Stomach cancer rate linked with asbestos
NZPA-AFP Cape Town People exposed to blue asbestos dust run a high long-term risk of dying from lung diseases and stomach cancer, according to a study carried out by three South African doctors.
The doctors carried out a 12-year study which showed that deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma were nine times as common in areas where blue asbestos (crocidolite) was mined and milled than in neighbouring districts.
Asbestosis and mesothelioma are two forms of lung disease associated with asbestos.
The doctors also found that death rates from stomach cancer among the asbestos workers and their families were much higher than normal. This relationship has not been shown before.
The study was carried out in South Africa’s NorthWestern Cape by Doctors J. Botha, L. Irwig and P. Strebel. It was published in the January edition of the United States Journal of Epidemiology.” A previous study by the doctors on the relationship between asbestos and lung diseases sparked a storm of controversy in 1978 when it was withdrawn just before publication, allegedly because of pressure from the asbestos industry. But Dr Botha said that the earlier study had been unsatisfactory because it had used data drawn from a period of only five years. He said the present study was much more convincing, but not sufficiently so to be used as evidence by people wishing to sue the asbestos industry.
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Press, 17 January 1986, Page 20
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233Stomach cancer rate linked with asbestos Press, 17 January 1986, Page 20
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