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Clinical toxicology of asbestos
Published in Dorsett D. Smith, The Health Effects of Asbestos, 2015
Asbestos is not a mineralogical term, but a generic and regulatory term for commercially useful fibrous silicate mineral fibers of a crystalline nature (chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite). The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recognized that imprecise terminology and mineralogical complexity have affected progress in research. “Asbestos” and “asbestiform” are two commonly used terms that lack mineralogical precision. “Asbestos” is a term used for certain minerals that have crystallized in a particular macroscopic habit with certain commercially useful properties. These properties are less obvious on microscopic scales, so a different definition of asbestos may be necessary at the scale of the light microscope or electron microscope, involving characteristics such as chemical composition and crystallography. The lack of precision in these terms and the difficulty in translating macroscopic properties to microscopically identifiable characteristics contribute to miscommunication and uncertainty in identifying toxicity associated with various forms of minerals like asbestos. (Case BW, Abraham JL, Meeker G et al. Applying definitions of “asbestos” to environmental and “low-dose” exposure levels and health effects, particularly malignant mesothelioma. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev 2011;14(1–4):3–39.)
Characterization of pulmonary responses in mice to asbestos/asbestiform fibers using gene expression profiles
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2018
Naveena Yanamala, Elena R. Kisin, Dmitriy W. Gutkin, Michael R. Shurin, Martin Harper, Anna A. Shvedova
Asbestos is a term for a set of commercially important naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals. Crocidolite (asbestiform riebeckite), amosite (asbestiform cummingtonite-grunerite), actinolite-tremolite asbestos, and anthophyllite asbestos belong to the amphibole minerals, while chrysotile is a serpentine mineral (Wylie and Candela 2015). The term “asbestiform” corresponds to a mineralogical habit or form of a mineral in which single fibers (fibrils) occur in bundles that can be detached into finer fibers and display curvature (Lowers and Meeker 2002). Similar to main asbestos types described above, there are “other regulated asbestiform minerals” fibers such as durable asbestiform zeolite minerals (e.g., erionite). The term asbestos has been used in commerce and regulations, but is not recognized in geology as referring to species separate from non-asbestos analogs of these minerals (Lowers and Meeker 2002). These materials were widely used for textiles and in construction, as well as in industrial application, until the 1970’s in the USA (Williams, Phelka, and Paustenbach 2007). Although the use has declined, asbestos continues to be utilized for certain applications in the USA and elsewhere (Dodson 2016; LaDou et al. 2010). Known human diseases associated with exposure to asbestos/asbestiform fibers include asbestosis, bronchial adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the respiratory epithelium and large/small cell lung carcinoma and diffuse malignant mesothelioma (Andujar et al. 2016; Lemen 2016; Ndlovu et al. 2017).
Asbestiform minerals in ophiolitic rocks of Calabria (southern Italy)
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2018
Antonella Campopiano, Angelo Olori, Alessandra Spadafora, Maria Rosaria Bruno, Federica Angelosanto, Antonino Iannò, Stefano Casciardi, Renato Giardino, Maurizio Conte, Teresa Oranges, Sergio Iavicoli
Ophiolites, i.e. fragments of oceanic lithosphere including its sedimentary cover are mainly composed of basic and ultrabasic magmatic associations of rocks that thanks to alteration processes can contain serpentine minerals with a characteristic green color (greenstones). Greenstones are used in buildings and in craft activities such as the production of ornamental stones and decorative jewels. In Calabria, southern Italy, the greenstones are an important economic local resource. Unfortunately, these outcrops can contain fibrous minerals (both asbestos and asbestiform habit minerals), potentially harmful for human health. It is known that the respirable asbestos fibers may penetrate into the lung tissue leading to an asbestos-related disease (e.g. asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma) (Selikoff and Lee 1978; McDonald and McDonald 1998; Suzuki and Yuen 2002; Senyigit et al. 2004). Human activities like road construction, quarry excavation, and agricultural processing may potentially induce the release of asbestiform minerals in the surrounding environment, generating an hazardous environmental exposition for the population (Karagüzel and Kiliç 2000; Burragato et al. 2005; Suzuki et al. 2005; Gamble and Gibbs 2008; Langer 2008; Cavallo and Rimoldi 2013; Pugnaloni et al. 2013; Bloise et al. 2016). Dongel et al. (2013) showed that the rate of asbestos-related diseases was higher in people living near to greenstones located in Sivas province (Turkey). In the past, an association with environmental exposure to asbestos or other mineral fibers and an increased risk of mesothelioma was found in several locations including Italy (Magnani et al. 2001), Australia (Hansen et al. 1998), and South Africa (Abratt et al. 2004). In Calabria, recent studies monitored some natural asbestos occurrences in ophiolites of the central and northern parts of the region and considered a possible release of asbestos fibers in the environment (Pacella et al. 2010; Bloise et al. 2014; Punturo et al. 2015).
Managing hazardous materials in New Zealand’s National Petrology Reference collection
Published in New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 2018
Delia T. Strong, Rose E. Turnbull, Andreas Markwitz
In New Zealand, the management of asbestos in a place of work is governed by the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) 2016 Regulations (Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations, New Zealand Statutes 2016). These Regulations replace the previous Health and Safety in Employment (Asbestos) Regulations 1998 (Health and Safety in Employment (Asbestos) Regulations, New Zealand Statutes 1998) which were revoked in April 2016. The new Regulations define asbestos as the asbestiform varieties of silicate minerals belonging to the serpentine or amphibole groups of rock-forming minerals, including:actinolite asbestosgrunerite or amosite asbestos (brown asbestos)anthophyllite asbestoschrysotile asbestos (white asbestos)crocidolite asbestos (blue asbestos)tremolite asbestosa mixture containing > 1 of the above.The terms ‘asbestos’ and ‘asbestiform’ refer to silicate minerals that occur in polyfilamentous bundles of flexible, long, small-diameter fibres with splaying ends. Respirable asbestos is defined by the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) 2016 Regulations as an asbestos fibre that:is less than 3 micrometres wide;is more than 5 micrometres long; andhas a length to width ratio of more than 3:1.Because asbestos is widely known as a hazard to human health, its use is banned as an industrial material in many countries. In New Zealand its use for new construction and disposal is controlled by the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016. The regulations have principally been written to manage the health and safety of workers in construction and demolition industries rather than curators of natural science collections. There is provision, however, for the management of naturally occurring asbestos, defined as the ‘natural geological occurrence of asbestos minerals found in association with geological deposits such as rock, sediment or soil’, in accordance with an asbestos management plan which must be prepared under Regulation 13.