US EPA

3080248 

Journal Article 

Pleural mesothelioma cases in Biancavilla are related to a new fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole 

Comba, P; Gianfagna, A; Paoletti, L 

2003 

1 

Archives of Environmental Health
ISSN: 0003-9896
EISSN: 2331-4303 

HELDREF PUBLICATIONS 

WASHINGTON 

58 

4 

229-232 

English 

14655903 

10.3200/AEOH.58.4.229-232 

WOS:000186744100006 

https://search.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/pleural-mesothelioma-cases-biancavilla-are/docview/201136672/se-2?accountid=171501
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A cluster of deaths from pleural mesothelioma was previously reported for Biancavilla, Italy, a city in eastern Sicily. An environmental survey suggested that the stone quarries located southeast of the city might be a source of asbestos exposure. The materials extracted from the quarries, used widely in the local building industry, contain large quantities of a fibrous amphibole that was initially referred to as an anomalous intermediate phase of sodium- and fluorine-rich tremolite-actinolite. A subsequent crystal chemistry investigation identified the mineral as fluoro-edenite, a new end-member of the edenite --> fluoro-edenite series. The material is very similar in morphology and composition to the minerals of the tremolite-actinolite series. To the authors' knowledge, fluoro-edenite becomes the 3rd mineral fiber (along with erionite and winchite), not yet classified as asbestos, with a demonstrable mesotheliomatogenous action in humans. 

amphibole; environmental exposure; fluoro-edenite; Italy; mesothelioma