NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) testimony on asbestos before the Subcommittee on Labor Standards, House Committee on Education and Labor by Anthony Robbins, May 1, 1979

Technical Report · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:7069877

Robbins, A

The testimony presented information concerning the existence of asbestos related diseases among American workers. Concern over asbestos exposure became extremely important because of the vast numbers of workers in contact with the substance and also because the diseases produced through this contact, such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer, were so very serious. While physical differences between the two broad classes of asbestos (amphiboles and serpentines) have been recognized, evidence suggested that both forms were carcinogenic. Workers were exposed during mining, milling, and transporting the mineral and while manufacturing and working with products. Studies which underscoring the widespread problem were conducted by NIOSH and other Health, Education, and Welfare supported groups in the 1960s and 1970s. Epidemiological studies identified asbestosis, a relentlessly progressive lung disease caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers, lung cancer in which the association with asbestos was first suspected in the United States in 1935, and mesothelioma, a cancer rarely found except in individuals with a history of asbestos exposure. Asbestos was the subject of the first criteria document developed by NIOSH. Future projects in the area of asbestos control and exposure prevention were listed.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Rockville, MD (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7069877
• Report Number(s): PB-90-130063/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
552000 -- Public Health
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
AMPHIBOLE
ASBESTOS
DISEASES
DOCUMENT TYPES
EPIDEMIOLOGY
GASEOUS WASTES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HEARINGS
INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
MATERIALS
MEDICINE
MINERALS
NEOPLASMS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
SAFETY
SERPENTINE
SILICATE MINERALS
TOXIC MATERIALS
WASTES