Jump to main content
US EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Search
Search
Main menu
Environmental Topics
Laws & Regulations
About EPA
Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)
Contact Us
Print
Feedback
Export to File
Search:
This record has one attached file:
Add More Files
Attach File(s):
Display Name for File*:
Save
Citation
Tags
HERO ID
3584276
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Report on cancer risks associated with the ingestion of asbestos
Author(s)
Lemen, R
Year
1987
Is Peer Reviewed?
Yes
Journal
Environmental Health Perspectives
ISSN:
0091-6765
EISSN:
1552-9924
Volume
72
Page Numbers
253-265
Language
English
PMID
3304998
DOI
10.2307/3430303
Web of Science Id
WOS:A1987J376400036
Abstract
This report is an assessment of all available literature that pertains to the potential risk of cancer associated with ingestion of asbestos. It was compiled by a working group to assist policy makers in the Department of Health and Human Services determine if adequate information was available for a definitive risk assessment on this potential problem and evaluate if the weight of evidence was sufficient to prioritize this issue for new policy recommendations. The work group considered the basis for concern over this problem, the body of toxicology experiments, the individual epidemiologic studies which have attempted to investigate this issue, and the articles that discuss components of risk assessment pertaining to the ingestion of asbestos. In the report, the work group concluded: that no direct, definitive risk assessment can be conducted at this time; that further epidemiologic investigations will be very costly and only possess sufficient statistical power to detect relatively large excesses in cancers related to asbestos ingestion; and that probably the most pertinent toxicologic experiments relate to resolving the differences in how inhaled asbestos, which is eventually swallowed, is biologically processed by humans, compared to how ingested asbestos is processed. The work group believes that the cancer risk associated with asbestos ingestion should not be perceived as one of the most pressing potential public health hazards facing the nation. However, the work group does not believe that information was sufficient to assess the level of cancer risk associated with the ingestion and therefore, this potential hazard should not be discounted, and ingestion exposure to asbestos should be eliminated whenever possible.
Tags
OPPT REs
•
OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_C. Engineering
Total – title/abstract screening
Off topic
•
OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_D. Exposure
Total – title/abstract screening
Off topic
•
OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_E. Fate
Total – title/abstract screening
Off topic
•
OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_F. Human Health
Total – title/abstract screening
On topic
Peer review
Secondary source/ Review
On topic - additional tags for titles/abstracts
Human hazard ID
•
OPPT_Asbestos, Part I: Chrysotile_Supplemental Search
LitSearch: Sept 2020 (Undated)
WoS
Legacy Uses
Health Outcomes
Home
Learn about HERO
Using HERO
Search HERO
Projects in HERO
Risk Assessment
Transparency & Integrity