Asbestos Fibers And Other Elongate Mineral Particles State Of The Science And Roadmap For Research

Although asbestos is no longer mined in the United States, prior and ongoing exposures to asbestos continue to contribute to respiratory diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. To examine ongoing issues and concerns in this field, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) drafted a research roadmap, Asbestos Fibers and Other Elongated Mineral Particles: State of the Science and Roadmap for Research, that provides an overview of the state of the science and a plan for future research in areas including toxicology, mineralogy, epidemiology, and exposure assessment. The focus of the proposed research is on clarifying the relationship between human health effects and the physical and chemical characteristics of a wide range of elongate mineral particles. In 2008, NIOSH asked the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council to form a committee to provide a review of the scientific and technical quality of the January 2009 draft NIOSH Roadmap document. The present volume provides the committee's assessment of the Roadmap and recommendations for strengthening its utility for NIOSH, other federal agencies, the private sector, and other stakeholders.

Although asbestos is no longer mined in the United States, prior and ongoing exposures to asbestos continue to contribute to respiratory diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. To examine ongoing issues and concerns in this field, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) drafted a research roadmap, Asbestos Fibers and Other Elongated Mineral Particles: State of the Science and Roadmap for Research, that provides an overview of the state of the science and a plan for future research in areas including toxicology, mineralogy, epidemiology, and exposure assessment. The focus of the proposed research is on clarifying the relationship between human health effects and the physical and chemical characteristics of a wide range of elongate mineral particles. In 2008, NIOSH asked the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council to form a committee to provide a review of the scientific and technical quality of the January 2009 draft NIOSH Roadmap document. The present volume provides the committee's assessment of the Roadmap and recommendations for strengthening its utility for NIOSH, other federal agencies, the private sector, and other stakeholders.

Asbestos has been a highly visible issue in public health for over three decades. During the mid- to late-20th century, many advances were made in the scientific understanding of worker health effects from exposure to asbestos fibers and other elongate mineral particles (EMPs). It is now well documented that asbestos fibers, when inhaled, can cause serious diseases in exposed workers. However, many questions and areas of confusion and scientific uncertainty remain. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has determined that exposure to asbestos fibers causes cancer and asbestosis in humans on the basis of evidence of respiratory disease observed in workers exposed to asbestos, and recommends that exposures be reduced to the lowest feasible concentration. As the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of worker injury and illness, NIOSH has undertaken a reappraisal of how to ensure optimal protection of workers from exposure to asbestos fibers and other EMPs. As a first step in this effort, NIOSH convened an internal work group to develop a framework for future scientific research and policy development. The NIOSH Mineral Fibers Work Group prepared a first draft of this State of the Science and Roadmap for Scientific Research (herein referred to as the Roadmap), summarizing NIOSH's understanding of occupational exposure and toxicity issues concerning asbestos fibers and other EMPs. NIOSH sought other views about additional key issues that should be identified, additional research that should be conducted, and methods for conducting the research. In particular, NIOSH sought input from stakeholders concerning study designs, techniques for generating size-selected fibers, analytic approaches, sources of particular types of EMPs suitable for experimental studies, and worker populations suitable for epidemiological study. The purpose of this Roadmap is to outline a research agenda that will guide the development of specific research programs and projects that will lead to a broader and clearer understanding of the important determinants of toxicity for asbestos fibers and other EMPs. NIOSH recognizes that results from such research may impact environmental as well as occupational health policies and practices. Many of the issues that are important in the workplace are also important to communities and to the general population. Therefore, NIOSH envisions that the planning and conduct of the research will be a collaborative effort involving active participation of multiple federal agencies, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as labor, industry, academia, health and safety practitioners, and other interested parties, including international groups. This collaboration will help to focus the scope of the research, to fund and conduct the research, and to develop and disseminate informational materials describing research results and their implications for establishing new occupational and public health policies.

This comprehensive sourcebook describes the chemical, physical, and mineralogical aspects of fibrous inorganic materials, both synthetic and naturally occurring. A general description of the fibrous state, the range of compounds that can adopt this form, and an overview of thecharacteristics unique to such materials form the backbone of the book . The authors also assess the application and use of asbestos and other fibrous materials in industry and evaluate their potential as health hazards. The information gathered here will be highly useful to medical investigatorsand legal professionals involved in environmental health.

What are the carcinogenic risks to the general population from environmental exposure to mineral fibers? The international contributors to this volume focus on this question, and offer the perspectives of different fields of investigation: industrial hygiene, toxicology, epidemiology, and the study of short- and long-term effects. The papers reflect the increasing concern over the potential hazard from exposure to asbestos and other fibers to individuals outside known danger areas such as industrial sites. Major emphasis is given to the problem of assessing effects of exposure to very low levels of airborn fibers and to the reliability of extrapolating risk estimates from a dose-response based on high levels of exposure. Contents include experimental data on the carcinogenic effects of mineral fibers and their mechanism of action, fiber level measurements in the lung and their correlation with air samples, methods of determining airborn levels, epidemiological data on the hazards of non-occupational exposure, and problems of risk evaluation.

"This compilation of Selected Technical Papers, STP1632, Asbestos and Other Elongate Mineral Particles---New and Continuing Challenges in the 21st Century, contains peer-reviewed papers that were accepted for a symposium to be held July 25--29, 2022, in Burlington, Vermont, USA. The symposium is sponsored by ASTM International Committee D22 on Air Quality and Subcommittee D22.07 on Sampling, Analysis, Management of Asbestos, and Other Microscopic Particles"--

Evaluates the risks and human health impacts of asbestos and other fibrous minerals Despite continuous efforts to eliminate asbestos from commercial use, it remains a serious occupational and environmental hazard. Health Risk Assessment for Asbestos and Other Fibrous Minerals provides a rigorous discussion of risk assessment methodology for elongate mineral particles, covering basics, theory, models, and practical applications, enabling readers to participate in carrying out efficient and informed health risk assessments, to estimate potential adverse effects for exposed populations, and to determine the acceptability of risks at a given level of exposure. Coverage includes: Mineralogy, health effects, pathology, exposure assessment, modeling, and characterization of risks for asbestos and similar toxic materials Necessary integration of epidemiology, toxicology, industrial hygiene, and environmental health expertise when performing a health risk assessment Emerging and not-well-known hazards, e.g. erionite and other naturally occurring fibrous minerals Case studies and examples of risk calculations to guide readers through the process and help them in their own practical application of methodological concepts Health Risk Assessment for Asbestos and Other Fibrous Minerals is a highly practical, single source reference on the subject for occupational and public health professionals, industry and government regulators, industrial hygienists, and risk assessors, along with epidemiologists, biostatisticians, toxicologists, and other scientific professionals.

This report illustrates the work of IOM committees in selected, major areas in recent years, followed by a description of IOM's convening and collaborative activities and fellowship programs. The last section provides a comprehensive bibliography of IOM reports published since 2007.