Asbestos as a systemic carcinogen: The evidence from eleven cohorts
- 11 January 1982
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in American Journal of Industrial Medicine
- Vol. 3 (3), 341-348
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.4700030309
Abstract
Most known occupational carcinogens are site‐specific, which implies that they are “complete” carcinogens with both “initiating” and “promoting” properties (Berenblum's terminology). Excess cancer at gastrointestinal sites among cohorts occupationally exposed to asbestos has been interpreted as reflecting additional site‐specific effects, although excess at other sites has also been observed in some studies. The hypothesis that excess cancer at gastrointestinal sites cannot be distinguished from excess cancer at all nonpulmonary sites is tested by data from New York‐New Jersey insulation workers working in 1943; similar workers employed after 1943; U.S.‐Canadian insulation workers; London factory workers, male and female; Quebec miners and millers; retired U.S. factory workers; U.S. shipyard insulators; Italian shipyard workers in Genoa; Amosite factory workers; and U.S. factory workers. Excluding lung cancer and mesothelioma, observed‐expected ratios for nonpulmonary cancer mortality range from 0.97 to 2.78, and do not differ significantly from gastrointestinal ratios. A dose‐response gradient is observed for both ratios, when dose is estimated from lung cancer ratios, or in some studies, measured exposures. Site‐specificity is unlikely for nonpulmonary cancer associated with asbestos exposure more than 20 years previously. Systemic carcinogenesis may be an example of promotion or impairment by asbestos of some cancer defense mechanism; immunological mechanisms have been suggested by Turner‐Warwick and Parkes. Prospective studies are indicated.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Relative Leucopenia in the Peripheral Blood of Asbestos Miners: An Epidemiologic AnalysisScandinavian Journal of Haematology, 2009
- Can dietary beta-carotene materially reduce human cancer rates?Nature, 1981
- ASBESTOS IN DRINKING WATER AND CANCER INCIDENCE IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREAAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 1980
- MORTALITY AMONG SHIPYARD WORKERS IN GENOA, ITALYAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979
- ASBESTOS EXPOSURE: FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EXCESS CANCER AND RESPIRATORY DISEASE MORTALITYAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979
- MORTALITY EXPERIENCE OF INSULATION WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, 1943‐1976*Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979
- PATTERNS OF MORTALITY IN ASBESTOS FACTORY WORKERS IN LONDON*Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979
- ASBESTOS DISEASE IN UNITED STATES SHIPYARDS*Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979
- Circulating Rheumatoid and Antinuclear Factors in Asbestos WorkersBMJ, 1970
- Asbestos Exposure and NeoplasiaJAMA, 1964