Environmental household exposures to asbestos and occurrence of pleural mesothelioma

Abstract

We reviewed the certificates of 39,650 deaths which occurred in the period 1975-1988 in Leghorn and of 45,900 in La Spezia (Italy) in the period 1958-1988. In total 262 cases have been recorded as pleural mesothelioma. The main occupational exposures occurred in the shipbuilding industry. Regarding non-occupational exposures to asbestos, 13 cases of mesothelioma were found in women who had washed the work clothes of their relatives at home; we also found other domestic uses of asbestos which were rarely or never discussed previously in the literature: six cases might be explained by the installation of fireproof or non-conductive materials in the domestic environment. These exposures probably are more frequent than realized until now.

Malignant mesothelioma due to non-occupational asbestos exposure from the Italian national surveillance system (ReNaM): epidemiology and public health issues

“…As environmental exposure related to residence near asbestos-cement plants has been repeatedly reported for Casale Monferrato,15 Bari,16 Broni17 and La Spezia,18 this usage pattern may have led to sustained non-occupational exposures. The contribution of different patterns of non-occupational exposures is most likely underestimated, due to their much lower level, which, however, is not negligible and is possibly sufficient to cause disease.…”

Mesothelioma mortality surveillance and asbestos exposure tracking in Italy

“…Some of the cluster areas in the central macro area have already been investigated: Ravenna, where an harbour and a chemical industry are located [36], carrara (asbestos-cement industry) [37], Livorno (shipbuilding and repair, harbour, oil refinery) [32,10,38]. On the other hand, no information is currently available to allow us to comment on the cluster of collesalvetti (municipality close to Livorno).…”

Asbestos related diseases in Italy: an integrated approach to identify unexpected professional or environmental exposure risks at municipal level

“…Railways Table 1) were also associated with an increased mortality for MM, mainly on the basis of Wndings from analytical epidemiological studies. This applies particularly to Balangero (Silvestri et al 2001), Casale Monferrato ), Molina di Ledro (Parolari et al 1988), Reggio Emilia and Ferrara (Luberto et al 2004), La Spezia and Livorno (Dodoli et al 1992), Aulla (Neri et al 1989), Pozzuoli (Menegozzo et al 1993) and Siracusa (Inserra et al 1991). The observed correspondence between ASB clusters and documented industrial use of raw asbestos conWrms the appropriateness of using the spatial distribution of ASB cases as a proxy of certain, heavy and long lasting occupational exposure to asbestos.…”