Studies Go In Opposite Directions on Silica-Lung Cancer Risk
Study That Provided Support for IARC's Decision to Re-Classify Silica As Carcinogen Now Says There's No Increased Risk

Two studies released in separate medical journals last month have offered different opinions about whether inhalation of silica dust is linked to lung cancer.

The articles were published in May issues of the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health and Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. One of the studies, an extension of research cited by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in its decision to classify silica as a probable carcinogen, now states that there is little, if any, evidence that silica inhalation leads to cancer.

That study, an extension of a 1988 examination of 5,414 workers …