In conjunction with drafting comprehensive legislation concerning compensation for health effects related to asbestos exposure (the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Act), the Senate Committee on the Judiciary directed the Institute of Medicine to assemble the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects. This committee was charged with addressing whether asbestos exposure is causally related to adverse health consequences in addition to asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Asbestos: Selected Cancers presents the committee's comprehensive distillation of the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature regarding association between asbestos and colorectal, laryngeal, esophageal, pharyngeal, and stomach cancers.

The first edition of Asbestos: Risk Assessment, Epidemiology, and Health Effects received critical acclaim due to the interdisciplinary nature of its content. Editors Ronald Dodson and Samuel Hammar have carefully kept this popular focus while updating and expanding the topics covered in the first edition with the help of internationally known experts. While there are hundreds of books available on many different aspects of asbestos, none contain the encyclopedic, comprehensive coverage you will find here. See What’s New in the Second Edition: Definitions of asbestos by different methodologies and the potential impact that those forms have on health Internationally accepted sampling/analytical schemes Findings of major asbestos-related diseases that continue to increase in most industrialized countries where asbestos is widely used Information on asbestos-induced diseases in biological systems Expanded regulations chapter Copiously illustrated with diagrams, tables, and photographs, including some in color, the book remains an interdisciplinary resource on the major issues in asbestos exposure and human health, with coverage that spans history, pathology, and epidemiology as well as sampling, analysis, and regulatory issues. The editors’ expertise and careful updating set this book apart, making it a comprehensive resource that interlinks diverse specialties. They provide an updated and expanded state-of-the-art discussion of important interdisciplinary factors associated with asbestos-related issues in an easy-to-use reference.

Much of the more than 30 million tons of asbestos used in the United States since 1900 is still present as insulation in offices and schools, as vinyl-asbestos flooring in homes, and in other common products. This volume presents a comprehensive evaluation of the relation of these fibers to specific diseases and the extent of nonoccupational risks associated with them. It covers sources of asbestiform fibers, properties of the fibers, and carcinogenic and fibrogenic risks they pose.

Provides guidance on controlling asbestos-containing materials (ACM) found in buildings. Provides a current summary of data on exposure to airborne asbestos; gives survey procedures for determining if ACM is present in buildings; explains how to establish a special operations and maintenance program in a building found to contain asbestos; reviews technical issues confronted when assessing the potential for exposure to airborne asbestos, in particular indoor settings; suggests a structured process for selecting a particular course of action, and much more. Commonly referred to as the Blue Book.

For decades, manufacturers from around the world relied on asbestos to produce a multitude of fire-retardant products. As use of the mineral became more widespread, medical professionals discovered it had harmful effects on human health. Mining and manufacturing companies downplayed the risks to workers and the general public, but eventually, as the devastating nature of asbestos-related deaths became common knowledge, the industry suffered terminal decline. A Town Called Asbestos looks at how the people of Asbestos, Quebec, worked and lived alongside the largest chrysotile asbestos mine in the world. Dependent on this deadly industry for their community’s survival, they developed a unique, place-based understanding of their local environment; the risks they faced living next to the giant opencast mine; and their place within the global resource trade. This book unearths the local-global tensions that defined Asbestos’s proud history and reveals the challenges similar resource communities have faced – and continue to face today.

Asbestos have been used in many different environments, including industrial and home construction projects, vehicles, railroads and shipyards, to name a few. Asbestos have significantly affected many lives, particularly individuals and their families who have experienced substantial direct or indirect occupational exposure to asbestos as well as asbestos-containing products and equipment. Many diseases and conditions are reported to have a direct or indirect causal link to asbestos exposure. This book summarises the historical background, current knowledge and advancements concerning asbestos and its related diseases in a simple, easy to understand and concise format. The first chapter covers asbestos mineralogy, industrial applications, occupational and environmental exposure as well as methods of fiber analysis. The second chapter focuses on asbestos pathogenesis, including asbestos levels in the environment and various worksites, the biological effects of asbestos fibers and factors determining its toxicity. The third chapter provides an overview of asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, pleural diseases, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Each section also includes a discussion of cause and causation, clinical presentation, pathology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and surveillance. The fourth chapter outlines the basic concepts of biostatistics and epidemiology, criteria in establishing the causal relationships, the occupational approach of environmental diseases and current standards and regulations. This book serves as an easy to read, quick reference presented in a bulleted format that allows readers to quickly and easily review the information. It is a useful resource for occupational medicine specialists, healthcare providers and environmental scientists who are interested in understanding asbestos and managing asbestos-related diseases.