The dangers of chrysotile asbestos continues to remain a contentious topic,
especially among defendants who argue that chrysotile is a “safe”
fiber. Chrysotile represents 95% of all asbestos ever used and is currently
the only type of asbestos commercially being used in the world. Its uses
include textile products, friction and heat resistant materials, cement
and rubber products.
China happens to be one of the biggest consumers of asbestos and have consequently
experienced an alarming rate of asbestos-related disease and asbestos-related
death among exposed workers. In this study, scientists evaluated a group
of 577 workers from a chrysotile-textile plant in China from between 1972
to 2008. Their analysis indicated that exposure to chrysotile asbestos
was closely associated with excess mortality from cancer and respiratory
diseases compared to an occupational control group and the Chinese national level.
Furthermore, the study found that increased mortality was associated with
the amount of chrysotile exposure, number of exposure years, age at first
exposure year and other variables, such as smoking history and birth year.
In summary, chrysotile asbestos continues to be highly carcinogenic to
humans as illustrated by the study's cohort's increased mortality
from lung cancers and nonmalignant respiratory diseases which resulted
exclusively from chrysotile asbestos exposure. Click here to view this study.