Asbestos or Ferruginous Bodies

Abstract

THE health hazards of asbestos have been recognized for 40 years. Nevertheless, the problems of asbestos pneumoconiosis (asbestosis) and asbestos-related neoplasms have increased alarmingly despite much improved dust control.¹ This is because of a rapidly rising use of asbestos and because of an ever larger variety of asbestos-containing products, which are often used without awareness of their composition and under poor supervision.² In our laboratory in New England some 35 different occupations ranging from cigarette-filter manufacturing to wire braiding have been incriminated. Community "asbestos air pollution" is being recognized only now, and its importance is uncertain. Increasingly, practicing physicians are . . .