Journal Top Ten -- COLUMNS-Asbestos -- February 2004

1 TITLE: "A 40-year Cohort Study on Cancer Mortality Among Female Workers with Manual Spinning of Chrysotile Asbestos"

SUMMARY: An investigation of the mortality of malignant tumors among female workers who engage in manual spinning of chrysotile. 858 deaths among 5,681 female workers who spun chrysotile for at least one year between 1960 and 1980 were examined for causes of death. Of the recorded deaths, the cause of one-quarter or 24.83 percent was cancer. Nearly half of those deaths were attributed to lung cancer, accounting for a standardized mortality ratio of 3.88. The results indicate that …