Mensen die in de omgeving van een Japanse asbestfabriek hebben gewoond hebben een hoger risico op de ziekte mesothelioom. Datzelfde geldt voor vrouwen die in de omgeving woonden van de blauwe asbestmijn in het Australische Wittenoom.
Kurumatani N, Kumagai S. (2008). Mapping the risk of mesothelioma due to neighborhood asbestos exposure. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep 15;178(6):624-9.
ABSTRACT
RATIONALE: Little is known about neighborhood exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma risk among residents around an industrial source of asbestos. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the magnitude of the risk among residents by asbestos exposure levels and to determine the range of the area affected by asbestos. METHODS: We calculated standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma from 1995 to 2006 among the estimated population at risk that lived around a former large asbestos cement pipe plant in Amagasaki City, Japan, between 1957 and 1975, the time when the plant had used crocidolite and chrysotile. The distance between the plant and homes and relative asbestos concentrations obtained by diffusion equations involving meteorological conditions were used to determine asbestos exposure levels among residents. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified 73 mesothelioma deaths of 35 men and 38 women who had no occupational exposure to asbestos. Among persons who had lived within a 300-m radius of the plant, the standardized mortality ratio of mesothelioma was 13.9 (95% confidence interval, 5.6-28.7) for men and 41.1 (95% confidence interval, 15.2-90.1) for women. When the study area was divided into five regions by relative asbestos concentration, standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma declined, for both sexes, in a linear dose-dependent manner with concentration. The regions with a significantly elevated standardized mortality ratio reached 2,200 m from the plant in the same direction in which the wind predominantly blew. CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood exposure to asbestos can pose a serious risk to residents across a wide area.
Bron: Reid, A. et al. (2008). Cancer incidence among women and girls environmentally and occupationally exposed to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia. Int J Cancer. 2008 May 15;122(10):2337-44.
ABSTRACT
The impact of crocidolite exposure on the health of former Wittenoom miners and millers (largely male) has been well documented. Less is known about the health outcomes of the 2,968 women and girls who lived (N = 2,552) and worked (N = 416) in the blue asbestos milling and mining town of Wittenoom between 1943 and 1992. Quantitative exposure measurements were derived from dust studies undertaken over the lifetime of the mine and mill and the township. Incident cancers were obtained from the Western Australian (WA) Cancer Registry and the National Cancer Clearing House. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRS) compared Wittenoom females with the WA female population. Exposure-response relationships were examined using a matched case-control study design. There were (47) mesothelioma and (55) lung cancer cases among the 437 cancers in the Wittenoom females over the period 1960-2005. When compared to the WA female population, Wittenoom women and girls had higher rates of mesothelioma and possibly lung cancer. Mesothelioma incidence rates are increasing with the incidence rate of 193 per 100,000 in the period 2000-2005 being more than double that for the period 1995-1999 at 84 per 100,000. A significant exposure-response relationship was present for mesothelioma, but not for lung cancer. Forty years after the asbestos mine and mill at Wittenoom were closed, there is a high toll from cancer among the former female residents of the town and company workers.
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