arch Environ Health. 1996 Nov-Dec;51(6):462–466. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1996.9936047. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hurst G. A., Spivey C. G., Matlage W. T., Miller J. M., Faulk G., Hieger L. R., McLarty J. W., Greenberg S. D. The Tyler Asbestos Workers Program. I. A medical surveillance model and method. Arch Environ Health. 1979 Nov-Dec;34(6):432–439. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1979.10667445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Johnson W. M., Lemen R. A., Hurst G. A., Spiegel R. M., Liu F. H. Respiratory morbidity among workers in an amosite asbestos insulation plant. J Occup Med. 1982 Dec;24(12):994–999. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lemen R. A., Dement J. M., Wagoner J. K. Epidemiology of asbestos-related diseases. Environ Health Perspect. 1980 Feb;34:1–11. doi: 10.1289/ehp.80341. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mossman B. T., Gee J. B. Asbestos-related diseases. N Engl J Med. 1989 Jun 29;320(26):1721–1730. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198906293202604. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Seidman H., Selikoff I. J., Hammond E. C. Short-term asbestos work exposure and long-term observation. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1979;330:61–89. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1979.tb18710.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Selikoff I. J., Hammond E. C., Churg J. Carcinogenicity of amosite asbestos. Arch Environ Health. 1972 Sep;25(3):183–186. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1972.10666158. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Selikoff I. J., Seidman H. Asbestos-associated deaths among insulation workers in the United States and Canada, 1967-1987. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1991 Dec 31;643:1–14. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1991.tb24439.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sluis-Cremer G. K., Liddell F. D., Logan W. P., Bezuidenhout B. N. The mortality of amphibole miners in South Africa, 1946-80. Br J Ind Med. 1992 Aug;49(8):566–575. doi: 10.1136/oem.49.8.566. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Soter N. A., Wasserman S. I., Austen K. F. Cold urticaria: release into the circulation of histamine and eosinophil chemotactic factor of anaphylaxis during cold challenge. N Engl J Med. 1976 Mar 25;294(13):687–690. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197603252941302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stayner L. T., Dankovic D. A., Lemen R. A. Occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos and cancer risk: a review of the amphibole hypothesis. Am J Public Health. 1996 Feb;86(2):179–186. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.2.179. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wagner J. C. Mesothelioma and mineral fibers. Cancer. 1986 May 15;57(10):1905–1911. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19860515)57:10<1905::aid-cncr2820571003>3.0.co;2-j. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wagner J. C., Pooley F. D. Mineral fibres and mesothelioma. Thorax. 1986 Mar;41(3):161–166. doi: 10.1136/thx.41.3.161. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wagner J. C. The discovery of the association between blue asbestos and mesotheliomas and the aftermath. Br J Ind Med. 1991 Jun;48(6):399–403. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.6.399. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES