Download - The health effects of asbestos exposure
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The health effects of asbestos exposure
Dr Marion Carey
Senior Medical Adviser
Social and Environmental Health
Dept of Human Services
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What is asbestos?
• A group of naturally occurring minerals whose characteristic feature is that they occur as fibres
• Masses of tiny fibres form dust if disturbed
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Most common types of asbestos used in Australia
• Serpentine
•Chrysotile (white asbestos)
• Amphibole
• Amosite (brown asbestos)
•Crocidolite (blue asbestos)
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Blue asbestos White asbestos
Brown asbestos
Photographs provided by Kilpatrick & Associates
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Why was it used?
Asbestos was commonly used 1940-1980s for
• Durability
• Fire resistance
• Excellent insulating properties
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Where do you find it?
• Over 3,000 uses of asbestos known
• in majority of homes built before 1990
• asbestos-cement products
• electrical, thermal & acoustic insulation
• fire resistant insulation
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Different forms of asbestos material have different levels of risk
• Friable (nonbound) vs bound asbestos
•Where asbestos fibres are stable and bonded in good condition, little risk
•However when broken, damaged or mishandled, fibres become loose and airborne, creating hazard
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Friable asbestos material unlikely to be found in homes in Victoria
• a dry material which can be reduced to powder by hand pressure.
• a health risk as it becomes airborne and more likely to be inhaled.
• eg: insulation inside stoves & heaters
industrial grade insulation in commercial buildings
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Non friable (bound) asbestos
• AC sheeting (fibro)
• flexible building boards
• flue & water pipes
•Vinyl floor tiles
•Ceiling insulation
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What are the health effects of exposure to asbestos?
• Asbestos becomes a health hazard when fibres become airborne and are inhaled.
• Effects depend on length, diameter and composition of fibre
• Disease is usually associated with long-term exposure in occupational or para-occupational setting (immediate family or live near asbestos mine or factory)
•Risk depends on how much and how long
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Asbestos related diseases
All forms of asbestos can potentially cause:
Non cancer
• pleural plaques
• asbestosis
Cancer
• lung cancer
• malignant mesothelioma
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Pleural plaques
• Pleura: 2 layers of membrane line the chest wall & cover the lungs
• asbestos may produce thickened patches
• is not cancerous but can affect lung function
• generally no symptoms
• indicates significant previous exposure
•Common in occupational E & sometimes where high environmental levels
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Asbestosis
• A chronic and progressive lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibres over a long period of time.
• 5- 20 years to develop
• inflammation from fibres causes scarring (fibrosis) and stiffening of the lung. This causes less oxygen exchange
•Symptoms – short of breath, cough, chest tightness
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Asbestos
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Lung cancer
•usually takes 10 to 20 years to develop after asbestos exposure.
• asbestos in non-smokers: 5x background rate
•asbestos in smokers: 50x background rate
• Symptoms: persistent cough, weight loss, cough up blood
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Lung Cancer
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Malignant mesothelioma
•a cancer of the lining of the lung and chest cavity (pleural mesothelioma) (2/3)
•or the lining of abdominal cavity (peritoneal mesothelioma)
• can take 30 to 50 years to develop
• particularly associated with crocidolite
• Australia has world’s highest incidence
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Malignant mesothelioma
•Rapidly fatal : 75% dead 1 year after diagnosis
•Smoking has no apparent effect on risk
• Symptoms: short of breath, chest pain, weight loss
•Has occurred in people without direct occupational exposure but exposed to large quantities of dust
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Exposure to asbestos fibres in air
•Small quantities are present in air breathed by most people without developing asbestos-related disease•People who have developed disease from asbestos were exposed to workplace air levels around 5 fibres/ml•Measured E in public buildings, schools
0.0001- 0.0005 fibres/ml. •Life-time E at this level < 1 in 100,000 life-time cancer risk.
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What is the risk from a one off exposure?
The risk has not been quantified, but except for intense exposures, the risk caused by brief exposure is likely to be undetectably low..
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What is a safe level of exposure to asbestos?
• The level of exposure that may cause health effects is not known.
• It is therefore important to keep exposure to asbestos fibres as low as possible and precautions must always be taken.
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Conclusion
• The major route of exposure to asbestos is inhalation
• There is no known “safe” level of exposure
• Tightly bound asbestos poses no immediate hazard
•Asbestos becomes a health hazard when fibres become airborne
• Exposure should be minimised by sensible precautions